Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Are we there yet?

I think as kids, we've probably all said that at least once to our parents or some other adult figure in our lives.  I know growing up, I had no patience.  Zero. Nada.  Nilch.  Nothing.  I didn't like going out to dinner because once I ordered my food, I expected it to be delivered right away (no fast food comments here).  I didn't like waiting, nor did I want to.  To an extent, I'm still like that.  I don't eat out much and I am impatient in many facets of my life.

So this is pretty much what I've been feeling this past week.  I truly believe, you can "hear" all about Ironman training from others all you want, but I don't think it really sets in until you're experiencing it.  People told me it's a lot of training, it takes up a lot of your free time, all you will end up doing is eat, sleep, work & train.  I heard the words, but it didn't register until a few weeks ago.  OMG, all I do on weekends is eat, sleep, prepare for the training, train, clean up after it then recover and go back to bed, just to do it all over again the next day.  No time or energy for anything else, for the most part.  Or I want to do things, but the idea of going to bed early & getting extra sleep usually wins :)

So hence my question "are we there yet"?  Sept 9th can't come soon enough.  I have to think this is normal what I'm feeling?  I can't be the only 1st timer who is getting tired of training?  These weekend workouts honestly, are sort of not fun anymore.  Well, the weekday workouts are, but the long weekend workouts...blah!  I don't want to spend all day working out every weekend.  OK, so the runs don't take me all day, but I think I'm using more energy to run, plus I'm running on tired legs from biking the day before, and therefore, the runs are leaving me more exhausted.  And just when I'm feeling recovered...I have to do it all over again!  And to be honest, last weekend I didn't even run as I'm resting my shin and I was still pooped by the end of the weekend!  I did have fun in Madison with the JHC group last Sunday...maybe because there was a group of us, maybe because I was on the Ironman course, maybe cuz I met some new people.  But to be fair, I hated getting up as early as I had to and leaving my house at 5am...anyone who really knows me knows, I'm a morning workout person but on weekends, not that early!  So the drive there & back sucked, but the group workout rocked.

Really, someone tell me come race day, it WILL be fun.  That it will all pay off in the end and I will actually have fun in this thing they call Ironman. Cuz right now, when most people are excited about the weekend, I'm dreading the long workouts :(  I'm doing them and getting them done, but dreading them.  Yep...are we there yet???


Monday, July 23, 2012

What a weekend!!

Wow...what a training weekend this was.  Where I'd love to be able to say that it's been so hot for so long that I'm actually getting used to the heat, I can't.  I've had just about enough of this heat!  But the training must go on...heat or no heat!  So Saturday my training consisted of a 100 mile bike ride then a 40 minute run.  I prepared all of my bottles on Thursday night as I was meeting friends out for drinks Friday night.  (I actually prefer to say I was carb loading in preparation for my long workout the next day...hahaha).  Man, mixing up all those bottles is a job in itself!  For a short time I think I knew how mothers feel making baby bottles...LOL  Water, IM Perform, recovery...you name it, I was bringing it.  Can't forget the gels either!



So Saturday morning out I go...heading to Barrington High School to meet Maxine where we will tackle 100 miles over various routes.  I can only carry 2 hours worth of fluids on my bike so the high school was our home base to refuel.  Beats trying to find gas stations & potentially running out.  I was on a mission to nail my nutrition and knew this would be my best shot.  Plus, I had 3 routes in the area so getting bored would not be an issue.  Now, I've ridden 100 miles or so before, but those were always on "organized rides" where we're stopping every 20 miles or so, getting off the bike, eating, chatting, etc...then heading out again.  Saturday we were only stopping at the 2 hour mark to refuel and heading back out.  What a difference...Maxine is a stronger rider than me so the first 70 miles or so I pushed it a bit to try to stay close.  Thank you Maxine for coming out to ride with me...it was awesome!

We both ran, but separately as she actually finished her ride a bit before me.  40 min run after riding 100 miles, I was very happy with my pace.  It was hot but I actually think it was only in the mid-high 80's?  Funny how that suddenly seems "cool".  Anyways - Saturday workout over and I think it was almost 8pm by the time I was done putting everything away, washing bottles, doing laundry, etc.  Time for bed because I have my longest run ever on Sunday!!  The picture below is all of our empty bottles after our ride and run, minus the aero bottles and all of the empty gel packets.


