Ironman 2007 - Go Team!

2007-09-05T17:00:00.001-07:00

This blog is coming to a conclusion and the new season will begin with a new blog. which you can visit at
http://ironmancanada2008.blogspot.com/
Thank you again for all of your support!

2007-09-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

Blog Conclusion
Well, now that the season is over it's time to decide what is next. I have decided to try to get a little speed back into my legs and train for the California International Marathon in December. I have run this marathon several times and although it is not my favorite course, it is a good one. Getting speed back in my legs is proving difficult. I have not trained with a true marathon schedule in about 1 1/2 years when I trained for Boston 2006. I seem to be stuck in a rut of one speed only on the run so I'm trying to break out of that with some tempo and faster than race pace runs. We will see how it goes.

I have also decided to continue with Ironteam as a mentor and will train to complete Ironman Canada next year. Skip and I travelled to Canada at the end of August to support my teammates that competed there and to sign up for 2008. The only way to get into Ironman Canada is to sign up in person the day after the event. (TNT also gets registration slots but they prefer us to get our own if we can so more people can join the team).

Just before we went to Canada Skip told me that he wanted to join the team too!!! He loves the swimming and biking but is not too fond of the running part so he is planning on a swim/bike/walk Ironman. He has already started doing some short runs however so I'm sure he will do a run/walk combo for the marathon. That is what most of us mortal Ironmen and women do anyway!

So, we will start a new blog for the 2008 season with info on how we are both doing.

2007-08-05T16:26:00.000-07:00

Ironman USA Lake Placid 2007 Race Report

Well, I am finally home with the computer to write my race report (at 4am – gotta love the jet lag). We left Lake Placid on Tuesday the 24th to meet our kids in London and travel on to Denmark. While we were in Denmark we visited several friends (20 actually – 4 families) and attended a wedding. It was a great trip and very relaxing so now I feel like the Ironman was a very long time ago. (This picture is before the start – Jen Varela and me!)

So we will go back in time to the beginning of the journey.

The trip to New York was uneventful with a flight to JFK and a rental car to Lake Placid. We stopped over in Lake George and arrived in Lake Placid at about noon on Friday 7/20. Friday was the day the athletes had to check in. That process was a little more involved than a marathon with ID verification, USAT membership purchase (mandatory), individual instructions about the tags, timing chip, and bags (5 of them), not to mention stepping on the scale to be weighed (something I had been trying to avoid since beginning the exercise taper and not being successful with the appetite taper!)

I also had to pick up my bike from Tri Bike Transport and check that everything was working ok. It felt to me like the front derailler was not shifting smoothly and needed an adjustment. We ended up taking it in to the local bike shop at about 10:30pm for a last minute adjustment. They were open all night to accommodate nervous athletes and all their bizarre needs. Even if it was just another “blessing”.

Friday afternoon the team met for a short swim but I opted to stay on shore. Getting into my wetsuit exhausts me (it is very snug, as it should be, and fits fine once it is on but I am not very experienced with a wetsuit so it is a battle to get it on) As we walked back from the lake we got totally drenched. The skies simply opened up and let loose. We were lucky enough to find an EZ up that was set up on the lawn in front of a church with a young family huddled underneath. We ran there to take refuge and were soon joined by others. I think we ended up with about 12 people crowded under there. Of course most of the discussion during that time was what the weather would be like on Sunday. I was quite nervous that we would have rain since I had never really ridden in the rain before. The forecast was for partly sunny on Saturday and Sunday so we were hoping that would hold.

Friday night included a meeting with the team which was a challenge to find and sorting through all the things that needed to go into each bag. 5 bags – it was a bit overwhelming. We had a Morning bag (with the wetsuit, goggles, cap, body glide which becomes your finish bag with the clothes you take off in the morning), Transition 1 bag (swim to bike), Transition 2 bag (bike to run), Special Needs Bike bag (available at mile 56 on the bike) and Special Needs Run bag (available at mile 13 on the run). It is really a good thing that we had a king size bed because laying all this stuff out is a mess. The logistics is quite tricky especially when you don’t know what the weather will be like and I wanted to put in everything I MIGHT want because it is a long day and if you are uncomfortable, it will be a really long day. It is also very likely that you won’t get back the special needs bags so that makes you think a little more about what you want to put in them. All in all, my checklist grew to 71 items. Totally crazy.

Saturday morning we picked up my bike and Skip did the test ride for me. For some reason I did not want to ride it. He said it shifted fine so we took it down to the start to check it into the transition area and get it set up. Shower cap over the seat and plastic bag over the handle bars and it was set for the night. I also had to turn in my transition bags which would normally hang on a rack but mine were in the “overflow” section so they sat on the ground. It might have been a good thing however because they had everything I could possibly imagine needed so they were quite heavy and might not have done well hanging.

The rest of Saturday was for rest and relaxation and trying not to worry about Sunday, which of course was impossible.

Sunday – race day – finally. I think I might have gotten 2 hours sleep but that’s ok. Up at 4am, shower, and prepare the last minute things. Frozen bottles for special needs on the bike so I don’t have to re-fill, re-checking all the food options in the special needs bags, last minute instructions to Skip about what I need at the finish (recovery drinks mostly). And we are off to the start. Now doesn’t that lake look inviting???

