First IMMOO Ride This Year

So.. I think I mentioned to you I plan on riding the course A LOT this summer. There isn't any part of the Ironman Course that I want to be a surprise. I would like to feel like I could visually see every turn before I get started. So much of me as an athlete is mental. It's where I find my "extra power".

Yesterday I rode the course with M. It was so FUN! Our training plan for the day said "Long ride, practice nutrition with a brick run." I had ridden the Loop before but wanted to ride the portion of the course that leads to the loop. SO.. we started at the Helix. The Helix is very unique to the IMMOO course. It is really a spiral parking ramp area. I don't know why but I was worried about it. SILLY ME! That was the fun part! The Helix is good to go.. Check!

We rode out to the loop, following the cue sheet and map... but still managed to get a bit turned around. Before we made it to Fireman's park... we climbed hill #1 that was not part of the course. This becomes a theme. As we rode out to the park, there were rain sprinkles and threatening clouds. The weather man had predicted a beautiful day, but was clearly wrong. It was colder then I had prepared for but I was convinced it would warm up. So.. we said a few prayers that the rain clouds would pass quickly. We stopped at Fireman's park and used the facilities and took a few pictures and then off we went for the Loop ride. The loop had some headwind... but it always does......I must learn to "love the wind".

I hadn't ridden the loop since last year in August and M was a newbie. It was a beautiful ride. We didn't push it or kill ourselves. I would call us "fast tourists". I had warned M that the first real hill doesn't come until Mount Horeb. And as we left the beautiful forest area and saw the overpass of the highway.. we started the climb into the city of Mount Horeb. I remember the Ludster pushing a friend of ours up this hill. It makes me smile thinking of him pushing Jedi over the hill. I told M this story as we climbed and climbed in our small chain ring. One thing I had forgotten was how technical the IMMOO course is. There is a lot of gearing as you climb and descend. As we left Mount Horeb, we started out to my favorite road on the entire course...Witte Road. (Pictured above) I love this road because it has big descends and climbs and reminds me of riding a roller coaster. It's like being a twelve year old again on this road! Then comes our next funny adventure. We got to the turn onto Stagecoach road and I couldn't read the map too well. I can't decide if we should turn left or right.. so I guess right. We turn right and there is a monster hill in front of us and a sign that says "No thru traffic". I say to M.. "Wait, Wait, Wait.. I don't know if we have to climb that one." We both laugh and then grab the map. As we are deciding to go over the hill or not.. a huge John Deere with a manure spreader comes driving by. We watch as the tractor uses all its power to go over the hill. Guess what.. NOPE.. we don't go over that hill. So.. off we go chuckling about the good decision we made to stop at the bottom and into Cross Plains. M and I were down to one bottle of liquid left so when we saw a bike shop on our way into town and decided to stop. This place has to make a killing! It has a coffee shop inside too! The owner gave us water for our bottles and we were set. Another thing to note, he sells scoops of every fuel you can imagine. So.. that's an added bonus!! It was at this time that we realized we were going to overshoot the ride time that coach had set for us. We got really lucky! My folks live about 30 minutes from the Wisconsin course. SO.. we called and requested a pick up at Fireman's park to go back to the Monona Terrace. They said they'd meet us in an hour. So sweet to be a last minute Sherpa for us!! As we left town, we stumbled upon something that's new on the course. A rich man/woman decided to dig a private lake. It's so beautiful! We had to stop and take pictures. (above) Then we were on our way and doing quite well. All day M had been asking for the hill that she stood on last year and ran her friends up. It was quite a treat to come upon it. We both climbed it well and as we got over it.. M felt a burst of confidence! This ride was a big confidence builder for both of us! Then we came upon hill #2 we would climb that's not on the course. There was a sign on Old Shady Road, saying "Bridge Out" (pictured above). I had received an email about a month ago about it... but I figured it was fixed by now. Guess what.. not true! We had to ride back up the hill and around. There is apparently a fine for walking your bike over the construction area. EL STUPIDO! We took the detour.. which lead to hill#3 we won't climb on race day. And then back into town. I have a secret to tell you. I still can't navigate Verona to save my life. We never ever found Fireman's park again. LOL! We barely found it to get started!! I called my mom's cellphone and she picked us up at the Park and Ride instead. My mom gets the Sherpa Award for sure! She dropped us off on John Nolen so we could ride back up the helix and start our run. The run had moments of inspiration as well as we ran around the Capitol Square. I finished the workout and felt like a rawkstah!! My mom let us come over and shower and eat and then send us on our way back to Chicago! Sherpa Extraordinare!!

