Pain

I just read that completing a 70.3 Iron man is like running 3 marathons with much more pain and total different nutritional needs.

Well doesn't that make you want to jump right out there and give it a go?

Pain.....

I've had pain before. Hey, I've had two kids. One with no epidural. Can't be worse than that right? Maybe a different kind of pain. In one of my 4 marathons I felt like my legs would split down the center with each step. Like a hot dog splits when its cooked too long. I actually thought while running that if I could just cut open the front of my quads the pressure would go away and I could run more comfortably. At mile 23 your thoughts may not be very realistic.

Pain.....

I have pain in my shin all the time. For an entire year. As I'm sure it will hurt even more in the year to come. How will it feel during those last 13 miles?

Pain.....

Here's a not so nice type of pain. Saddle sores. I have reached the mileage that it is an issue. Talk about pain. Not even just when riding but for the entire day and into the next until you again sit and pedal and make it worse yet again. They make a cream for this.....I bought two.

Pain.....

Migraines. Chlorine will do that to you when you are swimming three times a week with your head in the water an hour and a half at a time. I have seemed to get this under control and made a few changes so that I don't get them every time I swim. But it still does happen. Luckily for me the lake will contain no chlorine. It may contain some other things that I don't even want to know about.

Pain.....

I'm no stranger to pain. I have raced with pain many many times. I do expect this to be as bad if not worse. Based on what I read this morning I don't even know what I'm in for. That's a good thing right? If I knew maybe I wouldn't do it. I hope that I forget about the pain eventually. My bucket list does have "complete a full Iron man" on it. Someday.......when I forget about the pain and all I remember is crossing the finish line I'll tackle that beast.

I feel good about how this is all coming along. I started running back in high school then did nothing for years and years. 6 years ago I took up running again. Since that time I have done numerous races from 5K's to full marathons. I've trained for all and I have slowing been increasing the distances. Two years ago I flipped to the triathlon races. I need more. I needed to stop running so much yet still get to race and train. I have completed 3 tri's with another one scheduled before my big race. Now honestly maybe I should of done a couple more before the 70.3 but I think I'm ready. I have 6 weeks of training to go.

Pain......bring it on.

Sacrifices

I try not to plan things to much. I try not to be too structured. Somethings have to be set in stone. Like when I have to pick up the kids from school, when they need to be dropped off for practice. Or when there is a game or a concert or open house or boy scouts..........I see a trend here. Nothing in my schedule is set in stone unless it has to do with my kids. Then all bets are off.

I remember when I first started training for this race I made the statement that everyone is going to have to work around me for a change. Everyone was going to have to make sacrifices so that I could get some of these very lengthy workouts in. I don't like when my kids have to sacrifice something just for me. I guess that's a mothers guilt.

Well really I don't think anything has changed. Other than maybe a Sat or two when the youngest has to wait an hour before he can attack the xbox. Riding the trainer is hard enough the last thing I want to do is turn off hoarders, flip this house, intervention, true life, or whatever else I may be watching that morning. He waits for me to be done.

I have made the effort to get 90% of my training done around my family. Granted during the week I have the house to myself by 8:30. But there are enough workouts that if I don't rearrange a bit then I'm working out both Sat and Sun for many hours each day. So I make sure on most weeks that I double and on occasion triple up the workouts so that I can manage a day off on Sunday. I do this for them. I say I do this for me, but really it's for them. When everyone is home I don't want to be known as the Mom who is always training. Or the wife that rather spend time by herself working out rather than have a big breakfast with the family. See it's not just about the workout itself but when you are doing such a long workout, it affects you the rest of the day. Energy levels are low and you just want some relaxation for a bit. Hard to do when everyone is around and there are things to do and games to go to. Then I'm the Mom who needs a nap but can't sleep so is tired and sore the rest of the day.

Today is a prime example. I made sure to double my workout on Monday and Tuesday even after 6 hard days in a row I gutted out two more. After those 8 days I finally got a recovery ride of only 45 mins yesterday. But there was a reason for this. It's to get ready for today's workout which really is supposed to be Sundays. A 2 hour ( 12-13 mile) strength run. It supposed to be a hill workout but I'll be changing that just to a faster pace instead to keep my shin from screaming at me tomorrow. I need to make sure I keep that pain under control. Getting to close to screw that up now. By doing this run today it will allow me to have Sunday off to do other things. Sat we have a game in the morning, which messes me up as I like to get all the training done early. Almost every game is between 9 and 11:30 until June. Crap. After the game I have a 4:30 bike and a 15 min run. That will be about 60 miles on the bike. While doing this I will feel incredibly guilty as my husband shovels 5 yds of mulch around the house. Yard work used to be my thing. Not anymore. If I can I will then help him with the mulch. Sunday "my day off" will be spent cleaning and shopping preparing for company that will arrive later that day.