There are still lots of things to do… turn in the special needs bags (to 2 different places), get body marked, put drinks and food on bike, stand in the porta potty line for 30 minutes (yikes!), struggle into the wetsuit, and walk to the lake…. All by 6:30. Then it is the time for the final decision about where to start. Most people were hanging out on the shore, some people were in the water. I decided to get in and get used to the water which was actually pretty nice. The course is a double loop of a very long skinny rectangle and my plan was to swim about 10-15 yards off of the buoy line. I positioned myself in the water at about ¼ the distance back from the start based on my predicted speed. Treading water in a wetsuit is easy so I just floated around, tried not to shiver and wished we could just go.

The gun went off and we started. Things were definitely crowded but not too bad for about 15 minutes then I got slammed with a huge crowd that should have started ahead of me but didn’t. It was like swimming in a washing machine and I was thinking that for people who are afraid to swim under normal circumstances it would be a nightmare. Skip said that he could see a big group of guys that started on a flotating pier towards the shore and just mowed people over as they went. For me, I just tried to make sure I did not get kicked in the face and I muddled along with the pack. The first loop was extremely crowded the entire time and the second loop was just very crowded. I rarely had space around me to swim my own way and I even had to use some water polo moves to try to find some space. I had expected to do the swim in 1:20 and finished in 1:17 so I was on track. I do think I could have gone faster with better positioning but it is kind of a crap shoot where you end up.

Out of the water and to the wetsuit strippers. Yes, they have people there to strip your wetsuit off for you…. How would you like to have that job?? Now you know why I wore a one piece suit!
It was a pretty good distance to transition and I decided to walk because I was a little dizzy. I got into the changing tent area and it was very crowded. There are people in there to help but imagine having all your bike stuff (helmet, clothes, shoes, etc) in a plastic bag and your wetsuit, goggles and cap in hand. You have a folding chair to sit on so for a while I kind of sat there trying to figure out where to begin and how to juggle all the stuff. In most triathlons you set up your own transition area with all your gear laid out next to your bike so that you can logically get changed for the next phase. Working out of a plastic bag with no room to set anything down does not make for a fast transition. And unfortunately I needed to use the porta potty before heading out and there were not very many so I had to wait in line…… 18 minutes after leaving the swim I was ready to move on.

On to the bike. They were very good about getting your bike off the rack and ready for you to take out. We mounted outside the Olympic oval next to the giant Gatorade bottle and were off to a downhill start. I let myself settle into biking for a while before trying to drink and eat. I had set my watch timer to beep every 25 minutes to remind me to take an endurolyte tablet (electrolytes) and I quickly got on track with that.

First of all let me say that it is a beautiful course! If you ever have a chance to do some biking in that area, do it. Of course I LOVED the fact that the road was closed to auto traffic so I never had to worry about that. It was not too crowded with cyclists either so I could really just bike at my own (slow) pace and not worry about anyone else….. unlike the swim. Oh, I forgot to mention that the weather definitely cooperated and we had sunny skies all day!

The description of the course says that it is downhill to Keene. Well, that section ends lower than it starts and there is a great long sweeping downhill right before Keene where I managed to get up to 39.4 mph which is a new record for me but it is definitely not all downhill. It was a really nice ride and I was able to use the aero bars much more than I though I would. At about mile 30 I was averaging over 17 mph which was very fast for me. I was wondering if I was just riding faster than normal or if the course was fast to that point. Unfortunately it was the latter and by the end of the first loop my average was exactly 15mph. I hoped to come into the ½ way point at 12:30 and I did, so again, everything was according to schedule. I felt that the course was very do-able and was ready to tackle the second loop.

Of course the second loop was a bit more difficult. It is funny how I did not notice all the long uphills on the first lap, but really noticed them the second time around. The long sweeping downhill was still great except that we slowed down considerably in the middle because someone had crashed and was being attended to by paramedics. I tried not to look or think about what had happened, but sent mental good wishes to the rider as I continued on.

Somewhere between Keene and Upper Jay, about mile 75, I started feeling lonely and slow. I needed all of you then. I started thinking about all the honorees that have struggled with chemotherapy, surgeries, and other treatments that were certainly not easy, as well as all of you that had wished me well and were tracking my progress on the computer. It helped me keep up the pace. Thank you to all of you!

I finished the bike in 8:10 and was very happy to be under the cut off by about 45 minutes. That was my biggest concern on this adventure. I have only been cycling for 1 year and since this course is so hilly (over 8,000 ft of climbing) I was worried that I might not make the bike cutoff. After the first loop when I knew that I had enough time to complete the bike I really started to enjoy the scenery and the beautiful day. I played leap frog with Jenny and Celeste from our team which was also fun because it gave me someone to connect with during the course. It was also great to do everything in double loops because we got to see our friends, family and coaches more often that way.

Back into transition and then out to the run. I started the run exactly 10 hours into the event (5pm). That made it very easy to keep tabs on whether I was going to make my 5 hour marathon goal. I say goal very loosely because I really did not know what to expect on the marathon. I have run 20 marathons in the last 6 years, but none of them were after 10 hours of working out so my 5 hour estimate was really a shot in the dark.