New Nuggets

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. " Mark Twain

Every day an inspirational quote is emailed to me from Runner's World. I love it! It's a great way to get up in the morning. This one in particular meant a lot to me. My training for Ironman is broken up by coach into 4 week sessions. We build for three and then "rest" for one. I have started setting mini personal goals for each of the four week sessions in addition to doing the training with Coach. I am happy to say that goal number one is right on track. Now comes the tricky part, maintaining goal number one and adding goal number two. Isn't it funny how you can be so good at one thing, but add a little push and things start to fall apart? I'm optimistic I can do it!

Ironman is one overwhelming task, but just as long as I don't look too far ahead I'll be ok. The race is 110 days away from today.

Cold Swim 5.25

I have a Monday swimming buddy...without him I am likely to slack on my Monday swim workouts. It's just that I am a good swimmer, so I feel like I can skip them. Even though I know I shouldn't. This is where DT comes in. We had a 45 minute swim today in a pool or a lake. DT sent me a message to meet him at Ohio St. Beach this morning. He brought with him his dad and a fellow athlete doing IMLOU. You can see from the picture above..choppy, cold and no sun. It was DT that got me going but I did end up encouraging him along. I would do a couple strokes practicing some technique like Coach Keith said and then flip on my back and swim backstroke until DT caught up. He was a trooper.. he was wearing his sleeveless suit! I didn't want anything to happen to him out there. Accidents can happen so easily when its cold and choppy. We finished and had a hard time getting our clothes on since we were so frozen. I came home and took a hot shower. Thanks DT for getting me out there! Another Monday swim in the Ironman deposit.

Riding With Special A and The Gang

So this week was recovery week... And it actually was about rest and shorter workouts. You can see from my other posts.. I took this opportunity to try some new things. They have worked well for me.

SO.. today we only had a 2 hour ride, but I feel so good.. I thought an easy ride with Special A and the Gang would be all right. I met them in Lake Forest, IL and we rode up to WI. It started out as the most bumpy ride I have ever ridden. Seriously, the roads were just so terrible.. lots of potholes and horrible road conditions. I managed to loose alot of my coconut mixture all over myself, my sunglasses, and my crackberry. RUH ROH! I am glad to have had this falter on a day where we planned to ride easy and not on race day. I will be looking for a new bottle system soon. The picture above is at the turnaround point in WI. Unfortunately there is no cool sign up there that says.."Welcome to WI." After this picture, I requested that Special A and the gang find a nicer road to come home on. AND.. Miracle #1.. they know of one! It was like heaven. I will ride hills any day of the week to not be jostled around on terrible roads. So.. we're headed home after many jokes about blackberries, Finding Nemo and crossing guards. Believe me..Special A and the gang are not qualified crossing guards! And we're about 7 miles out of bagels and lemonade when a VQ rider passes us. This of course means we must all reach down and execute the insane testosterone we have and get that guy. OH BOY! Can I say, "NO ONE NEEDS TO DO THIS!" I always shake my head when this happens. We meet the guy at the next light and for some reason Special A needs his phone number. WHY!? Testosterone makes me shake my head!! We turn left a little while later to start a little hill/grinder and what to my eyes should appear but said VQ rider. It turns out that not only does he believe in Insane Testosterone but he picks up women while he rides his bike. So, here we go.. I am now 6 miles from yummy bagels and I have to entertain being hit on! Does this ride get any better? **Shake head here** Miracle #2...VQ rider finds other riders to execute Insane Testosterone on and I get to ride the bike path happily with Special A. The ride was beautiful, it was fabulous laughs and I am so glad I rode 50 miles with those guys.

