Yes, I am alive!!!!

I have been having fun, working training really hard half the time and not at all the rest of the time, went to California for Team Luna Chix Summit and had the most amazing time! The pic above shows me riding in Saulsalito which was SO beautiful. My blogger is acting somewhat weird, so I cannot edit the pics, but hopefully there is another pic on here that shows Sarah and I riding our bikes over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was scary looking out over the water but at the same time totally amazing and incredible! Training in California was for sure WAY different than being in Georgia! I was afraid that once I got back I would not want to do anything here, but it turns out that I was able to suck it up and did 70 on the Silver Comet all by my lonesome self!

Questions for those of you still reading: What is the most awesome running sock ever created? Preferrably with arch support? I am in need of some new socks. I have tried most brands already. I like thin socks but they seem to make my feet really hot when I run. Running right now has been tough for me because of a nasty fall I took last weekend at Stone Mountain on the covered bridge portion of the trail. Ugh. I attempted to run this week but this was all I was able to do: 10 min warm-up at 6.5 mph, 16 min at 8.0, then I had to stop...knee was just acting too crazy and I was over compensating for the bad knee with my hip and didn't want to jack that up too! I have been doing some meridian stretching which has been interesting and helpful. It's a workout too though and leaves me pretty sore.

I am having to hold myself back from going into a training frenzy right now! Gulf Coast is going to be here so soon (May 9th!) and I am sort of freaked out about my knee and the fact that I took 10 days off from swimming due to an ear infection. Ugh. So far this week I have already trained almost 5.5 hours and it's only Thursday, AND I still have to do a 90 min bike and 30 min run. The good news in all of this is that I have finally figured out my nutrition and cleaned up my eating habits once and for all! I have been getting my body fat testing and work and went from 20% to 19% to 16.8%!! So excited about that! The 16.8% in 8 weeks is awesome, but the best part is that I have only lost 1 pound! This means that I have turned fat into muscle, which is okay because more muscle equals higher VO2 Max, metabolism, and hopefully more strength on the bike and run!

Tundra Time Trial

Suckitysucksucksucksucksuckkk!

That just about sums up my first time trial experience. It just wasn't a great day for me. First, I underestimated how much time it would take to get there, then I got lost. I arrived and there was no parking. I rushed to get my number only to be told I needed to fill out some more paperwork. Bob told me to warm up for 40 minutes, but at this point I only had 20 minutes until I started! I rushed back to my car. Everyone else was on there trainers with their skinsuits on. I was wearing all black, including my fleece-lined pants. I couldn't figure out how peeps were riding with shorts on!

I only had 15 minutes to spare, so no trainer for me. I rode around on the trail, which actually cooled me off rather than warming me up because it was starting to drizzle. I lined up and prepared to start. Marc was there (in PLENTY of time I might add!) and he got to see what must have been the worst start of the day: I begged them to not drop me (you clip in and they "hold" you up) when the guy let go of me and they told me to start, I unclipped instead and said "I'm sorry!" I just totally thought that I was going to fall over! So it took me a few seconds to clip back in and get going.

About a mile into the race my left leg flew off the side of the bike. Guess I wasn't as clipped in as I thought I was! My bike started swerving and they guy behind me started screaming and freaking out a little. Totally unnerving! I regained control, clipped in, and continued. I got passed by a guy around mile 3 and tried to keep up but I just didn't feel like I was able to push like I normally can.

When the turnaround came up I was such a wussy. I unclipped and walked it. It was wet and I was already freaked from almost crashing, so I said "screw it!" and got off the bike. I quickly got back on my bike and took off again. I got passed by the guy behind me, but I repassed him about 30 seconds later. I tried to push and push, but I felt like I was moving in slow motion. I passed three other riders, two males, one female and finally made it to the finish line.

25:11. Suckitysucksucksucksuck. Bike computer shows 24:45, so that may have been my actual riding time. Either way I was expecting to average a lot faster than 22.62 mph.

My mistakes were costly as I was 5th female overall with less than 33 seconds separating 2nd and 5th place. But each race is an opportunity to learn, and I learned a lot!

The winners got the most incredible hand blown glass awards. So beautiful. Next year the top three females will also get the same awards. So next year? I'm gonna practice more!

Congrats to Amy for her 3rd place finish, she's super strong! Marc and his Aaron's teammates did great too!