The run went well. I was pretty conservative (surprise surprise) and used my normal routine of walking at each mile while I drank. I also walked the significant uphills to give me a little more recovery along the way and try not to tax my legs too much. The course was 2 different out and backs twice so we came through town a lot. It was good to see the spectators a lot, but bad when you had to leave town again while others were headed to the finish line! I got to see lots of my teammates during the run because of the way the course was designed so that was great. It is also the easiest of the three activities to talk so we visited a lot along the way.

I completed the run in 4:46 so I was under my 5 hour goal by quite a bit. I was pretty happy about that. Overall I wanted to finish under 15 hours and my total time was 14:46 so that was good too. I was very happy to really enjoy the course including beautiful mountains, rivers, and lakes. I saw a gorgeous sunset and enjoyed looking out over mirror lake to the lights in town during the last loop of the run. I think I would do this one again if I have the chance.

I must admit that everything went pretty much according to plan so really I should never do another one because the odds of not having any issues again are pretty slim. No injuries inhibited me, no mechanical issues, no stomach issues (well, just a couple of extra porta potty stops but that is ok), and no weather problems. So as I said before, an Ironman is a 2.4 mile open water swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, followed by a marathon – 26.2 mile run. And that is all there is to it!

Thank you again for all your support!!!!! And let me know when you are ready to join the team – IRONTEAM that is!

2007-07-06T17:04:00.000-07:00

So what exactly IS an Ironman race?

I have had a couple of people ask me this question so I decided I should address it. My race will be in Lake Placid New York on July 22nd.

We will all begin at 7am - over 2,000 people at once. We will swim 2.4 miles (3.86km) in Mirror Lake (2 loops) and then transition to the bike.

We will then ride 112 miles (180 km) on the bike with over 8,000 ft of elevation climb (Yikes!!). The bike course is also 2 loops.

We will then transition to the run which will be a full marathon - 26.2 miles (42.1 km) on hilly roads.

I expect to take about 15 hours to complete this event. Anyone finishing after midnight (17 hours) does not receive a medal. My biggest concern is making the bike cut-off which is 5:30pm.

That's all there is to it!

2007-07-06T16:55:00.000-07:00

June was a tough month!

Well, I apologize for going such a long time without writing a new entry but June was a tough month. I was sick most of it, starting with a stomach thing (during the BIG Lake Berryessa training weekend) and ending with a cough. It was pretty normal stuff except that it is not normal for me to be sick more than a couple of days. I just figure that my resistance was low and the training was not really allowing me to fully recover. Anyway, I'm nearly 100% now, so life is good again.

A couple of weeks ago I completed an 8 1/2 hour workout, another first (longest). It was a triple brick with a 2 hour ride followed by a 50 minute run, three times through. So that 8 1/2 hours does not count any transition or prep time, it is truly workout time. Needless to say I was tired when I finished but felt good about it.

I am now 5 days into my taper phase and the workouts are MUCH shorter. For example, this weekend I have a 2000 yard open water swim followed by a 10 mile run and Sunday I will do a 1 1/2 hour ride followed by a 30 minute run. It is nice to have more time in the weekends with the shorter workouts. Now I should probably pay attention to just how much I am eating too!