Our next build starts tomorrow with a 45 minute Lake Michigan swim. I am hopeful all this feeling great takes me through the next 16 weeks. I feel like the athlete I really am right now. I don't want to deceive you. I feel "athletic stretching/pain" but no smoke alarms. AHHHHH!!

My Best Friend

Today my best friend did something very brave. She has had pain in her left knee for the last year. Infact just before Ironman Arizona, I went to the running store to buy her a knee support for her run. It helped, but just for a little while. After she qualified for Kona, she felt it was a good idea to get it looked at. This lead to MRIs and lots of other tests. The end result was scooping a knee would most likely help. She would under go surgery and they wouldn't know for sure until they got in there what they could do to help. We talked about this surgery for the days leading up to today. We decided this would be like Ironman. It would take courage, strength and recovery time. AND we wouldn't talk about it until it happened. We don't like to get the jitters too far in advance. It just gets us all shook up and we can't sleep. SO.. this morning at 6am we talked about what today would hold. As much as my best friend was a bit scattered she was cool and collected. HOW in the world does she do that? I called again a little while later and they were in the waiting room. Her husband and dear friend was hanging out with her. It was going as planned. She was only under for an hour. The doctor did some good and got some of the 'gunk' out. Which makes this a huge success for her! I got to talk to her on the way home from the hospital. A true treat! I recommend talking to all of your close friends when they are on pain drugs. What a riot!

I am the luckiest girl in the world tonight. I have seen more bravery in my best friend then I ever thought was possible. Why am I lucky? I get to learn from her almost every day!! She is my Sherpa for Ironman Wisconsin this year. She is the reason I wear this Ironman bracelet every day. Her motto is "never say never". The next couple weeks will be long for her. As recovery is not easy... but her first care package is already enroute. She will be at Kona in October and I will be grinning from ear to ear as I watch her!!

A great great day!

What a great day I've had today! It all started in Madison, WI. I was there for my dear Wilson's birthday. It was a great chance to take advantage of another run in downtown Madison. This run would go down as quite memorable because there was no pain when I ran. On Monday, I tried acupuncture for the first time. I left the office feeling very relaxed and a bit perplexed by the needles and cupping that was done. I called M and she said I was so relaxed I sounded stoned. She was the one who recommended acupuncture in the first place. IT WORKED!! I have relief in my upper back muscles and neck muscles. My foot feels the best it has in months!! WOW!!

Then this afternoon, I got to do something I truly enjoy. I took Worm out for his first swim in a wetsuit in Lake Michigan. I really enjoy taking people out in the water for the first time. There is so much to learn and its so cool to see them succeed. The water today at Ohio St Beach was a chilly 56. The worst part was the first dip. After that it was cool but doable. We swam about 1400 yds. Here is Worm in his wetsuit for the first time! He did a really great job!! I know he will be there a lot this summer getting ready for his Ironman swim. I hope to be his swimming buddy again soon!!

The Coconut

Ironman in training are geeks... We are always trying to figure out how to better fuel ourselves and get more out of food in general. I have long debated what to put in my bottles on the long bike rides. AND.. I may have found a success..?! I have become a big advocate of Coconuts. In fact, I might as well call up someone in Indonesia for their personal stock. I am purchasing about 7 young coconuts a week to feed this new found addiction. The content of a coconut is pretty impressive as well as its somewhat mellow taste. I don't like the sweet sweet of most of the sports foods that are offered by the marketed products. Each one of my bottles has some serious potassium, sodium and chloride. In fact, I have purchased both a nice knife and a drill to ease my way of getting into the coconut. In addition to the coconut water I have been drinking every day, I have also started some new organic minerals. The jury is still out on their benefits, but if they work. I'll let you know. I am always surprised at what a difference eating the "right" thing can do for your overall health and success. So.. if you're feeling sluggish today... try a coconut. Seriously!! It's bound to bring you back to "normal".

What a difference a week makes!