So who really is doing all the sacrificing here? Yup that would be me. Part of being a Mom I guess. It's second nature.

I have 8 minutes until I have to start running. I told myself I would start at 9 to be done by 11 then shower and lunch. Then tend to our puppy and maybe make it to the drugstore. By then the kids will start showing up from school. Today no pickups and no drop offs! Yahoo! The husband however won't be home for dinner. Sacrifices. Just another day.......

Mistake

I made a mistake.

Now I have to think about what I did.

Think about what I saw.

Think about what I read.

I'm supposed to take it day by day.

Week by week.

Don't look back and don't look ahead.

Overwhelmed is not quite the right word I would use.

How about Lost?

I took a look at the schedule for the next four weeks. That would be the whole month of May. I was thinking that this weekend will be tough. Saturday a 3 3/4 hr. bike brick with a 30 min run. Then Sunday a 1 1/4 hr run. I was wrong. That is a piece of cake compared to what lies ahead. Why oh why did I look at the training calendar?

I am having a hard enough time now training, getting the kids where they need to go, taking care of a puppy, trying to get to the store before we run out of milk. Keeping up with household chores. Dinners have gotten quicker thanks to Schwans. House gets a good cleaning every other week thanks to the cleaning people. If I didn't have these options I'm not sure how I would get it all done. Now I admit that everyday there is downtime. I do have time to play around on the computer or watch a favorite show or two. That's not the problem. It's after training so hard day after day my body doesn't want to do the cleaning, cooking, mowing, gardening, so on and so on. I do just what needs to get done and nothing more. My body needs that down time so it can recover and get ready to do it all over again the next day. No big projects going on in the house right now. Those will have to wait. The painting, redoing the bathroom, bedroom and whatever else I want done won't happen until the fall. Unless of course my husband would like to do it for me. I just can't do it all.

So with the feeling that I just can't do it all and my family is eating frozen albeit good dinners I'm feeling guilty as it is. Then I had to go and look at the calendar. Hours and hours of training on the weekends (around baseball games of course. Many, many hours during the week.

These next 4 weeks will be the most important training I will do. This will make me or break me. Once I get to June the training starts to slow down by week 2. But at least there is a race at the end of the tunnel. Right now I'm starting down the tunnel not knowing how I'm going to get to the end.

Day by day.........smack me if I look more than a week ahead at a time!

Miami University Sprint Tri Report

I have spent the past few days trying to decide what kind of race report I would write. How did the race go? I don't even know really. I can't decide if it went well or if I fell short? As I sit here writing this I don't feel like I accomplished much this weekend. That hurts. After waiting a year to tackle the race again I would of hoped for at least a feeling of "yes, I did it! Yeah for me" Instead it's more like "yup I was there, I completed it, it wasn't easy, never is, but it's over"

Shall I start from the beginning? That would take me to Thursday night. I didn't sleep. Why, who knows. It was like a sleep before a race. Tossing and turning, thinking about random things. I didn't think I was all that nervous about the race. Been there done that twice now. I knew everything I needed to about the course yet I still found myself wondering would I make it up that one HUGE hill. So I got about 3 hours of interrupted sleep that night. Hit the road with the kids Friday morning. Traffic was good so we made excellent time and got to Miami by 5:30. Went straight to packet pickup where we could see my sisters and pick up our huge shirts. Note to self stop ordering large T-shirts. They don't fit anymore. And if it's a technical shirt like this one was forget it medium will be too big and small too small. One of the first things that one of my sister's friend said to me was, you look nervous, really? I thought I was just tired. Headed back to the hotel and checked in. Two queen beds, yes, no doubles. Maybe I will sleep tonight after all.

Had a very late dinner at around 8. I swear every time I eat in that town the service is terrible. My husband claims it's because it's a college town. Why should that make a difference. I ordered a yummy pasta dish and barely got down half. That worried me. I eat like a horse and I just couldn't eat much. Felt like my stomach would explode. Back to the room and chilled out. Hoping to fall asleep by 10:00 when my oldest son got dropped off. He was kind enough to help out the volunteers with anything they needed done for the next morning.