2007-05-23T17:13:00.000-07:00

Another First!
Skip and I completed our first Century ride on Sunday and managed pretty well. It was not without it's "moments" however.
The morning started out clear and cool in beautiful Watsonville California. First gripe of the day... we got to the school early and they directed us to park in the furthest corner of the lot... now how is THAT fair??? So right off the bat we rode extra to get to the starting point of this 101.5 mile ride. Oh well.
On to the ride. The first 10 miles or so we cruised through town with TNT mentor Joan leading the way, trying to get the body warmed up before we turned onto a Rural road and started into the "rollers". Rollers is one of those terms that varies widely in interpretation. In my book, these were mostly hills, but beautiful ones with redwood trees surrounding us and very little vehicle traffic. The hills were very doable however and we tried to ignore the mountain before us as we rounded each bend to see another uphill. We mostly climbed for the next 20+ miles but the scenery was so pretty that we were not complaining. I did not really expect redwood forest so I was pleasantly surprised.
We pulled into the first "rest stop" at mile 14 and had a couple of snacks and used the facilities. At this stop we discussed the course with a local woman(while in the porta potty line - where all important conversations happen). She informed us that we had a few more miles of "rollers" and then 2 serious climbs (complete with false summits) before the next rest stop at mile 30.
We headed out a little concerned about what was in store for us. The serious hills were enough to get our attention and put the legs into full throttle but we managed them pretty well. At this point I was very glad we have been climbing the road into Lake Del Valle on a regular basis. The only really bad thing about this stretch was the road was more patches than road so it was very rough. Some of the views from the top were spectacular and the next rest stop had an even better selection of snacks, bagels, fruit, etc.
Pulling out of rest stop number 2 we had several miles of what most were calling "sweeping downhills" on Soquel Road with very nice pavement and a decent shoulder. Although it had quite a bit of traffic, people were polite for the most part (excluding the truck driver that did not yield the right of way to Joan - YIKES) This part was pretty nice as you might imagine and I managed to stay a little more relaxed than usual for a downhill (descending is not my forte).
We started heading for the coast with our next rest stop at Calfee bikes (home of the bamboo bike) at La Selva Beach (never heard of the city before). This was mile 54 and at this stop we were served espresso drinks (Skip had a carmel latte - I declined), biscotti, PBJ, olives, nuts, fruit, etc. You can see that the rest stops are getting better and better. It was about this point when I became a little concerned that I had not done too many rides over 50 miles so I was wondering how I was going to handle it. The only option was to just keep peddling so that is what we did.
The next stretch was pretty long. We were pushing to the next stop at mile 78 where we would be served lunch. Are you starting to get the idea that we are riding from feed trough to feed trough - exactly right - food is an excellent motivator.
We had some great stretches in this part of the ride where we could get into the aero bars and cruise along at 20+ mph with clear roads and sea breezes. This all came to a very sad end when we turned off the farm roads and faced the VERTICAL WALL at mile 75. Now, this wall should really have had an escalator, elevator, or at least a rope tow. I have never imagined that I would try to ride a bike up a road like that. Right away I noticed the people walking and thought "I'm not walking this thing" and the next thought was "How am I possibly going to ride this thing?" We put on brave faces and worked the first part of the hill out of the saddle, when we sat down and shifted to the Granny gear we immediately started crawling at about 5 mph. It went on for a LONG time, I changed gears and got out of the saddle again for about 12 cycles and then sat down and changed back to the granny. It was at this point that I realized that if I went any slower I would just fall over. I was about 2/3 of the way up when I bailed out onto a little side road. My legs were shaking so much that standing was even a bit of a challenge. Sad to say, but we both ended up walking the last bit.
Mentally this was really tough. I really did not want to bail out but I still had 25 miles to go and had no idea what was ahead. This lovely ego deflater was followed by another super steep climb but luckily it was not as long and we both managed to make it up. We entered the next rest stop a little less than enthusiastic. Both of us had been thinking that we were doing well and would like to repeat this ride until then. Now we are not so sure. Lunch was good and plentiful however, and I must say that the chocolate chip cookie helped me recuperate.
We only had to go another 12 miles from the lunch stop before being rewarded with strawberry crepes to sustain us to the finish. The last 25 miles was my fastest, and the gentlest terrain so I was able to re-group and find more energy towards the end. Skip kept asking me if I was finally warmed up because I had picked up the pace so much. I think I just wanted to be done.
Rolling into the finish at 105 miles (remember we had to park in the boonies...) and just before 5pm. They were serving a dinner of chicken and fish but we decided to pass on that. I did do a 20 minute run to get the kinks out and that was good. My knees were hurting from all the out of saddle climbing but the seat survived.
All in all it was a morale boost to have gone over 100 miles. I know I can do 112, and I know I can run when I'm done. I just hope I won't need that rope tow in Lake Placid!!!

2007-05-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Marathon

While California melted in 95 degree weather, I was getting a little wet, but that is ok, cold is better than hot when running.

2007-05-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Vancouver Marathon
Last weekend I ran the Vancouver marathon along with a bunch of my former TNT marathon buddies. It was great to get out of town, visit friends that I have not seen in a while, and test out this cross training I've been doing.

I'm glad to report that cross training works. While training for a marathon (and I have done quite a bit of marathon training over the last 5 years) I usually average 40 miles of running per week and get up to about 60. I do weekly long runs, medium length tempo runs, and speed work with lots of 3mile runs at 10k pace and 800s at 5k pace. The training I am doing now for Ironman averages about 25-30 miles per week, not very many long runs (although I added a few in preparation for Vancouver) and virtually no speed work. Of course I am doing 6-8 hours of cycling per week and 2-3 hours of swimming, and core work, along with this running so I'm working out nearly twice as many hours per week.

So you are probably wondering where this is leading ....... I ran a conservative race, staying comfortable the entire time and finished in 3:52.41. My splits were 1:58/1:54 so I ran stronger in the second half which is the way I like to run marathons. Now, this is not a PR time for me, but it is a Boston Qualifying time and since it is not my A race I was not pushing for a PR. I'm just happy to discover that I can still maintain a good pace and feel strong the entire time.

So, thumbs up for cross training!

2007-04-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

RECORD WEEK !

Well, I hit a new record this week with 15 1/2 hours of training, 9 hours of which was over the weekend.

We had a double coached workout this weekend. Saturday we met in Menlo Park for 1 hour of pool swimming, 1 hour of running - in the rain, 1 hour (plus a little for me) of biking - in the rain, then 30 minutes running with core training, 30 minutes biking on the trainers, 30 minutes running combined with run drills, and finally 20 minutes on the bike on trainers.

