I am alive and well!!

I am here! Been so super busy that blogging has taken a back seat. Lot's of things been going on though....I raced at Irongirl Triathlon. It was fun, it was a "C" race for me so my goal time was 1:33:30 (yes I even had the seconds!) My actual time was 1:33:23 so I was happy with that! Sprints hurt! It was fun to race at an event where so many ladies were doing their first triathlon, they were so excited that it made it really special for me! Plus I was coaching a couple of ladies who were racing, and supporting them was fun!

Last weekend I went up to the Gaps for some good ole' fashioned arse kicking. For some reason I was convinced to go up Brasstown Bald (3 mile climb, highest elevation point in GA) Made it about 2 miles when a truck started honking at me. I was weaving all over the place because it was the only way that I could ride. I was going 2 mph, the power meter said it was 16.5 % incline and my power wattage was over 300. I had to stop. I literally felt like I was going to fall over! There was this amazing 16 y/o rider from Columbia with us, he kept trying to get me to start again by clipping in and holding on to his dad's car ( he was our sag wagon) I was like "you obviously do not know my bike handeling skills!! I ended up turning around only to find that the hill was too steep for me to get back on my bike. I walked it to a safe place and mounted the bike, squeezing my brakes as tight as possible, still going really fast. The rest of the ride was much easier, we did Hogpen last and it seemed much more managable than last time. 50 miles total. Good times!

So I am slowly reintroducing myself to the long stuff. Took too long of a break after Gulf Coast because I wasn't training for anything that required too much work. Rode 56 miles yesterday with Big Brown. He liked to kill me when he rode off and I was trying to catch him going 27 mph (it was FLAT) He likes to see me suffer!

Hope that everyone else is having an awesome summer and training hard! Congrats to everyone that raced today at Chattanooga! Heard that you guys were killing it out there!!

Water logged.....

Now that I am a seasoned masters swimmer (I have been swimming it for a month!) I will admit that I absolutly cannot swim on my own. It's like the worse feeling in the world to go into a pool and have no peer pressure.

This week was SUPPOSED to be a recovery week. Week #12 out of 20 in my half-Ironman training plan. What's that mean? 8 weeks left until Gulf Coast! Coach Pete doesn't believe in "recovery" when it comes to swimming. So that means that my swimming yardage for the week is currently 7500 yards with one more swim left! Yesterday's main set was 15x100 at hard effort. I didn't swim that hard though because after that we still had to do 4x300's at our best pace. I was so afraid of burning my arms out that I took it relatively easy. The wonderful (and surprising) thing was that my "easier" pace now is what I would have considered my all-out pace last season! Can I just tell you how much I heart master's? Even the times where we have to swim backstroke and breaststroke? Anyways......

Tomorrow I am PR hunting at the Silver Comet 10k. This will be the 4th 10k that I have ever run outside of triathlon. It's probably my favorite distance in running. A little bit easier than a 5k but no where near as time consuming as a half-marathon. It's right in the middle, you know you worked really hard, but not too hard to need to climb down that stairs backwards. Since it's flat I am thinking my odds of setting a personal record should be pretty good. I got a massage this week and my quads are WAY more tender than I would like them to be the day before a race. Hope to see you guys out there!

Funny (and random) story. I am at the Concourse getting ready to swim and a woman asks me "Excuse me, but what type of cellulite creme do you use on your legs? They look great!" Me: "Oh this isn't from a creme. It's from working hard." Ha...ha...some people want the easy way out of everything!

Ornery.

Sometimes we have good days and we have bad days right? Well some of you may know that my step-father suffers from dementia and lives at an assisted living facility. There are days were he is a total sweetheart but others, well, it can be a challenge to be around him. Yesterday afternoon while visiting him I was telling him that his sister has a birthday coming up on December 21st. I suggested that he send flowers. He said he didn't want to, and I told him that he could at least send a card. He got aggravated and said "why should I send her a card? She never does anything for me on my b-day?" (Totally not true! She actually flew into Atlanta for his birthday this year!) Trying to not point out his confusion but get him to understand that sending a card was the right thing to do I replied "George, I always learned growing up that two wrongs don't equal a right. So send a card." His response: " I am tired of hearing about your do-gooder horsesh$*!" What an ornery ole' coot. I laughed at him because there wasn't much else that I could do at that point.