FINALLY made it to Master's!

After working at the Concourse for almost a month, I finally made it to Master's swim practice. My main excuse has been that it's been too cold to swim in the outdoor pool and when it hasn't been cold, I have had clients and can't swim. But today everything lined up perfectly and my work day was over in time for me to make the 11 a.m. swim practice. Lord have mercy. Those people tried to KILL me! Here's what we did:

500 WU
4x150 as 50 kick, 100 swim
3x300 at 90% Max
7x100 at 100+% max on 4 minutes. After you did your 100 you had to warm-down with back, breast, or free until the next 100.
2x25 underwater

My first 100 came in at 1:24. This was the slowest out of everyone (my lane was in the 1:08-1:15 range). Coach reassured me that there ARE slower swimmers, but today he had warned everyone about the workout, so I guess they stayed home. By the 5th 100 I was hating life and swimming and contemplating duathlons. By the 6th 100 I was literally seeing stars and color flashes and thought I was drowning. By the 7th 100 I realized that I had swum 3000 yards WAY faster than I would on my own and maybe Master's wasn't that bad after all. My slowest 100 was 1:33 and it was because I hit the guy coming back and had to stop and stand up.

Swimming underwater while holding my breath was the only thing I excelled at (and of course the kickboard!) I made it from wall to wall both times. It was really, really hard.

Positive about Master's? It's quick and dirty. No breaks, one hour of intense swimming. Plus the pool is saline which my skin loves.

Negative about Master's? I did my Dara Tores weight workout yesterday and went into the swim already feeling like my arms were noodles. But that was totally my fault and I learned my lesson.

Afterwards my fellow master's attendees told me I did good and promised that next week the Tuesday and Thursday midday practice wouldn't be this tough. I think I decided that I like it tough!

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!

LT, VO2 Max, and other things that hurt!

So I had my VO2 Max retested on the bike. Ouch. I was hoping for huge improvements (ya know in time for the Tour 2009) But apparently there was only my VO2 Max only increased .2 ml/kg/min. Hardly anything worth writing home about. I was whining about this dismal increase when my professor pulled up the information about my lactic threshold. That's where things really started to get exciting because my LT heartrate has increased to 170! MAJOR improvement! My last test was in September 2007 so I knew that I had made some really major ground, but an LT heartrate of 170 is seriously high and I am so happy about it! If I wasn't being tested on a $50,000 piece of equipment by someone with a PhD in Exercise Science, I would think it was a mistake. What does this mean? Mostly that I am a total goon for not having my LT redone a million times in the midst of Ironman training. Because I was working with the wrong LT all season I made minimal gains in speed on the bike and basically sold myself short. Although this is the "off" season and we are supposed to be doing "base" stuff I feel like my entire season was spent doing long slow stuff and now I am itching for some speed!

Speaking of speed (or lack thereof) I ran in the Chandler Park 5k on Saturday with Sarah Heaton. Since we are both coming off Ironman (me Louisville, her Wisconsin) we were pretty sure that we wouldn't be speed demons. Add that in with lot's of hills we didn't know about and it made for a tough little 5k!! We refueled with breakfast at the Flying Biscuit, OMG, so yummy! I need to incoporate one long run with refueling there every week!

Other things that hurt? My ankle. Like really badly. Ugh. But I think that my sinus infection has started to clear up and I am able to breathe again!

Next up on my agenda: transferring bike speed to running speed. Let me know what your favorite speed workouts are, I'm in the market for some pain!

Motivation

I am highly motivated to run fast thanks to Golden Shoes. Michael Johnson? That's who I am talking about. Except not this MJ:

I mean he is great and all but I am talking about another Michael Johnson. This one is a lot skinner and kind-of goofy looking but he runs really fast. Not only does Golden Shoes run fast but he can run fast at a really high incline.

We are learning how to administer VO2 Max tests in one of my classes. Fun stuff. Everyone has to learn it, so that means everyone is taking both bike and run tests, multiple times since there are only 14 of us in the class. Golden Shoes went on Tuesday and set the standard for all the non-running guys. They aren't happy. After a little warm-up we let him set the treadmill at a "comfortable" pace. For him it was 7.0 mph. Then his partner ramped that sucker up every three minutes until he almost passed out, or fell off the treadmill actually. I was trying to yell at him as much as possible to encourage him to blow it out, but since I was on the bike getting a sub-max test it was difficult. Turns out my partner was having a hard time taking my blood pressure with me hollering across the room. Honestly I wasn't too concerned with my blood pressure as I was getting a lot of entertainment out of Golden Shoes.