Sunday we met at lake Del Valle in Livermore for a 1 hour lake swim, bike ride to Tracy and back (60 miles) and then 2 x 30 minute trail runs with core training in between. That was the schedule anyway and some members of our team accomplished all of that. Many of us however only made 1/2 of the 60 mile ride because the winds were blowing 25-30 mph with gust to 50 mpg (according to the radio report that Skip heard). When we came down Tesla Road into Tracy the wind was a cross wind and we literally had to lean hard to the left to stay up. Controlling the bike was extremely challenging and with no shoulder it was pretty dangerous. At our water stop on Corral Hollow the coaches and managers where trying to figure out the logistics of getting everyone back to Del Valle including bikes. Lucky for me (and Mai, May, and Leslie) Skip was out riding as well and rode to Del Valle, retrieved the Explorer and came to rescue us; so I missed out on 29 miles of the ride.

I have to say that I felt good about accomplishing the ride over the hill to get out of Del Valle, and over the hill from Livermore into Tracy but was disappointed to not be able to do the entire course. It was just too unsafe with the winds, no shoulder and quite a bit of traffic. I guess I will have to conquer that ride another day.

And just in case you are curious, I burned over 4800 calories in the weekend workouts...too bad I'm not eating glutens or dairy because that could provide for one BIG BROWNIE SUNDAE! oh well, soy ice cream and a buckwheat waffle will have to suffice.

2007-04-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

Here is the group on Sunday morning. We are not ALL in attendance but those who are sure look good huh?

We all seemed to feel pretty good the day after so maybe it wasn't all that bad...... hmmmmmm

2007-04-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

Wildflower LONG Course.... where to begin...

at the beginning I suppose and this picture is the beginning of the day (if you skip the getting up at 4:15 and driving from Paso Robles to the lake part). Here I am in my transition area as the sun is thinking about getting up. I become quite fond of this spot as I spent a lot of time there between venues (gotta work on that transition speed).

The swim started promptly at 7am. As we all trudged down to the water and duly forced ourselves to get in, submerge, and actually swim a little to acclimate to the water. Since I was one of 3 people in a sleeveless wetsuit I think I get to whine just a little more than the others about the cold.

When I say the swim started promptly at 7am I mean that for the participants it started promptly at 7am since we got in the water at 7am and then waited and waited and waited. Apparently the person that was supposed to give our staff of volunteers the canoes did not get to work on time but came screeching into the parking lot at about 7:15. Of course we did not know this because they were over at the dock and we were in the water shivering. I think we actually started around 7:25 and I figure I shivered away all the early morning breakfast calories I had consumed.

On to the swim... I love my new Blue Seventy Helix sleeveless wetsuit. It was SO much easier to swim in than the orca long sleeve. So I got into a rhythm and only saw about 4 people ahead of me at the turn around point. Coming back to shore the sun was directly in our eyes for sighting, but that was ok because I swim pretty straight (verified by Skip in a canoe) and I could see the shore so I only sighted about every 20 strokes. This was all great until I SLAMMED head first (not hand, arm, or shoulder) but HEAD first into someone who had stopped swimming and was vertical in the water. It was such a total shock because I was cruising along pretty quickly and I really thought I had run into a pylon or something. I have know idea how hurt the other person was because I just started swimming again but it sure rang my bell. I ended up occasionally having a little blurry vision in my right eye while on the bike which I now think had something to do with the collision, but it has been ok since them. So, out of the water in 43 minutes (1.2 mile swim), run up to the transition area and proceed to take about 15 minutes to get on the bike because my hands and feet were too cold to function properly. I also put on all the spare clothing I had for the bike, leg warmers, arm warmers, and jscket, only to take them off again by mile 20.

On to the bike... It's a hard course - yes it is. We drove the course on Friday and it did not look all that bad. Ha! There is a lot of steady incline, hills, and about 4 miles of serious climbing from mile 41-45. They call that stretch "nasty grade" and well deserved. Especially when you get to the top and it turns to the left, then you get to the top, and it turns to the right and goes UP again, then it turns to the right and goes UP AGAIN. Thank you Thank you Thank you Coach Tom for riding up the top portion with me and keeping me going, because I made it. I actually passed 2 people on the lower portion so that was a boost for me.

Next comes the screaming downhill where by the time I got to the bottom I thought my hands were permanently stuck in the drops on the brakes (yes I feathered them but my hands were still stuck). The rough patch of road during that downhill was a little scary, not to mention all the cars that passed us on that stretch. So when that was over it was a relief except there are "rollers" to follow. Rollers,,,,, what a dumb name. They are hills, that is all there is too it. Finally we come to another steep downhill into the transition area...... 4 hours and 15 minutes, and 56 miles, later.

On to the run.... as Alex would say, "my happy place". It was not all that happy on Saturday. I have not mentioned nutrition so far but I'll tell you it was not working for me. I had decided to try Hammer Products Sustained Energy mixed with gels, and in retrospect I guess I mixed it too strong. At about mile 40 on the bike I stopped drinking the mixture I had and started drinking just water. I felt like I had a brick in my stomach and Coach Alex suggested that I try to dilute it with water. So going into the run I had been drinking only water for over an hour. I choked down 1 hammer gel, and decided to take Gatorade Endurance for my drink rather than continue with the hammer product. They will be serving Gatorade Endurance at Lake Placid so it makes sense to make sure I can tolerate it towards the end. Really all I wanted was water so I drank water at all the aid stations and continued to dilute my drink as well. I did take some endurolytes because I knew that I was not getting enough electrolytes drinking mostly water. I also took tums which thankfully one of my teammates told me to carry in case my stomach was not happy. THANKS JEN!