Then Poncey in his infinite wisdom decided that the bush his sister Bella was sniffing was exactly where he wanted to pee, and he did, on her head! She and I are both unhappy about that one!

Speed.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thursday I headed up to North Carolina to have Thanksgiving with my Dad and his family. On the way up there I was snagged by a state trooper and given a speeding ticket. Grrrrr, my 12th ticket in 10 years of having a driver's liscense! I know what you are thinking: lay off the speed! But really and truly I don't speed anymore than anyone else does. I just speed on road trips, usually on holidays, and always in the left lane, so I may stand out too much. What happened was that I was on the phone with Pee Wee getting updates on all my peeps that were running the half and full marathon. I was super excited for them and then all of a sudden Beyonce's new song "Single Ladies" came on. I started juking and jiving (a term my Dad likes to use) and before I knew it I was being pulled over by a state trooper. When he asked me if I knew I was going 85 in a 60 I said "I had no idea" and that was the truth! He was "nice" and made my ticket for 69 in a 60. Thanks. That's why I try to avoid driving on big trips.

So I was thinking that the fair thing to do would be set up a Dani is Dumb Speeding Ticket Fund. Everyone who ran the half should donate $2. If you ran the full you need to donate $4 because I was doubly excited for you guys. That should more than cover the cost of the ticket!

Enough about me, onto you guys! I want to say congrats to everyone who ran the half, especially those of you running your first (Olga and Steven). Tat ran her first marathon and rocked it! Nat PR'd on the marathon and snagged some hardware! Sue PR'd on the marathon course and Bob did awesome as well. There were a couple of ladies running post baby-which deserves special recognition because I can't imagine how hard that is!

My Luna teammate Michelle also ran her first 50k trail run this weekend. She won first overall! Way to go Michelle!

I am more anxious than ever about racing somewhere now!

You had me at footstrike #1

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love my new running aide. No, it's not an oxygen tank, as great as that sounds, it is actually a quite simple piece of equipment. It's this. Oh how I love this little knee strap! I have only used it twice, but so far with good results. Previously my left knee had major pain every time that I ran. Now it only hurts when I run really fast, and I think this little contraption is helping.

In other news, I am totally jonesing for any type of competition. I am dying over here! It's so bad that I am racing people at the grocery store down the aisles! Kidding, but you get the picture. Things are pretty boring in the workout department with nothing to train for. But I am also way too busy for anything too significant right now. I have started planning my 2009 race calendar and it looks pretty sweet. I will probably be running a half marathon trail run in February, and that looks like my next "race".

Totally random odd thing that happened to me: In class last week one of my professors asked me if I had a sister. I told him "no" and he said that he only asked because his neighbor and I look so much alike. I told him that "everyone has a twin" and he asked me if I was part Japanese because his neighbor was. What?!? Me Japanese? Um no. The professor is Chinese, which was so funny to me because he should know that I am not Asian! Funny thing is that this is about the 10th time someone has mistaken me for a ethnicity other than my own: Hispanic, Brazilian, Asian, I have heard it ALL!

I am watching the live Ironman Arizona coverage of the finish line. I miss the feeling of crossing that finish line and falling into someones arms already....

Suck it up buttercup!

Poncey contemplates what to do when tri season is over!

First of all, did ya'll know Bond went Gangsta? Don't want to ruin the new movie for you but it was a surprise for me. Actually anything would have been a surprise since I don't really follow Bond movies that much. Anyways....

I was really ill last week. A sinus infection, ear infection and what I think was a touch of the flu all combined together left me feeling horrible. I didn't workout for what felt like FOREVER but it was actually only 4 days. That's the longest I have gone without swimming biking or running since I broke my leg! But I had no choice, I felt really crappy. Thanks to Scoots and Tat for helping me along in my healing process with yummy soup, thera flu, and cough drops. It was appreciated!