Sunday morning and I find myself taking the dog for a long walk before my run.  Lucky Erin...I used it as a warm up and resisted the urge to run with her a bit.  I was not about to run one more minute than I actually had to!  Headed out on my run from Lifetime shortly before 8am.  It was humid.  Cloudy, but humid.  I had to run 2:40...prior to this my longest run had been the week before, at 2:20.  I knew how that run had gone and my goal was to have an average pace faster than last weeks run.  But not knowing how I'd do, I decided to take it "easy" the 1st 2 hours and leave the last 40 minutes to push it if I could.

What I realized on this long run was it was very boring.  Sometime after about 90 minutes I started the countdown..."how much longer"?  Sort of the kids version of "are we there yet?"...LOL 

I was running by myself but actually I preferred this so was able to control my heart rate and run "my" run.  The pace for 1st 2 hours or so were all within about 15 seconds of each other...slower than I typically run but again...humid and I wasn't sure how I'd feel.  2 hours gone and as I started out the last 40 minutes it started to rain.  Oh, I was happy for the rain...would cool me off I thought.  Little did I know it would last all of 5 minutes and be gone :(  My pacing the 1st 2 hours worked as I was able to pick up the pace for this last part and ended up averaging 14 seconds per mile faster than last week.  Sweet!!!  I even did some stretching in the pool after...wasn't at home so couldn't do the ice bath but I think the pool helped!  Thanks Donna & Jen for the suggestion :)

So had a few firsts this weekend.  Bike/run went well on Saturday.  Would've like to average a bit faster on the bike Sat but considering we climbed a lot of hills and I pushed it the first 4.5 hours or so, I'm OK with it.  No problems on my long run Sunday...except thinking I have no desire ever to run a marathon.  Maybe it's just the training runs that are boring.  That's what I've been told...Jamie I'm trusting you this is the case :)  Today my legs do feel like I worked the crap out of them this weekend, but you know what?  I did!  Now back to my foam roller....

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Time to regroup!!

These last few weeks (again) have been sort of blah blah weeks.  Having trouble focusing.  Life's stresses.  Not feeling well.  Cancelled dinner plans at one of my favorite restaurants this week because I didn't feel well.  The weather.  An "A" race getting shortened due to yes, the weather.  Stress.  Workouts being affected by the weather (can you say Mental Toughness Day?).  My nutrition hasn't been that great lately.  Did I mention stress yet?   Or the weather...?



In fact, I sit here typing this during a time I was supposed to be doing my open water swim & then running a 5k.  Just wasn't feeling it today, spent the day running around all over what felt like the entire state, in the heat, ran out of fluids so think I was a bit dehydrated...put it all together along with not feeling well the past few days & I (yes Jen) skipped my workout tonight.  I know it probably happens to others, but typically, it doesn't happen to me.  I hate missing workouts!

I've spent the last few days reading lots of blogs. This isn't something I typically do...oh, I have my few blogs of my favorite people that I follow, but other than that, I don't usually read them. Mostly because I'm on a computer all day long & then some & in the little free time I have, I just don't want to be sitting on a computer.  But I think there was a reason I ended up reading the ones I did...something led me to them for a reason.



I also spent some time with a few friends I rarely see or talk to.  Sorta used them as a sounding board for what I've been feeling lately...I mean, yes I knew Ironman training was not easy, or so they said.  I now know no matter how many times people tell you, you don't really "get it" until you experience it.  Don't get me wrong, so far it hasn't been that bad (OK, last Sat's workout was a nightmare...due to the weather...) but it's the sacrifices I've had to make in order to get my training in that I've been dealing with.  The invites I've had to turn down...or has it just been coincidences that everything happens on days I have long training, or nights before...LOL.  Even today, had to turn something down because of training.  Been struggling with that a lot lately :(  And it gets in my head & gets stuck...like I'm missing out.  Yep, struggling with that a lot lately.