The run course is hilly and was hot, but under normal nutritional circumstances would probably be one I would enjoy. It included lots of dirt trails, which I like, and had a lot of variety. There is one section called the pit which goes downhill on the road for about 1 mile and the entire time we were just thinking about the fact that at the bottom we had to turn around and run back up it. YUK. I was kind of running out of steam by this point because I had not taken in much in the calorie department for the last 3 hours. My stomach was still not happy and I knew that I only had a couple of miles left so I decided not to worry about the lack of calories; I just knew that I was running on empty. The last mile was the same steep downhill that we had done on the bike and I ran an 8:29 mile there (it was too steep to really let go). I won't say what my other miles were... I'll just say I took A LOT of walk breaks during the 13.1 mile run.... it was training right???

All in all the three events took me about 7 1/2 hours (to cover 70.3 miles) but with my less than stellar transitions I finished over 8 hours after I started. It was tough but I made it.

Highlights:

The Swim: I'm happy with my time, I felt good (except for the crash part), and I love my new wetsuit - thanks Jen Elson for all your advice

The Bike: it was a confidence boost to have done it and thanks Mai for keeping me company at the top of the world, and Coach Tom and Alex for helping me get there.

The Run: I loved parts of the dirt trails through the trees and was very glad for Jen Varela's company from mile 6 to 10

And the knee was absolutely FINE!

2007-03-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

All is well with me.
Just a brief update on my training. All is going well and I have been back up to the full training schedule for about 2 weeks now. My knee still complains now and then (like during the hill repeats this last weekend) but overall it is pretty good.

The past 2 weekends we have had pretty long brick workouts. During these workouts we go back and forth between cycling and running. One time it was 4 rounds of 60 minutes biking and 10 minutes running and last weekend it was 3 rounds of 50-35-25 minutes cycling on the trainer alternating with running hill repeats of 30-20-15 minutes followed by 1 hour of core strenght exercises.

I am generall working out 12-14 hours per week for 3 weeks followed by a recovery week where we reduce overall mileage and time. The week coming up is a recovery week and I'm looking forward to 2 days off completely. We then have a taper week before our 1/2 way to Ironman weekend.

The 1/2 way to ironman weekend is a triathlon on the Wildflower course at Lake San Antonio near Paso Robles. We will swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles and run 13.1 miles. I hear that the course if very hilly so it will be a challenging day. I'll be sure to post an update after that weekend.

2007-03-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

Enough about the knee already!

Ok, the knee survived about 6 1/2 hours of workout this weekend without much trouble so I guess I'm back to the full training schedule. I must admit it was a just a little bit nice to not have to train, but that's history now.

I seriously need some more picture for the blog so I'll work on that.....

2007-03-02T19:44:00.000-08:00

Once again - Knee news

Many of you have asked for a status report so here it is. I have started to get back to normal training but slow and easy and not too many hills for now. Today I did a 6 mile run without any issues so that is good news. We have some long workouts this weekend so it will be a good test for me.

Both coach Alex (also a physical therapist) and teammate Dr. Scott Bergman (a chiropractor) have told me that my hamstrings, quads, and IT band are tight so I have additional stretching to do. Dr. Scott also adjusted my tibia (ouch). I'm optomistic about how things are going and I will just have to pay attention to any warning signs and listen when (as my cousin Lynn puts it) "my knees are talking".

Thank you for all the well wishes and positive energy!

2007-02-24T21:42:00.000-08:00

NEW KNEE NEWS...

Well, I finally had the MRI and orthopedics appointment and the word is nothing! They can see nothing wrong with my knee. I guess it is good news, especially since it has been feeling pretty good, so I got the green light to work back into normal training. (Is what we are doing normal???)

So now, I'm just out of shape after 2 weeks of barely doing anything other than core work. I swam and ran today (only 4 miles) but so far so good. So as Renee said, maybe my knee just needed a vacation.

2007-02-14T17:26:00.000-08:00

Knee news...
I went back to Kaiser today because I could not put any weight on my foot this morning. The visit did not result in too much except getting the phone numbers for MRI and Orthopedics so of course I called them instead of waiting for them to call me. The MRI is scheduled for Tuesday 2/20 at 6am! And he said that the results take 3-7 days so of course when I am there I will gently remind them that my Orthopedics appointment is on the 23rd.

2007-02-14T11:11:00.000-08:00

One more for the road!

Dottie and Karianne -

Beautiful Survivors!

2007-02-12T20:24:00.000-08:00

Knee news

For those of you who know that I have somehow injured my knee and want an update, I don't know too much yet. First of all, I don't know how I injured it except that it has been clicking and catching off and on for a few weeks (well, maybe months) but never had pain associated with it until last Friday where out of the blue I got up from my desk at work and it felt like it caught, or locked and then it hurt. The pain progressed until that night I could not stand on it or bend it.