Our hotel was "uptown" where you will find restaurants, shopping, bars, bookstores and just about anything the town has to offer is on this one road about 1/4 mile long. The roads that run parallel to them are lined with college housing. Each house sporting it's own name. Some are kept up well and some look like they could be condemned. Out our lovely hotel room window we had an alley. To the right was Buffalo Wild Wings. To the left a house with a party starting around 9. Underneath our window that you couldn't see but would hear throughout the night, a dumpster. Needless to say I was up the entire night. I didn't sleep. I didn't even get a bit of sleep. I didn't get 10 mins here or 20 there. I was awake the entire night. I was miserable. Banging of the dumpster, the entire staff from the restaurant yelling outside or the frat boys screaming, hooting and hollering until about 4 am, guests yelling in the hallways at 3 am after the bars are closed in the hotel. One of the worst nights of my life. I vowed as nice as the location was to everything I refuse to stay there the night before the race again. So now I'm working on about 3 hours of sleep in 2 days and it's race morning. Up and out of bed at 4:50 since I was up anyway.

Forced down a bagel and knew my stomach still wasn't right. Usually when I travel not to be graphic but I get clogged up for a better lack of words. This was not the case. I was going and going often. Another sign something wasn't right. I tired to convince myself that this was a good thing. All cleaned out before the race. Usually I have the opposite problem. Headed the two blocks to transition around 6 am. Dad and I racked our bikes right next to each other then proceeded to watch the rack start to fall. Actually it was my husband who saw it fall. One bike fell off at the end and the rest just leaned. We tried to get it upright again and secure. Hoping that the bikes would still be hanging after the swim and not in a pile on the ground when we needed them. Temperature was chilly. I'm not even sure if it was 40 yet at 6 am. I do know inside they reported the temp as 41 when I started the swim. Now it's the waiting game. Transition was set up and it was off to the lockers to get changed for the swim. Meeting was at 6:50 and the race started promptly at 7:15.


I like to watch the swimmers. This is a Olympic size pool. A perfect first triathlon for someone. No open water swimming needed. Just 8 lanes, up and back, across the length of the pool. We were put in numbered order based on your estimated swim time when you registered. I find it fascinating to watch the fastest swimmers (about a 5 min 400m) as they glide through the water. They make it look easy. They don't even look like they are going that fast. After another trip to the bathroom to do more business (what's wrong with me) Dad and I got to start at about 7:55. I took a chance and dove in which you aren't supposed to do. Thought I would be able to get right into the stroke faster that way. Nope backfired. My goggles got clogged with water. Had to stop after a few strokes and fix them. Then I was off. Nothing to really report on the swim other than I had plenty of room. I was on my own for most of it. No one to pass and no one passing me. About 1/2 through I started questioning myself. Could I go faster? Yup I knew I could, I was swimming like I would in training, a comfortable pace, no pushing. I decided to stick with that. I shouldn't of. This is not a training day this is a race.

Out of the pool into the parking lot. Hit the timing mat at 9:41. Taking into account from the time I get out of the pool until the mat is probably 20 secs. That still makes my swim time about 30-45 seconds slower than I know I can do. It's cold and I'm freezing. Being a woman I have more clothes to put on. Shorts over the bathing suit, long sleeve shirt, jacket, socks, gloves, bike shoes, helmet, sunglasses. I'm off with a slow transition of 3:05. That should of been no more than 2 minutes. My body just didn't want to go any faster and I didn't allow it too.

The bike gets harder every year! I swear they add more hills. The first 3 miles are slightly uphill. A straight road that keeps going up and up. My breathing was labored and I could tell my heart rate was high. I needed to get the breathing and heart rate down. I managed to play around with the gears to get myself to pedal with not much resistance yet not pedal too fast to slow down the heart rate. This of course slowed my speed but I knew if I didn't I would be in trouble later. It's not much farther into the race you come across "THE HILL" What makes it so challenging is that you come around a curve that reduces your speed down so much you have no momentum to get up the hill. It's all up to you. The first year I made it 1/4 of the way. The second year 1/3. This year 1/3. Really? I thought at least a 1/2 maybe just maybe the whole way. So I unclipped and was happy that wearing the bike shoes was ok on this hill. I still had enough traction to get up. After getting back on the bike and being happy that was over, I was reminded that it doesn't get much easier. Hill after hill. Some rolling and some again straight up. I am so done with hills. I hate hills. Always have. So why are the first two races I do this year known for their tough courses because of the HILLS!? After a 51:42 I was done. Thank god. Another change of shoes. Whip off the helmet, glasses and jacket. Put on a hat take a drink and I'm off again. Now I have no times for T2 or the run because the race officials aren't done posting times. That's another long story. I would guess I took 1:30-2 mins in transition.