Why? Because at my gym the treadmills only go up to 15% incline. But Michael? He was running at 15% incline and 7.0 MPH like it was NOTHING. HR wasn't even cracking 150. Keep in mind that since this is a graded test, you have to stay at the incline for 3 minutes before you can increase it. His RER (respiratory exchange ratio) was increasing at a snail's pace. It is the indication of what percentage fat you are burning for fuel and what percentage carbohydrates you are burning (at rest 100% fat, at anything above 70% VO2 Max you are 100% carbs)

By the time Golden Shoes was done he was at an 18% grade. His test was the longest I have ever seen at 32 minutes. VO2 Max was 72 ml/kg/min, 75 is considered the benchmark for world-class athletes.

Nothing makes me more fired up then watching someone exercise to the point of nearly passing out. Call me a masochist, but this was fantastic.

VO2 Max essentially means very little to endurance athletes. My professor calls it a "worthless number". He's right. It's all about the lactic threshold for us.

Humans? We really aren't all as great as we thought we were. Siberian huskies that run in dog sled competitions? VO2 Max of 240 ml/kg/min. I'd like to know how they got them to run on a treadmill with a huge mask on their face!

Emerald Pointe Triathlon

Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck. Suck. Goal NOT accomplished!

Swim: 8:03. It was a cluster bomb of chicks with 100+ in my wave. So difficult to navigate my way through the people, most of whom decided to stop and sight directly in front of me. That's the nature of 400 meter swims! Official swim time of 10:16 includes the hill and getting into transition. Not wearing my wetsuit was a bad idea. I was SO cold. The water was freezing. I felt frozen getting out of the water.

T1: Need to practice cooler looking transitions. Like shoes already on my bike. That's super cool. Fumbled with my helmet. Saw Steph and family cheering. 1:49 transition time.

So far so good. Goal at this point was 11:40 and I was at 12:05.

Bike: Freezing. Really cold. Snop dripping everywhere. I was quite uncomfortable on the bike. I passed lot's of girls within the first 3 miles, than it was nothing but guys. I tried but just couldn't get myself warmed up. My quads felt cold. Bike time of 36:03 and 21.6 MPH avg was slightly faster than I anticipated. It felt really slow out there to me.

T2: There is no way I made it out of T2 in 55 seconds like they claim. Something was sketchy about that.

Run: I looked at my watch when I left and knew I could make my time goal. Well, thought I could at least. My legs were still frozen and I couldn't feel my feet. I went out too fast and my first mile came in around 6:50. I felt like I was going to throw up. I slowed down a bit but stopped keeping track of my pace. I passed tons of guys and saw the lead girls. I only got passed once on the run. Apparently Sue writing "Go Faster" on the back of my leg was inspiring to someone! I felt sick to my stomach but seeing Keith, Dave, and Jim made me push harder. I tried to catch you Dave! I saw Olga and Tat while I was coming back in. When we rounded the corner to the finish line a guy said "let's sprint" I ran as hard as I could and we crossed the line at the same time. When the lady said "I need your chip", I said "I am going to throw up" I grabbed a trash can a did. Official run time says 24:48 but I have it at 23:50. Not sure who's right on this one.

Finish time: 1:13:40. 4th place age group. 12th female overall. Three minutes faster than last year.

Congrats to Tat, Olga, Dave, Keith, Jim, and everyone else who had solid races. Thanks to Hunter, Steven, and the Suob's for volunteering and cheering. Thanks to Steph and family and Kellye for cheering, it was good seeing you guys!

I am now in stealth-mode run training with Scoots. Gotta get faster for next season!

Last race of the season.....

Tomorrow marks the ending of the 2008 triathlon season. It also marks the beginning of home improvements. Ugh. Triathlon training will be easy in comparison to tiling and painting I am sure.

Very sad that the season is ending. I feel like I am just get started! Okay, that's an overstatement, but I feel like the FUN is just getting started, now that the pesky Ironman monkey is off my back and all.