Getting back into the swing of things I realized that I am seriously out of shape. Not just out of swim/bike/run, but out of all of it shape. A couple weeks ago I was happy that I wasn't doing any structured training/racing, but now I am bored. I am trying new things:cardio salsa :(, holding plank as long as I can (2:30 minutes) jumping rope (10 minutes, also hard) the evil stair climber on level 14, running up and down Stone Mountain twice (1000 feet elevation gain in one mile, that is a keeper!!) but sadly, these things just leave me feeling sweaty, not really satisfied. So today I am sucking it up and going on a good ole' fashioned run around Stone Mountain followed by a swim. This is going to be tough because I has reintroduced weights the past several weeks and I can't lift my arms. Not so sure how far I will get with the swimming, but it's worth a tri...ha..ha...try.

In other news, school done (as in I am finished!) This means I need a job to save up some money for medical school! (kidding mom! PA school really!) Let me know if you know of anything health related!

A new president....

Well, one thing is for sure, we have elected a new president! Go America! We rock the democracy monkey! I did my civic duty and went out and voted yesterday. I researched both candidates and watched all the speeches BEFORE making my decision. I was not swayed by my parent's, friend's, or the usual "voting for a certain party". I let the issues be the reason why I voted who I voted for. I am proud of everyone who gave their time up to vote!

That being said, there was something very disturbing on Facebook yesterday. Someone I know posted their status as "F$%& (candidates name) and anyone who voted for him is a F$#%&$% idiot!". Comments like that are ignorant and totally uncalled for. You simply cannot call someone an idiot because they exercised their right to vote for someone-and that person was not who you voted for! I was so disturbed by her comment status, that I deleted her as my friend.

Basically, who you vote for is your business, not mine. I am responsible for myself, and of course it would be my preference if you voted for my candidate, but it's up to you to do your own research then make an educated decision based on your views, not mine. While standing in line to vote yesterday I was texting my friends, many of whom were also in line. One of my friends asked me who I was voting for, I responded with his name, but didn't ask her who she was voting for, because I am certain it wasn't the same choice as mine. Either way, I still love her the same and would never judge someone because their political views differ from mine.

I hope that those of you reading this will be respectful of your family, friends, and coworkers choices, even if they aren't the same as yours!

Iron Cheer Squad

Keith, myself, Tat, Steven, and Dave are headed down to Florida this morning bright and early to cheer on Ironman Florida participants. As an added bonus since today is halloween, I will be dressing up in a cheerleading outfit as an "Iron Cheer Sqaud" member. Yes Joe E. I will take pictures!!!

Good luck to:

Sue Allen
Dana Greene
Allen Heaton
Paul Kindzia
Wes McKean
Joe Reger
Shelley Ruiz
Barbara Sharver
Sudie Teslzer
Scott Whitney

Look for the huge garden of signage that we will make in the park again this year! If anyone is dehydrated and needs a little post-race IV bag, go to the med tent and look for the short Russian nurse. Tell her I sent you and she'll give you an extra little treat!

Triple Tuesday

Today was just a total workout extravaganza. Three to be exact. Started off with a hilly run in Kennesaw. Why is it so hilly up there? It wasn't humid but it was hot for almost October. I ran up this wicked hill that was 3/4 mile long. I almost puked at the top. Always the sign of a good run!

Second workout was a swim. Total dud. I am apparently made of lead these days. This was my third swim since Ironman and it is my PROMISE to myself this winter to not let myself give up on swimming! It's just way too hard for someone who is a "non swimmer" to be competitive if they don't swim all winter. Got in 1000 yards. Not too terrible.

Workout number three was supposed to be a bike at Stone Mountain until I saw that there was construction work and part of the road was blocked off. Not wanting to ride in semi-circles instead of full loops I was in a tizzy about what to do. Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration. I easily could have figured something out but since Keith was there and about to run and I had on (clean) running clothes I decided that I would run again. Wha wha what? Two runs in one day? Yes I realize that this is odd behavior. I also baked muffins this week too. I think my body has been invaded by an alien.

Then after leaving Stone Mountain my gas light came on. I knew that peeps have had to wait in line for upwards of two hours for gas-this is something I am just not willing to do! My plan was to get up in the middle of the night and go to avoid a wait. But then poof!?! I found a gas station that 1) had gas and 2) had no line! Lucky lucky joy joy!

Happy racing!

I just wanted to give a shout out to all the peeps that are racing this weekend! Seems like everyone has something going on but me! Tat, Steven, Hunter, and Dave are down in Mexico Beach Florida for a race. Tons of you guys are headed up to 96, South Carolina (what kind of name is that for a city??): Michelle, Sarah, Nat, Steph, Kevin, Kellye, and I am sure that I am missing someone. For those of you who are doing your first half: Nat, Steph, and Kevin: have fun! I can't wait to hear all about it!