I had the hugest cheering section. Probably the loudest of anyone but my Dad. My sisters had gathered friends and family and just screamed as I ran by. Yeah me, I thought. It put a spring in my step and I took off for about the first 2 tenths of a mile then realized I was sprinting at about a 7 min mile. Couldn't breathe and backed off. Got my running legs back by mile 1 and was just cruising along. This would be the second time I would question myself. Could I go faster? I decided I could, but for some reason I didn't. I was comfortable, no pain, my shin was just stinging a bit not too bad so I just kept with that. I later learned I should of pushed it. I crossed the finish line happy to be done with a time of 1:32:55. About 2 minutes longer than last year. My dad finished just 6 1/2 minutes later. Giving him 2nd place and a well deserved age group medal.
To sum this lengthy report up. I am NOT a sprinter. I am an endurance athlete. This race just proves that. I have slow twitch fibers that will carry me for hours on end. I do not have fast twitch fibers to carry me through a race like this. Especially this year as about 85% of the training I do is not meant for short distance athletes. When I question myself if I'm going fast enough, go faster. Don't wimp out. Because I didn't push it, that "boy" I so badly wanted to beat, beat me by 53 seconds. 53 seconds. And why? Because his transition time was 2 mins shorter than mine. I swam faster than he did, I biked faster than he did. Not sure about the run yet. But possible I ran faster too. Looks like I need to work on transition.

So I'm disappointed with my time. I always want to do a little better each time I do a race I've done before. But it didn't happen. I try to take into account that I hadn't slept in 2 days. And I obviously was having stomach issues as they lasted the entire day after the race. I was pretty miserable. Couldn't even stay long at my sisters party they had for my Dad and me. Sorry girls. I'll make it up to you next year.

I have one more year to tackle this race. Kristy and Kelly will be seniors next year. I am determined to get better. By this time next year I will be able to focus on more sprinting and less endurance training. Right now my focus is on that 1/2 iron man.

Wake Up!

My head is not in the game. My body is not in the game. I want to be done with the game already.

It's a recovery week. Maybe that's why I feel the way I do. Always looking forward to recovery week and then you feel like crap when it gets here. My recovery week is someone elses peak week. It's all in perspective. For me it's a lot of shorter, less intense workouts. Monday all I did was spin class. Yesterday was a 2400m swim and a 5.5 mile run. Today should be a 45 min run but I have some other things to do today that will keep me out of the house for most of the day. Will it get done? Probably not. Just for the mere fact that my head has checked out. If I feel guilty for not doing it maybe just maybe I'll fit it in tonight before dinner. Tomorrow I will swim another 1500m and bike for 45 mins. Friday will be a rest day spent in the car.

I will be missing my first official workout by weeks end. I am supposed to bike for 2.5 hrs and run for 1.5 hours on Sat and Sun. That will be replaced by my first tri race of the season. Sat I will be racing for about 1.5 hours. So the 2.5 hour training day will not be happening unless I would like to bike my way home from Ohio on Sunday. Not to mention if I race hard enough I hope to be too sore to train on Sunday. Sat race is a sprint tri at Miami University. I have done this race two other times now so I know what to expect. I know how the race is run. I know which hill is the impossible one to ride up. I know whom I need to beat and no it's not my father. Please head and body, get with the program. Join me for the race will ya. Check back in by Sat morning. I need you.

I think this is the first time that I have not been anxious about a race. Not even thinking about it much actually. I know I'll be doing it. I know it's only a few days away. It's the first of the season. This will give me an idea of where my training is at right now. It's a sprint which means you are not so much an endurance athlete but a hard core sprinter. That usually gets me worked up as I am not a sprinter. But no, I'm fairly calm dealing with the day to day activities which seem to be allot right now with the kids. It's only Wed. Maybe by Friday it will all hit me.

My eating has been bad this week too. Way too much junk and way too much chocolate. I was 2 pounds away from my goal weight for June's race. Make that 4 away now. I have plenty of time I just have to get back in the game.