This week our long ride was the Arlington 500 starting in Barrington, IL and going into the surrounding communities. I had a great ride today!! We did the long ride option which was 69 miles. This somehow converts to 500 Kilos or Furloughs or something?? But my Garmin showed only 65 miles when we rolled in. I totally rawked this ride!! I felt good going into the ride and was well fueled to start. I may have picked my new breakfast food.. fried eggs and mashed potatos. It is delicious and was washed down with a soy latte.

We started at 730am or so and it was a bit chilly but warmed up nicely. I rode with some really great riders today too! It's always nice to have company on these rides and as an added bonus to have a little push.. WAHOO! Last week, I couldn't get the groove on and my legs were killing and in contrast.. today I would've ridden another 20 miles and not complained a bit. What an exhilarating feeling!! ***I'm sure it's the lack of walking lunges yesterday ***

Also.. as a side note.. I lost my pointer toe nail. When I had my pedi about three weeks ago, they noticed it was bruised pretty badly. My nail lady didn't think it would fall off, but it did today. It doesnt hurt but I think I'll feel better when it grows back.

Rest week starts now... I'm going to focus on some core work this week in my "off" time and get a seriously long massage. I'm excited about it!!!

Little Nugget and Running in the Mist

It was a foul weather day in Chicago yesterday... lots of thunderstorms and rain, but I had an hour run that had to be done outside. I checked the weather reports and there was a break between fronts so I called my buddy Tom. He is such a great running buddy!!! Despite his call back at 10:15am that my weather predictions would be wrong... he met me for our run! The truth is that we had a steady mist for the entire run but no BIG raindrops.

Two things I have to share... we were almost half way through our Misty Run when we saw a number of construction workers. One said, "Hey, you're running in the rain?. I said, "No, it's only misting, we're good!" AND... with that... he said, "You're dedicated." Now, it wouldn't be right for me to not tell you that I didn't actually hear him say that. SEE... my hearing was all off on this run. I couldn't hear anything.. NO "ON YOUR LEFTS", and NO I didn't hear the construction worker but Tom did. I will forever hear about not hearing on this run. OH BOY!

After the run, I went to my favorite run shop to change out of my wet clothes before heading off to the city. The shop is owner by one of my favorite mentors, Mark. He shared two nuggets I must pass along... About running in the mist... It's time to stop dreaming and start doing! And about me not having other races on my schedule.... Good for you. You only need one bulls-eye this year. You're smart!

I love the village that come together to make an Ironman! I'm stronger every day for the mentors in my training life.

Running Sore...

Yesterday we had a 35 minute run... should be easy.. right? Well... I never thought I'd say this.. but no! My legs were still sore from the weekend workouts and I was still having trouble descending stairs. BUT... I talked to some fellow Ironman and they all said... just go do it! It's okay that your legs are sore... this will strengthen them. DO IT! Okay... okay... I will. So, I made a run date with Tom. He is still on rehab from surgery and I would be able to run slow with him and not feel bad. Plus.. he is one of my favorite running buddies. This would make the sore run... more FUN! I am always and forever finding a way to add FUN to my workouts.

I met Tom at 2pm at Busse Woods. I love running around Busse Woods because its mostly flat and the woods are so pretty this time of year. We got started but Tom wasn't feeling well so he and I only made it 8 minutes together before he felt like leaving would be good for him. I totally understood, even though I didn't want to finish by myself. Off I went, and it hurt but apparently that was good. AND I was thinking....this is the first training where someone said this kind of hurt will make you stronger?? And maybe this is what Ironman training is all about? I hope to bug my Ironman friends about that soon!

In the backpocket.... my longest run since getting hurt (almost 3 miles), AND stronger legs from running sore.... Ironman is only 18 or so weeks out now... this is gonna be good!

The Hurt Shop

My coaches gave me some inspiration this weekend that I have to share. First, on Saturday I worked with Coach Keith on my run. At this point, I'm still only running about 2 miles at a time but Coach had an idea. We would strengthen all the muscles around the "healing" muscle so when it's time for us to run.... I will be strong enough! SO... we did spent some quality time on run exercises!! And I left there with some very very sore quad muscles. I am going to incorporate these drills into my workouts in the upcoming weeks.