Happy Birthday to my mom! She turned 39 for the 20th time. What did she get for her special day? A nice big colonoscopy! Just what she has always wanted! On the way to her house to pick her up I got a bad migraine out of nowhere. It was complete with throwing up three times and hiding under the parking deck to find someplace that was dark. Once my peripheral vision returned I was okay to drive mom home. Then my fingers, tongue, and lips went numb. That is usually the sign that it's almost over. Then poof! It was gone! Wasn't as bad as they have been before. At least I wasn't crying. I need to figure out what causes these things. I have never had them before this year. Sometimes it's caffeine, sometimes it's allergies.

To everyone else riding going up to the North Georgia Mountains to ride this weekend: be careful! We were planning on going but decided to conserve gas and ride from the house instead!

T-R-A-I-L!

T to the R to the A to the I to the L...what's that spell? Trail! I have found my ultimate run spot: on the trails. How much do I love it? I went running four days in a row? Wha-what? Yes it is true. Anti-running Dani is having a serious change of heart.

Saturday Keith and I took the dogs to the trail off Mason Mill. I would run some with Poncey, then with Bella, while he walked (he is nursing an ankle injury) it was pretty exhausting for the dogs (they passed out and slept for 8 straight hours when we got home!) Sunday I hit the trail up again, then on Monday too.

I decided on Monday that I needed some trail shoes before I slipped on a root and broke something. I hit up Big Peach where Kate recommended some La Sportiva mountain running shoes. Painfully ugly, but they will keep me from rolling my ankles.

Tuesday I changed things up and went to Kennesaw Mountain. Wow. Far less technical. Only one tree down and no creeks to cross. Did a longer run and loved it. Calves were burning from the almost one mile total uphill. As much as I detest hills, you would think trail running would be out of the picture for me.

I think it rocks so much because you are forced to pay attention to your surroundings. If you don't you are probably going to fall. This means no staring at your watch anticipating when things are going to end.

This might sound crazy but I think next year I am training for this. A guy at Big Peach was telling me about how beautiful it is up there. I will try and decide in the next couple of months if it's even possible.

News!

Wow....heard on the radio this morning that Lance is making a comeback! Now it's confirmed! Finally the tour will get interesting again. Let's face it....Hincapie just ain't as much to look at as Lance is!

In other news I was diagnosed yesterday with mild, persistent asthma. I am still undecided on whether or not I believe it. I started having the tightness in my chest again on Sunday, same problems with breathing that I have had since the end of June. I have made two doctor's appointments, thinking I was sick, then cancelled both times because I apparently got better. Well this time I decided that I had to put an end to it! I went to Home Depot Sunday night and couldn't walk around without losing my breath! Doctor said that my lungs sounded fine, no fever, nothing. Then I blew into the inspiramotor and my lung output was only 200. They kept asking me if I was a smoker. Me: "No, I don't smoke." Dr: "Okay, then blow again." 200 again. Dr:" Are you sure you don't smoke?" Me: "Yes, positive. I really like to exercise and I don't smoke!" So I tried like 10 more times as hard as I could. They said that I should be blowing a 400 minimum and that endurance athletes should be able to blow all the way to the top. I told them I really couldn't breathe that well at all. They gave me a nebulizer treatment then I blew again. 300. Better, but still sucks on the scale of lung capacity. My pulse ox level was 98% (good) so they give me a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia or a collapsed lung. Nope. Nothing there. Then they start asking me if anyone has ever told me I have asthma. Nope. Haven't heard that before. Do I get respiratory infections a lot? Yes, like every other month it feels like! They said that asthma is often misdiagnosed as bronchitis. They gave me a fast-acting inhaler and then voila! 10 minutes later I blew a 400! Okay but they said I should really be at 600 with my training.

So I left with two inhalers and instructions to use them for one month and see a pulmonologist. They say it's not "exercise induced" asthma because most of the time I am not training when I start feeling crappy. I just find it a little suspicious that I have gone this long with no apparent "asthma attack". They said that I "adult-onset asthma" and it is more prevalent than most people think. People with bad allergies (that is me!) can develop asthma with excessive exposure to things like smoke, smog, mold, dust, (dog hair from Poncey and Bella probably counts too!)