Well wasn't this the most negative, non uplifting post! My goal for today. Drop the attitude and get with the program. I don't have to workout to do that I just need my head to get back in the game. Quit whining. I chose to do this. I chose to train for a race that consumes a good portion of your life for 5 months. Wake up, eat right, have some fun, train hard and kick some butt on Sat. My goal time is anything under 1:29. To medal I would need about 1:11. Not going to happen. I will earn my mental medal when I pass this particular 21 year old "boy" that I would like to strangle. Long story. Maybe for another day.

To Love or to Hate?

Spring is upon us. How do I know? The grass is green and the clouds are grey , yet again today. I have a love hate relationship with Spring. Got to love the warmer temperatures and the tulips, my favorite flower. When the sun shines it's warm and inviting. Soon I will hit the road with my bike and get the triathletes tan. But it's days like today that make me hate Spring. Today is day two of rain, thunder, wind, mud puddles in the yard. A day of a wet dog who really doesn't like the rain either. There is no sun. But there still is a training schedule to be followed.

As I spun in spin this morning all I could think about is how I so want a morning during the week that I can just relax, not train, not run to the store, not figure out what time I have to do things by in order to get them all done. I would like to chill with the dog, maybe watch a talk show when I'm not riding the trainer. I realize I'm not the only one who doesn't get a chance to do much relaxing during the week. All those who work outside the home I commend you. Some times though the training just gets to be a lot with everything else going on in the house. Spring has sprung which means, baseball, and the spring play. For the next 3 weeks I will need to figure out how to be in two places at one time. After training in the morning my afternoons will be filled with a puppy and kids who need to be picked up or dropped off at various locations. It won't be easy, and I will get crabby. The training hours this month will increase, I will be tired. By dinner time I will be ready for bed. And if rain is in the forecast please shoot me as my body screams with achiness before the storms hit. I toss and turn as I have the past two days with this lovely spring weather. Rain is good, so says the song........I don't think so.

But with Spring comes the days that the weather is perfect. Where you can stop and smell the flowers while riding on the trails. I hope to do some light running on the roads, if my legs will handle it, on the days the sun shines bright. Soon the outdoor pool will be open at the gym. So I can swim my laps and get a tan at the same time. Multitasking at it's best.

For now I just wait. The weather is crappy and a cold front is coming through. Friday I hope will be the day I hit the road with my bike. I have to get used to the new clip pedals and areobars while moving! Only have 10 days until my first tri of the season!

Game On.

Man did I tri hard. I tried really hard. And I succeeded. I went 47 days without Chocolate. That is about 46 more days than I usually do. Gave it up for lent. Did that one other time and said never again. Guess it's like childbirth, I forgot how hard it is to do.

Now for some of you maybe that's not a big deal. But for me it's huge. I wasn't even able to have my chocolate milk after a very long workout. Something that has been scientifically proven to help in the recovery of the muscles. Works as well as some of the very expensive protein powders out there. I would just look at the chocolate milk and sigh. My son said on Ash Wednesday that he didn't think that would be too hard. He could give up chocolate. I then proceeded to tell him how much chocolate he had that day. He had chocolate milk, a chocolate chip cookie or two, a nutter butter, and a few Hersey kisses. Funny he didn't even realize he had any that day. I was keeping track. And I did so for the next 47 days. I watched as my family ate brownies, that I made, in front of me. I watched my kids eat my all time favorite girl scout cookies, Samoa. I watched my son eat Samoa ice cream and my other son drink chocolate milk on a daily basis. I watched, whined and whimpered as the days went on. But I never wavered. I never gave in. I never gave up. When I set my mind to something, game on.

I am doing the same with training. I haven't missed a workout yet. I never give in and I push myself every time. I will never give up. Game on.

Today though is a rest day. I managed to double up this week so I could have today as a break. A day to spend with my family. A day to spend with my sisters that I don't get to see very often anymore. A day to enjoy food and drink and try and not worry about tomorrow's workout. A day to enjoy the sunshine and get outside to enjoy the fresh air. A day to surprise my kids and my puppy with lots of fun and edible items. A day to hide the eggs and baskets where hopefully all are found. A day to be Mom, JoJo, Joelle........not a triathlete in training.

Tomorrow is Monday and with that comes week 10 of training. Week 10 is a monster. 2-4 hours of hard training each day. Long distances and high paces will be touched upon. By weeks end I will be toast. Not to mention it's a very busy week outside of my training. But it all will get done. I never give in I never give up. Game on.

Today, hide your chocolate bunnies, I'm on the warpath.