Emerald Pointe is a fun sprint up in Lake Lanier. Should be chilly. I doubt if I will wear my wetsuit because it's too hard to run up that huge hill in. I did put the "toewarmers" on my shoes. What a pointless purchase that was. Why just the toes and not the whole foot? Whatever. They will work for tomorrow let's hope.

I rarely, if ever, have posted my goals for a race. Generally I will say "get hardware" or "beat my time from last year". Even though this is a sprint, since it's local and the last of the season it draws a lot of talent. So I decided my goals would be based on my time from last year. Basically I would like to improve on everything! Shouldn't be too tough considering the fact that last year I fresh off a broken leg and my running was more like "hobbling". Here's the breakdown:

2007 Emerald Pointe:
Swim: 9:28 (400m)
T1: 3:22 (hill+wetsuit removal)
Bike: 37:10 (21.0 MPH average)
T2: 1:11
Run: 25:32 (8:15/ mile pace)
Total time: 1:16:41
2nd in 25-29 AG, 18th female overall

2008 Emerald Pointe *goal times*:
Swim: 8:50 (let's face it-I can't swim!)
T1: 2:40 (still has the hill but I am not taking off the wetsuit)
Bike: 36:45 (21.4 MPH avg pace)
T2: 1:00
Run: 23:40 (7:37/mile avg pace)
Total time: 1:12:55

I am not exactly in peak sprint shape so this is gonna hurt. Sprint's always hurt the most to me which is why they aren't my speed of choice. I don't know what my speed of choice is to be truthful, but I know that I don't get warmed up quickly enough in races this short. Taking 4 minutes off my time from last year should make for some hard racing, but what better way to end the season?

Tri 2 Remember Triathlon

Is is a good idea to race a sprint triathlon 20 days after an Ironman distance triathlon? YES! It was so much fun and so short compared to what I did a few weeks ago! Here is my recap of the event:

Race morning I was sluggish thanks to some tylenol pm and going to bed at 9:30 p.m. and getting up at 3am. I shouldn't have taken it but I am having some really bad sleep issues lately and it was my only hope.

We arrived at the race when the park was opening and it was COLD! Brrrrr! I wasn't expecting it to be this much colder than it was in Atlanta (the race was in Gainsville, about an hour north) and of course I didn't pack any extra clothing to wear on the bike. I was wearing my Luna jacket but it's like a tent so I didn't want to use it. The race was wetsuit legal but for 400 meters and 72 degrees I didn't feel like going through the trouble.

The Swim: What a total clusterbomb of people this was! They gave us three minutes between waves but it didn't help stop all the major clumping of people. I guess there really is no good way to do a 400 yard swim without people backing up-unless it's time trial start. I tried to push myself as hard as I could but there was no point-I simply don't have any swim speed right now. I have made it into once since my Ironman! I made it out in 6:57 and we had to go up a hill (why are there always hills going into transition?) so that added a little time.

T1: Slow. Need to work on getting my bike shoes attached to the bike ahead of time. I was cold and fumbled around.

The bike: Wow....hilly! Of course, it was so close to the North Georgia Mountains I expected this, but what I didn't expect was for people to be walking their bikes up the hills! I think they caught some people off guard and they were in the wrong gears. There was quite a bit of traffic out there and I was calling "on your left" and one guy ran off the road and into the grass. Oops. There really was room for both of us, but I think I spooked him. I passed several girls and lot's of guys. At mile 10 they announced that I was the 6th female so that made me push a little harder. I saw Henry and his new bike-it was really nice! Other than being really, really cold the bike wasn't too bad. I could use some intervals in the next few weeks! Avg speed was 20.1 MPH.

T2: Gotta learn the running dismount. It looks too cool to not try at least once (maybe more if I don't bust my butt!)

The run: My goal for the run: DO NOT let a woman pass me! I am always out in front on the bike and then some chick in my age group will pass me with .2 miles to go-so frusterating! The run was a tough course-hilly also. My feet were frozen but I knew I was pushing it because I was passing tons of guys. I felt like I was going to throw up after running every hill and when I went through the turnaround I looked at my watch and timed when I saw the next woman (who happened to be Fox 5 anchor and speedster Denise Dillon) it was 1 minute 27 seconds. I pushed harder and crossed the finish line. Average pace: 7:42 per mile. Denise never caught me but because she started after I did her finish time was faster. Oh well-mission accomplished, don't get caught on the run! For the record only two guys passed me! Trail running really has helped!