Like I said, they said I have "classic signs and symptoms" but I want a second opinion. Mostly because the inhalers are expensive and one of them I have to use twice a day and replace every month. I need to figure out what my deductible is for prescriptions.

Today I did feel better and was able to run some intervals and get in the indoor bike for a bit. Last night I had a quality night's sleep because my chest wasn't bothering me! So that's positive too. Maybe being able to breathe will make me faster?

Pics are up!

Most of the pics from Ironman Louisville have been posted. Stupid Flickr only allows a certain amount of downloads per month, so you will have to wait on the rest. Click on the Flickr link above for the pics. Dave put together a great video and as soon as I get it, I will download it and post it here too. He got me crossing the line on VIDEO! Too cool!

Not feeling too hot today. Chest congestion for the 5 millionth time. Perhaps I didn't allow myself enough recovery before working out again (took one day off, light workouts, Tuesday and Wednesday, ran Thursday, swam Friday, spin class Saturday). I think I will just take today off-why? Because I can! :)

Tracking IM Wisconsin right now. Super-fast swim times from the Atlanta peeps. Two guys are signed up listing their profession as "smarty pants wannabe" love it!

I. Am. Sick.

Yes. It is true. Approximately one week away from the most important athletic attempt in my entire life and I am sick. Today marks the fourth day in a row without training, and the other days I "trained" last week were pretty lame. Ugh. If I was super-organized I would be looking back on my training logs and reminding myself of all the glorious hours I have logged on my bike and assuring myself that I am not turning into a big bowl of jello. But I gave up on the training logs (takes too much time to record everything) so instead I am having to rely on other things:

What exactly is wrong you ask? Well I feel like my lungs are filled with fluid, it hurts to breathe (in my chest and back area) my throat is killing me and I can't do anything for more than two hours without being totally exhausted. I am armed with an inhaler and some anti-inflammatories that aren't doing anything, but I haven't given up on them yet. Everyone keeps telling me about their cousin's best friend's husband Billy Bob who was sick and didn't train for five whole days and then PR'd their IM. I believe it. But right now I just want to be able to walk up a flight of stairs without being winded. That's my primary goal for the day.

In other news my left leg has gone totally ape on me. After months of nearly pain-free running the bone is swelling up and my knee hurts even when I walk! Some peeps have suggested phantom pain because I am tapering. I abandoned two runs last week due to it, and let's just hope this "phantom"clears out by next Sunday.

I am throughly enjoying watching all the coverage of Ironman Canada today. I have professed how "over it" I am, but today I am starting to actually want to do this Ironman! I typed up a three-page packing list, re-taped my bars, and will get my bike cleaned up and race wheels on soon!

On staying cool and ground chuck feet.....

The Covington Century was one seriously misrepresented ride. Well, actually, not really. I was told it was hot, that part was true, and it was flat. Ummm.....the beach is flat, not this ride. To those of you who kept insisting it wasn't flat? You were right. It was 98 degrees when we finished with a heat index of 104. My nutrition was WAY off balance because I had an upset stomach. Someone claims that hot perpetuem makes your stomach upset. Don't know if that was the cause, I was thinking it had more to do with the 10 or so bottles of water I was guzzling down. Either way, my tummy was not really hungry, just thirsty, and I wasn't able to take in the nutrition required to ride 110 miles (we tacked on some at the end). The result? I was hot, cranky, half-bonky, and slower than anticipated. The fierce headwinds after mile 75 didn't make things any better. Congrats to Tat and Steven on their first century, to Reger for blowing it out like always, Sarah and Allen for rocking it, KP, and everyone else who had the sense to stay far, far, away from Covington. All in all, I felt really great after the ride and an ice bath....kind of surprised my legs weren't feeling more of the ride. I managed to stay cool today, see?