The injury clinic Doctor referred me to orthopedics and that appointment is scheduled on 2/23. My primary care doctor requested an MRI today but I have not heard when that appointment will be yet.

The brace that they gave me has helped immobilize the knee and it feels much better now. It might even feel normal except I am afraid to test it out. I have been a total bum since Thursday, not working out at all so I am anxious to figure this little glitch out and move on. I'll keep the blog posted on the progress.

2007-02-12T20:13:00.000-08:00

More Wine Tasting Pictures

Me and Dottie celebrating the end to her chemo! Yay Yay Yay!!!

Karianne, my original honoree and a great success story in this fight we are all in to end cancer. She is celebrating over 6 years cancer free after a round with non hodgkins lymphoma for which she had chemotherapy, total body radiation and a bone marrow transplant in January 2000.
Aren't they both beautiful!?!?!

2007-02-11T22:30:00.000-08:00

Wine Tasting Fun!

Thank you everyone that attended the wine tasting/auction fund raiser today. And to those of you who were not able to attend, you missed lots of great wine, food, and auction competition.

All in all it was a successful fundraiser bringing in nearly $4,000. Thanks to everyone involved with a special thanks to my helpers, Skip, Bill Carey (owner Tracy Wine Cellar) John Monnich (owner Silkwood Winery), Barbara Maciel (Wine Warehouse), Chelsie, Garrett, and my buddies, Dottie, Diana, and Cristi.

2007-01-30T19:51:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated the blog. Oops.

We had a practice tri on Treasure Island on the 21st which ended up being a little unconventional. The water was only 47 degrees so our merciful coach took pity on us and we switched to a run-bike-run triathlon.

The first run was a little more than 5k and once again I had to start in the last wave (4). Coach Tom said it was because I was a fast swimmer, but we were not swimming!! I knew it was a recipe for going out too fast but oh well (I averaged 8:03s on that run - ok it was a little too fast).

Moving on to the bike, Treasure Island is not a great place to ride a road bike. Ok, honestly, it is a terrible place to ride a road bike. Potholes, cracks, wind, a million turns on each loop, and this ride was 6 loops. I ended up averaging 15.4mph which probably sounds incredibly slow to some of you, but hey, I'm a newbie on the bike.

The second run was 4 loops, according to my GPS 6.74 miles and I averaged 7:54 so I was happy with that run.

The highlight of the day was having Dottie on the bike course practicing her cheer leading! I'm sorry I did not get a picture of her standing in the middle of the road, in the glass, so that we would all avoid her and the glass at the same time. Yes, she told us there was glass there, but it was not sinking into our helmeted heads in time so she just stood in our way, very effective.

All in all it was a much better day than the first practice triathlon and NO FLAT TIRE (until the next day).

2007-01-04T21:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I was finally able to meet up with my honoree, Dottie and doesn't she look GREAT?!! She is still dealing with treatments and decisions about what step to take next but she amazes me with her positive outlook and focused energy.

I am in awe of her drive and desire to support all of us who are trying to support cancer patients. She is totally dedicated to Team in Training and plans to be at our Olympic Tri in a couple of weeks (just for grins!). You go Dottie!!!

For those of you wondering about the training lately, we are still in the base phase, working out about 10-12 hours per week for 3 weeks and dropping down to 7-8 hours for a recovery week. We are in the middle of a recover week now and it is a welcome respite. Everything is still going well for me, the little issues don't stay around very long so that is a good sign.

2007-01-02T09:49:00.000-08:00

Getting back to that challenge question... remember the one asking what coach Tom is telling me? Well, Diana and Chelsie responded so they won a prize. And here they are modeling their prizes - beanies!

2006-12-19T09:20:00.000-08:00

Now doesn't this look like fun??? We are all very anxious to get the Treasure Island swim over with. Or maybe coach Tom (with the megaphone) will tell us he is just kidding.....no of course not.

Many thanks go to the support crew who braved the nasty weather to help us train!! And Judy for the great pics!

Moving on to the bike = rear flat! I guess that is what training is all about. You can see that I had plenty of moral support out there including team honoree Laura (with the pump).

Now finally to the run - my comfort zone. Of course we will see just how comfortable it is for 26.2 miles after 2.4 miles of swimming and 112 mile of cycling........

2006-12-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

OK, it is about time for an update. We ended this recovery week with a short triathlon for team members only. The weather was less than perfect with rain and wind on Treasure Island. We walked through the parking lot, up the hill, down the stairs to the beach for what was supposed to be an 800 yard swim but what was realistically more like 1000 yards. We swam 2 loops around bouys and boats. I had to start in group 2 (5 minutes behind 1/2 the swimmers) because I did not get my number as soon as I got there (lesson learned).

After the swim we walked back up the stairs, down the hill, through the parking lot to the transition area. Needless to say it was not very fast. On the the bike which was 3 loops with very wet roads, lots of turns, tons of potholes and bumpy asphalt, and a REAR FLAT TIRE that set me back 17 minutes. Once I got it changed and got back on the road I was so cold it was like starting over again.

Finally I got to the run and although my feet were numb for the first loop, I was able to consistenly pass people which made me feel a little better.