I was the 9th overall female and finished 2nd in my age group. Can't complain about getting some hardware! Scootsie was 2nd in his age group as well (I tried desperately to catch him but beat me by 2 minutes and 8 seconds!)

Congrats to Anna and Henry for getting out there and racing strong! Thanks to Vanessa for cheering ( I love crowd support!)

Only one race left of the season! (insert sad face here!)

Ironman Louisville

You asked and here it is: the race report!

Let me start off by saying that doing an Ironman rocked 10 times more than I ever expected it to. This was one of the most incredible experiences of my life and I will cherish the memories that I made forever and ever.

The night before the race I started to not feel well. I got flu-like symptoms and got up a million times just generally not feeling well. The morning of the race I couldn't keep anything in (read 6 dukeouts, isn't that like a record?) but I was really ready for the race! Walking down to transition there was actually people getting out of cabs drunk! So funny! They must have thought that we were totally insane.

Before the race I was anxious, but I didn't cry! (I did cry in the shower, but that was more about not feeling well and being so upset it) I got to see my mom, Tat, Steven, Hunter, and Dave which made me feel calmer. There was a lot of craziness standing in the dark getting ready to swim and I kept thinking "I hope the sun comes up soon!" I was lined up with Keith, Bob, and Sue which meant that we were all racing together-awesome! Joe started a little later in the pack. The people that owned the boats at the dock were sitting out there drinking their morning coffee like it was no big deal that 2200 athletes were lined up getting ready to swim 2.4 miles. That's Kentucky for you!

The Swim: Let's just say that I made it through the swim! I am a TOTAL slacker when it comes to doing my long swims and my longest this season was 3800 meters (2.3 miles) and I only did that once about 6 weeks ago. I took a little break from swimming but when I got in the water I was pretty comfortable. Although it was a time trial start, there was still tons of people everywhere and I wasn't expecting to swim into so many people. Made it out of the water in 1:26, I'll take it. Lesson learned: it's okay to just swim 3000 yards.

T1: Didn't feel too hot. Actually, felt really hot, like fever hot. There were some very nice volunteers who wanted to help me out of my bathing suit and into my cycling clothes but I declined. Lesson learned: accept the help, you are wet and it won't take as long with two people!

The Bike: Things heated up pretty quickly on the bike. I felt pretty good and was on track with my nutrition until around mile 20 when I tried to drink some ensure. Bad idea. My stomach totally turned on me. I was so nauseated that the thought of the ensure or my amino vital made me want to puke. I threw out the ensure at an aide station and grabbed Gatorade but couldn't drink that either. So I was relegated to just plain water. Good when it's hot, not good when need to bike 112 miles. I couldn't stomach my clif bar either. Keith caught me on the bike and we played cat and mouse about 8 times until I finally pulled away. Knowing that he was behind me was a big motivator for me to not snivel about my tummy hurting. The bike course was hilly, pretty, and had the best cheering squad you could ask for. There was an odd amount of wind out there....crosswinds...not something that I expected to see in Kentucky. I stopped at mile 66 to get my transition bag and try to use the bathroom. No go. I had two honey buns and ate one which revived me some. I saved the other one to nibble on the rest of the ride. I got passed on the bike by Bree who was winning the race on the woman's side and cheered for her. She was cutting hills in half. 12/27 was a rocking gear choice for me on this race! I was able to get a couple gel packs in between miles 85-100 but then I didn't feel too great so at mile 100 I switched to just water. My back and girly bits were ready for this ride to be over with, but I never really got bored. There was no talking or anything on the bike, just riding, and it wasn't all that bad!

T2: I let a nice lady help me with my running clothes. She set everything up into neat little piles and applied my body glide onto my back for me. The volunteers are the greatest! I spent a couple minutes talking to a nice lady who lost the feeling in her toes. She made it out onto the run and finished!