Oh, and Nat, I read your post about hamburger feet. Interesting. My mom cuts out articles for me too. But they mostly pertain to things like 50-somethings that are still able to have kids. She wants to make sure I know that there are like countless years left in my fertility. I was thinking about your reasons to not partake in ultramarathons and Ironman. Me? I am not too concerned with hamburger feet. Remember Joe's pics of his feet he posted after his 100-mile run? I was still intrigued and thought: I wonder how far I can run before my feet look like that? That's not the reason why this stuff is no longer appealing to me. I realized today while I was reading that my deal-breaker is time. I am SO stingy with my time. I am hyper-sensitive to how valuable it is (to me obviously my time is important) and there is nothing in the world that irks me more than it being 5'oclock in the afternoon and you realize that all you've done is ride 110 miles, bathed, and....well that's it. Laundry? Nope. Reading? Nope. Groceries? Not yet. Target? Maybe tomorrow. If I had an assistant who was willing to take care of all my business (including paying my bills) I would be more than happy to take on these endurance challenges. Until someone can clear off 9-months of my schedule? Not gonna happen. I get too worked up when things aren't done, and hate the feeling that I don't have time. Now if you can create a time machine? Then we might be talking........

The junk in your trunk ride....

Well, this ride was definitely an interesting one and it was different for several reasons.

We didn't know where we were going. I rode with Bob and Sue (Suob) from Tucker to Social Circle. Originally Bob said that it would be 80-90 miles. Than he said 108. Sue just said "I hope this isn't more than 120."Then some of the roads didn't have names, and there was a bridge out on a road we needed to take, so we had to make some turning around. It ended up being 98 miles. One thing I learned: Always ride with peeps that are 1)Smarter than you and 2) stronger than you. That way you will get faster and smarter in the process! Thanks to Bob for being such a good navigation system!

There were some really weird animal encounters on this ride. First there was a billy goat that was loose and eating some grass. He looked up at us like we were crazy and just started chewing on his grass again. At a gas-station stop a little dog came up and started licking my leg. Bob gave it some moonpie and it ran away. Weird. A few miles later we saw what we thought was a dog darting out in the street. Turns out it was a fawn and it made a beeline for Bob. He had to stop and unclip and everything! Although this last encounter wasn't an animal it was still odd: there was a chain gang doing work out in the street and we were descending down a hill and we were yelling but they weren't listening and Bob almost ran into one of the inmates. To top it all off Bob "accidentally" rode into the back of a car that had honked at us. Big day for Bob out there!

The thing that made this ride really different was the following: While stopped at a red light a "young lady" said (to me) "Excuse me. You have really nice legs, but I think that you need to do some squats to get a firmer butt." I said "EXCUSE ME?" and she repeated herself. SERIOUSLY? Did Miss Chunksta just tell me to do some squats after I had ridden my bike for 90 miles? If I hadn't needed my water so badly I probably would have chunked it at her. Instead Bob just said "Okay, thanks!" and we rode off. This is what she was referring to:

These are brand new shorts. I promise they fit well when I tried them on. I can only assume that after riding all day my butt shrinks, causing me to having these "dookey booty" issues as Keith likes to call it.

After the ride I went on a 50-minute run. Ouch. It had just stopped raining and was 10,000% humidity. It wasn't pretty.

So I think that this ride can be formally named the "junk in your trunk" ride. I wasn't the only one with stuff back there:

Bob seriously had more stuff in his trunk than you could believe. 3 ensures, his dentures, moonpies, $100 in change, the garage door opener, bags full of powdered drink mix. Bob was loaded up.

After some post ride refueling at Los Hermanos Dave couldn't help but notice my sagging issues were resolved. Bonus for peeps still in the restaurant eating:

I listened to you!

Well, I actually listened for once! All of my favorite healthcare professionals (Tat, Sarah, Dr. Hamid, and Tom) told me the same thing: don't train and go to bed early. After my ART/Gratson session yesterday I was feeling a little bit better. But I had a mild fever and knew that a bike ride may be a bit too much. I came home and vacuumed instead. I wanted to go to bed early but for some reason my exhausted body wasn't telling my mind to stop and sleep. I did manage to get to bed around 10 and slept for a solid 9 hours. And VOILA! I woke up feeling a million times better. I got in a 1.5 hour ride and a 2400 meter swim. Have I told you how much I don't mind swimming these days? It's because I am swimming at Venetian Pools. 50 meters! Outside! Lanes always open! Plus they have a snack bar with ice cream!!!