Anyways - so after reading the blogs, talking to some friends & digging within, I'm ready to regroup...get back on track mentally & physically.  Oh yeah, and Mother Nature...really?  MUST you continue this 90+ degree weather every day?  I know it's summer...but enough is enough!!!  My Ironman is less than 2 months away...take the 90's back, leave us with the 80's........I'm tired of looking like crap :)

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Muncie 2012 race report

So, I'm 0-2 for Muncie 1/2 Ironman now.  Last year should've been my 1st 1/2 Ironman - Muncie, and I fractured my elbow a week before it & couldn't race.  This year, due to extremely high temperatures & humidity levels, the Muncie 1/2 Ironman was shortened to a 37.2 instead of 70.3 race...1 mile swim, 30 mile bike & a 10k run.  Boy I was not happy when I heard that!  First they had moved up the start time of the race by 30 min due to the heat, which was OK, but now...another failed attempt at having Muncie be my 1st 1/2 Ironman.  Boo!!!  My entire race plan - out the door now.  And honestly, I wasn't prepared to race at Olympic distance-ish pace (translation...in the heat, I didn't want to)

Aside from a few hiccups, Friday was pretty much the typical day before race day.  Went to athlete check-in, checked out the Ironman store, saw a few friendly faces from back home, listened to the course talk (although I'm still wondering why they said 1 mile swim...but also said the swim was 800m out, right turn for 300m & then 800m back...clearly more than a mile).  Met up with Jamie & Andre, who were also racing.  Had dinner at the same Italian place I did last year...ate what I thought I would, including a beer to calm the nerves.  Checked into the hotel & brought up all my stuff, including the bike...man I packed alot of stuff!!  I didn't make it to the race site, but it was so hot that I wasn't going to check in the bike at transition anyways - so it was no biggie.  Now, to bed early because it was a 3:30am wake up!

Race morning!!  I knew I had to eat & really had to force myself, just wasn't hungry.  The drive to Prairie Creek Reservoir, for anyone who hasn't been there, is down alot of back country roads, one lane roads with not much light.  Arrived at the race probably about 5am & proceeded to pump up the air in my tires before heading to transition.  And yep, I get a flat!  I have an issue with filling up air in my tires, somehow the tip of the stem always gets bent & this time it just broke off.  Great...here's hoping they have bike support at transition as changing a tire was the last thing I wanted to do!!  They did...sweet, love those guys, they make it look so easy...LOL

I have to admit, setting up in transition was difficult because it was still so dark & there wasn't much light.  I couldn't see anything in my bag & it was getting hot & humid.  I wasn't happy at this point.  But I set up & squished everything together & gave my friend Dave my bike pump to put in his car as he happened to be going back to it..one less thing to carry back!  I was in the 1st age group row of bikes, next to the pros.  I turned around at my transition spot & who do I see setting up her stuff, basically right next to me, but Mirinda Carfrae!  How cool.  She is much tinier in person than I remembered.  As much as I wanted to say hi or get a pic with her, she was there to race & was setting up like everyone else so I left her alone...just secretly hoped her being near me would make me faster...LOL

The water temp was 88. Great.  I've always said I prefer warmer than colder...was this Karma biting me in the butt?  88?  Really?  And it felt every bit of 88 and once the sun came out, it got worse.  My swim was much slower than I expected.  2 things I dealt with - the strap on my Garmin came loose from the loop than holds it in place & I could feel it dragging in the water - so twice I stopped to fix it.  And the hot water got to me...I was not feeling good in the water & it showed in my time.  I did haul a$$ up the LONG uphill run into T1 after the swim though...T1 was a bit long due to me putting on those white cooling sleeves...couldn't get them on & the jury's still out as to whether they helped or not.  Not sure I'll race with them again.

I initially felt good on the bike.  The course is mostly flat with just a few rollers.  I seemed to be cruising along pretty good, had my nutrition down & somewhere around mile 10 just started running out of gas.  I adjusted my nutrition a bit to take in more calories, but slowly started seeing my average mph drop.  I eventually brought it back up but not to where I feel I could've been.  Due to the shortened course, there were 2 turn arounds - which I didn't like one bit.  Maybe it was the dead skunk I passed 3 times & had to smell :(  I did master my 1st time grabbing bottles on the bike & tossing the old ones though...woo hoo for me!!

Cruising into T2 I felt OK & after a quick potty break was out on the run.  Had Garmin

So overall, not a good race for me. I think part of it was psychological - shortening the race messed me up.  Knowing I now had to do a full Ironman without ever doing a 1/2 (potentially) was bugging me too.  The other part obviously was the heat...it was brutal and as much as I have been training in it these past few weeks, it was bad.  Learned a few things that I hope to take with me to the next race.  And next year?  Do I hope 3rd time's a charm?  Or will it be 3 strikes and I'm out?  Honestly, Schaumburg tri is the same weekend & that was my 1st tri ever & I had taken 3rd in my AG in it...have been wanting to go back & see what I can do...this might just be a sign that I need to move on from Muncie next year!


This was Team Bee Line...a fun time had by all despite everything!!!