The Run: Wow it was hot on the run. Really hot. I saw a sign that said 95 degrees when I started. I got to see Brian and Kile as I was starting and they were super pumped up. When I left transition I asked Hunter "Where are Bob and Sue?" For some reason I was really concerned with where everyone else was! I saw Keith as I was running out onto the bridge and he promised that he was going to catch me. I felt okay, just a little depleted and I was surprised that my legs were as fresh as they felt. At mile 4 I ate a gel with some gatorade and then started throwing up! NOOOO!!!! So that started my cycle of jog, puke, walk, jog, puke, walk. Two times the EMT peeps came up to me and tried to get me to come to the med tent. I wasn't falling for it, I was going to finish this race if it meant crawling! It was great seeing everyone on the run, but hard to tell whether they were one their first loop or not. I cheered for peeps when I could but lost my voice around mile 12. I learned that there are some people who can walk REALLY fast and I am not one of them. I tried to use the bathroom a couple of times hoping that if something came out that end I would feel even better but it didn't work. The run should have been called the "speed walk" because every time I saw someone they were walking. Except for Joe. He ran the whole way! Right before the special needs area Keith caught me. He told me that I HAD to get calories in or they would end up carting me off the course. We stopped at the bags and I sat down for a minute and changed my shoes and socks. When I got up I felt a little better so at mile 14 I drank a little coke and didn't throw up! I took one sip of coke at every aide station until mile 19 when I started to get lightheaded. I realized that I was on the verge of passing out and told Keith I needed to stop and get some calories in. I managed to get two gel packs, some gatorade, coke, and a pretzel in before we started back up. Wow, what a difference some calories can make! At that point I wanted to run faster but my legs only knew one speed. I got in one salt tablet and gave Keith my last one. We kept seeing Bob and Sue, looking really strong and in great spirits. It started to get dark around mile 23 and at that point I wanted to keep going, no more stops at aide stations, let's finish this! Hunter and Tat were close to the finish, maybe mile 24 or 25. When I saw them I knew I was almost an Ironman! Hearing the roaring crowd at Fourth Street Live was incredible. I don't even remember them calling my name, but I do remember crossing the finish line and being surprised that I didn't cry. I sprinted as hard as I could and didn't feel a thing. I AM AN IRONMAN! It was an unbelievable feeling!

The craziest thing is that the entire race was so much fun. Even while I was throwing up I loved it because I knew the end result was me crossing that finish line. I was thinking the entire race, I can't wait to do another one! Florida? Wisconsin? Which one? I know I said that it was just going to be this one but I fibbed!

When I crossed the line the lady wanted to know when the last time I went to the bathroom was. I was bone dry and had stopped sweating. I went to the med tent and got a couple bags of IV's and some medicine for my stomach. They took blood and said my sodium level was low and I needed to eat salt. I visited with Bob, Sue, and Keith (also getting some IV's) before heading back to the hotel to shower and get some WHITE CASTLE! Good at the time but now the thought makes me sick. If I even think about anything that made me sick during the race it will make me throw up right now!

I must say how impressed I am with all my fellow Ironman Louisville competitors. There were lot's of DNF's and people on the side of the road with oxygen on, convulsing, and one guy had a major seizure at the finish. So finishing this race was a huge accomplishment! Sue overcame major issues in the water to complete her FIRST triathlon! Sue rocks! Bob, Keith, Joe, Misty, Sandy, Bree, Lee Ann, Rivi, and Jim all finished strong and enjoyed it.

Keith and I hardly said two words to each other while running. I told him to go ahead and leave me but he said "we have a pack". Apparently while I was in the hospital we made a pack to finish our first IM together. I didn't remember it, but Keith did and it meant a lot to me. Thanks.

Iron-spectators: YOU ROCK! Knowing that my mom, Tat, Steven, Hunter, Dave, Kile, and Brian were out there made such a difference! Every time I saw them I got some strength from it. It was a long day for them too and they were so supportive, I will always cherish and remember them for it! Thank you so much for everything!

How do I feel now? Pretty good actually. Walked two miles on Tuesday. Stomach still a little on the upset side but body is okay. Going to spin my legs out on the trainer today for a bit.

Thanks to everyone for their calls, e-mails, texts, facebook messages, etc, etc. Your support was truly incredible and this wouldn't have been the same without you!

A lot to say but don't feel like talking.

I'm here! Just not really in the mood the talk. Things are going ok leading into the last three weeks before my IM. I did a 90/4 brick on Saturday with Keith, Michelle, and her friend David. I was thinking about how great it will be to stop at 50 like Michelle and David did! Sunday I volunteered at Acworth and it was great to see everyone who raced hard out there!