THEN... TODAY! There was much discussion of where we would ride out 3 1/2 hour ride today. There were lots of options. We decided on a ride in Barrington with the Lifetime Fitness crew. I was told we would find the killer hill loop and learn to love it! Well.. I got "stuck" on the killer hill loop today. M and I lost the group we were riding with so we thought... we'll just go around again and meet the slower riders we were with. WE never found them... so on and on we go! After three times around the loop, we were on our way to "base" when we found our group. AND.. guess what they wanted to do!? The Killer Hill Loop one more time.. we groveled but agreed. Off we went and as we were climbing those hills again..... I remembered my other coach. She says, "Go to the hurt shop and buy whatever they have." This really means you should work hard every time you are out there to push your maxium to the next level. So.. to the hurt shop I went and I DIDNOT walk up any of the hills, I climbed them on my precious. Even though it was the fourth time!! And we headed home to "base" after the loop. I was a bit behind the group, as my legs were really screaming at me!! When I got to the parking lot, my riding partner M had put her bike on the back of her car. I was aghast... we had 45 minutes left, but she was done. SO.. I told her.. take that bike down, we got 45 minutes left... let's go. She didn't want to..but guess what...she did! And off we went. At this point a flat road would have made me grin from ear to ear... but there are none to be had in Barrington, IL and the wind was picking up. SO... as much as I was looking for an easy 45 minutes to finish this ride, it wasn't going to happen. BACK to the hurt shop I went and I finished that ride with a smile on my face. I'm icing heavily tonight. I think my run tomorrow will help get the kinks out... at least I hope so!

Total Hurt Shop Purchase... Priceless!

Balance

I'm back in Chicago today after spending since Sunday in Nebraska. I did really well on Monday and Tuesday by running and swimming but travel days are always tough. My boss came back with me on this trip, so we will be in meetings through Friday evening. I remember one of my favorite triathletes telling me once, "Work is what we have to do, to do everything else we love." I think this is true! And I have to say I'm so LUCKY! I work for a company that allows people to workout on their lunch breaks and supports them doing it. In fact, they are very supportive of my Ironman venture. I'm glad to be home, where all my training tools are. It makes my balance of work and training easier to attain. It is true... this Ironman journey needs discipline.

Hard Hill Climb

So.. I got lucky again this week! I headed back to the cabin on Thursday night after work. It was a great chance to do some training up North and enjoy the beauty of the lake!

On Friday, We got up and made breakfast and then went for a two mile walk. When we returned to the cabin I felt energized to run! I ran in my Newtons for two miles. It was GREAT! I felt like I was really making a comeback. Laura and I ran 10:15's. My foot felt achy when we finished, but not bad. AND.. it sounds like I might get to run with Laura on Monday's now in the city. I'm pretty excited about that! It will be good to have a regular running partner. I know.. you're thinking why the Newtons? All the other shoes have hurt my feet since I left my Newtons behind. I do feel like I need to continue the hunt for good running shoes.

Saturday... well... it was a TEST for me. I decided that I would ride the 60 miles by myself and I would climb Mt. Morris three times! I can't remember ever riding that far by myself. It gave me lots of time to ponder where I was in my training and all sorts of others things. You should try spending three hours or so by yourself with no entertainment. You'll be shocked where your mind wanders! I won't share it here... I do want to tell you about my last climb up Mt. Morris. I was hurting, hurting bad. My quads were shot, but I wanted to go up. Until my mind said, "You could turn around and no one would know." And that was when I had to jump over my own hurdle. WHAT AN AMAZING FEELING! I was exhilarated when I made it over the mountain one last time and knew all I had to do was make it home from there. Too bad I fought the headwind all the way home. One last challenge to make the ride feel even stronger.

I had a strong week of training.. great swim practice with coach even!!! I feel my new eating and my little goals are coming together to make me a stronger athlete. I can't wait to see where it leads!