All in all, not a stellar day, but just what I need during training so that I can handle whatever comes my way on race day.

Oh, by the way, for those of you who are still wondering what Coach Tom was telling me......... he was demonstrating how to finish the stroke - all the way back past the hip. What he is doing with his legs I have no idea..... prizes go to Diana and Chelsie for their comments.

2006-11-30T21:57:00.000-08:00

Now, what?, you ask, is Coach Tom telling me to do? "Turn the knee in and drag that foot, no really DRAG IT."

Just kidding... A prize to the first person to post a comment with the correct answer...

2006-11-26T16:02:00.000-08:00

It's time to add more pictures, because I know you really don't want to read this stuff, but it's always fun to see pictures.

Now, when people put on wetsuits, they usually go in the water but not Ironteam members we do situps... and go running...and do pushups!

Actually we also swam, before, and after each of these pictures, which were taken at Aquatic Park in San Francisco.

Oh, and by the way, that's me in the red cap!

2006-11-21T12:53:00.000-08:00

I don't need to be 29 anymore...... I'm 26!

The new news this week is that I purchased a Tanita Body Composition Monitor 554 (read "fancy scale"). It gives you all kinds of data other than weight, such as hydration, base caloric needs, bone mass, visceral fat, and my favorite, metabolic age. Yes, you guessed it, I like my metabolic age which has averaged 26. Nice mental boost.

2006-11-21T10:58:00.000-08:00

Our newest Ironteam member, COCO. The biking might be kind of tough but she is up for the challenge!

2006-11-13T21:44:00.000-08:00

Well, last week was the first recovery week with shorter, easier work outs. We finished up with our first open water swim at Aquatic park and the gods were kind in giving us beautiful weather. Honestly, I was dreading swimming there, not being a lover of salt water, but it was actually pretty nice. We got a little sand, a little salt, and a little cold, but all in all it was a good day.

Now we are back to the building phase and the weather is making it a little challenging to get the biking in. That is ok, challenges are good for us right?

2006-11-09T21:43:00.000-08:00

Thought for the day from one of our team honorees, Laura. "Now is the time to pursue your dreams. You don't know what tomorrow will bring." how very true.

2006-11-07T08:49:00.000-08:00

If you are intersted in donating to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and help stop cancer please click on the link "DONATE to the cause" and follow the on-line donation instructions. Thank you for helping provide hope for patients and their loved ones.

2006-11-05T20:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, it has been another good week of training. Over 11 hours total, and next week is the recovery week. We build our time and effort for 3 weeks and then have 1 week of recovery workouts. It's a good system which allows the body to heal and recover from the new demands before pushing on to the next level. I'm looking forward to next week because although I hate to admit it, I've been a little tired.

I promised to write more about Dottie and here she is. She was a member of the Spring 2006 Modesto Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training Marathon group. Although I met her because her daughter Katie joined the water polo team at Tracy High for which I was the head coach. Katie also swam on the 2006 Tracy High swim team so we got to spend lots of time together and I was very excited when Dottie joined the marathon team (for which I had also been a coach).

The reason Dottie is included in this blog however is because during her marathon training she discovered she had breast cancer. She just returned home from the hospital (on Friday) after surgery for the breast cancer and also ovarian cancer. She has a bit of recovery ahead of her and is excited about my Ironman in her honor. She is a very outgoing, bubbly person with lots of positive energy so I am excited to include her in my new team and I hope our team support will help her with her recovery. Please think good thought for her during this recovery period. She is a wonderful person that deserves LOTS of good thoughts.

2006-11-02T21:30:00.000-08:00

CORE WORK - CORE WORK - CORE WORK !!! Yes, that is 3 times per week. We all hate it but I can already feel the benefit in my biking so JUST DO IT!

2006-10-29T21:56:00.000-08:00

It was a good training week of 2hrs 15minutes of swimming (5900 yds), 4hrs of biking (59.6 miles), 3hrs 40minutes of running (24.5 miles) and 2hrs of core training (nearly 12 hours total). It felt good to step up the running a bit since I was feeling negligent in that area. After running 30-60 miles per week for several years I was missing it due to the increase in biking and swimming, so this week I tried to make a little more time for it.

My goal this coming week is to keep the training on an even keel and publish some information about a very special friend named Dottie. Tune in during the week to hear her story.

2006-10-27T17:38:00.000-07:00

I got my first on-line donation today from Andrea Lang at Finis! She made the bar move on my donation website (see the "My Ironman Site" link) - Yay! Thank you Andrea.

2006-10-23T21:48:00.000-07:00

Please visit my fundraising link (My Ironman Site) if you are interested in contributing to this worthwhile cause - providing hope to those battling cancer.

2006-10-23T21:39:00.000-07:00

This is the finish of Barb's Race on August 12, 2006. It was my "test" 1/2 Ironman distance race before signing up for the Ironteam. I competed very conservatively and was not even sore the next day so it was great. And no, I was not last in my age group for the bike portion (my secret goal for the day).

2006-10-23T18:07:00.000-07:00

Thanks for checking out my blog! This is all new to me so don't be too critical... it's a work in progress, just like my Ironman training.