Tomorrow is a long brick and I know that it will be better because I didn't train on Thursday. It's amazing how taking one day off can curtail a potential disaster

I just talked to Steve Brown who is racing IM Couer D'Alene on Sunday. Water temp is 55 degrees, colder than it's been since 1875 due to the melting of snow on a nearby mountain that feeds the lake. They have hot tubs set up next to the swim exit for people to sit in a warm up! Steve said he hasn't done an IM since 2000 so don't expect anything special from him. Whatever, he's going to ROCK! I am also tracking Bree Wee in her pursuit of an IM Hawaii Pro slot at Japan on Sunday too! Go get 'um!

Pulling out of Irongirls.....

Today marks the 4th day in a row of me being totally and completely exhausted. I went to bed at 10pm last night, woke up at 6am, ran 6.2 miles, showered, went to see train two clients and now I am home at 1:30 p.m. and ready for bed. Ugh. I still have to swim and study for an exam tomorrow before I can go to bed! I switched to 1/2 caffeine coffee five days ago in an effort to slowly wean myself off the juice before Ironman. But I am having a hard time thinking that is the cause of my exhaustion. I am getting adequate sleep. Around 7.5-8 hours a night. But I am still tired. I also feel like I am getting sick, but I am not. I wake up with chest congestion and a sore throat, but no fever. The rest of my body feels great! My legs are getting used to all the training and aren't complaining much. The ART that I am getting twice a week has done wonders for me but it doesn't make me have any more energy.

Although I am tired, I am still completing all my workouts as prescribed. I am just even more tired after I get done. I called the expert, Kevin Patton today to discuss this plus my freaking out that I am not riding long enough. Kevin told me that it was stupid that I "raced" three weekends in a row. Although I wouldn't call the relay portion of a bike a race, KP noted that I was still holding a much higher pace and HR than I would have during any regular workout. This places stress on your body. I am afraid that I am stressing my body too much right now and it's catching up to me.

Kevin has his clients that are racing IM Louisville riding the Cartersville Century in two weeks. I was planning on riding 85 miles then racing Irongirls the next day. KP basically tells me that I am an idiot for doing that. Get up early one day and ride, rush home and put race wheels on your bike, drive to Gainesville to check it in, then come home and race the next day? That's just begging for illness to come on. I agree. I don't know what I was thinking. Plus how much fun is Irongirls really going to be if I can't taper and blow it out? Not fun at all.

So I am not racing Irongirls. I really didn't want to in the first place but Luna Chix are supposed to be racing. Guess I am a volunteer at this point! I am more than happy with that. Sorry to Dave for wasting the free entry!

Nutrition Class

I am taking a nutrition class. This is great because I am trying to slim down just a little tiny bit. The reasons are purely for my performance in triathlons. I am typically happy with the way I look. If I am able to reduce my body fat by just 1% I will effectively increase my body's ability to deliver oxygen to my working muscles. This is VERY important while racing! So I have this awesome software program that has a million different food brands already in it. You enter in your information, age, height, weight, and activity level and it tells you not only how many calories that you need, but also how much nutrients that you need. You can enter in the exact physical activity that you did each day it will will refigure your requirements. This is what I had for today:

Calories Required: 3014 Consumed: 2297 (76%)
Protein Required: 30.24 Consumed: 130.61 (217%)
Carbs Required: 330-490 Consumed: 307.81
Fat Required: 67-117 Consumed: 61.59

In terms of my vitamins and minerals the only ones that I didn't meet requirements for were Omega 6 and Omega 3 (but I ate a kids chewy Omega vitamin so I actually did get everything!)
I didn't get all the Vitamin D required or Potassium. Everything else was 100% or more, sometimes WAY more, like Niacin which shows me at 275% and Vitamin A which has me at 1975% But I ate a whopping 47.31 grams of fiber! So that is great, but I really need to focus on the other areas. I am surprised that I got in so much protein, since I only ate meat once today. I did have a protein shake for breakfast though so that probably helped!

I am going to try REALLY hard to even this all out, and actually eat more to lose weight! Does the need to eat more fat mean I get ice cream?!??

Big News!!!

Oh my gosh! Georgia is getting it's very own 70.3 race! Won't be until September 27, 2009 but that is still really awesome! Wonder if they'll have Kona slots? The article doesn't mention it. But that bike portion is in South Carolina? How cool is that? Here's the link!