I am sure that most of you have heard by now that Keith's brother was killed in a motorcycle accident. Then his mother suffered a heart attack and was rushed into emergency triple-bypass surgery. Totally sucks. She is still in the cardiac ICU and will hopefully be transferred into a regular room and taken off the ventilator today. So my ear infection and sore throat? Not really that important at the time.

In other news Steven has kidney stones and his wife Tat is having her gallbladder removed today. Again, more sucky stuff. I am pretty bummed about all these people I care about hurting so much. I feel pretty worthless, but I am trying to help out as much as I can. Please keep everyone in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time!

Rubbed raw!

Yesterday was my first ever three hour run. I went as terrifically splendid as a run can possibly be when you are on the verge of a stomach explosion at the end and just plain uncomfortable. I think that I was drinking a bit too much water and that was the reason my tummy was upset, because I only ate three gels and had 24 ounces of gatorade. Water? That's another story. LOTS of water. I was super hot and was sweating like I have NEVER sweat before! In fact at mile 13 I took of my socks because they were soaking wet (I can't stand having my feet wet!) and ran the last 5 miles with no socks and wet shoes. But I didn't get blisters so it looks like my 8 remaining toenails are safe! But I was having a ton of discomfort where my sports bra was rubbing me. I knew that it was rubbing me raw (this sometimes happens when I sweat a lot) but what I wasn't expecting was this:

It's kind-of hard to tell from the pic, but it's actually quite painful. Today it looks even worse. It looks like a blister and hurts worse than road rash. There's a lot more but it's not in places that I can show 'ya! During the night it got all oozy and was stuck to my shirt when I woke up this morning. Nice. I was concerned that the water in the pool would burn really badly so I pulled over on the way to my swim and squirted myself with my water bottle to test it out. Bearable so I went to the pool. Probably not the best for the sanitation of the pool, but the chlorine needs to kill something right?

The good news is that I have learned that I need to 1) use body glide and 2) not wear that sports bra for IM. I already turn my bra inside out on a suggestion, so if you ladies have any other tricks let me know 'cuz this burns!

I am late posting the pics from the huge storm we had on Sunday. Lightening stuck a tree in the courtyard and it went down over cars, a gate, and literally stopped at someones front door. If the tree had fallen the other direction it would been right on top of a house and destroyed it. The people who live 8 feet from the tree were truly blessed!

The beginning of the end....

With August 31st approaching pretty quickly, I am finally in the beginning of the end. End to what? Missing toenails, eating gel packs instead of lunch, laundry three times a day, getting up early everyday, I could go on and on forever. Can you tell that I am ready for this Ironman to be over with?

This weekend's training put me over the edge of loving Ironman. Saturday was a 100-miler with Keith at the Silver Comet. I didn't know that it was so beautiful once the trail ends! It opened up to these fields and farms and we saw skydivers (we learned that one died later that day, very sad). Things were going quite nicely on the ride until we went around a sharp corner and there was a break in the trail followed by some railroad tracks. These tracks were curved with the road, and I didn't realize it until it was too late, and I was on the ground. My right hip and left hand took most of the fall. I was in a less than enthusiastic mood at that point. Keith wouldn't accept any sniveling although I thought that my thumb was broken. The tracks won the battle but not to war because I was smart enough to dismount and walk over the rest of the tracks. Finishing the ride (55 miles) in pain wasn't my idea of fun and set the mood for the rest of the weekend.

Sunday I woke up and my hip was killing me. It has a huge knot and bruise on it. I hobbled around and finally made it out to the Hooch around 10:30 am for my 2:30 run. Brilliant!!! It was humid and VERY hot! I saw Pee Wee out there. The 100 miles and fall were still fresh in my legs and the run was pretty slow, but I finished all 2 hours and 30 minutes of it. Knowing I had a cold YooHoo in the car made me want to get it done. At QT I picked up some ice for my ice-bath and the guy asks "Were you just working out?" I told him yes, and he said "In this heat? Are you crazy?" I am starting to think that I am!

Although this weekend was really difficult in terms of training, it taught me that I can suffer a lot. And something tells me that come August 31st, being trained in the art of suffering will come in pretty handy.

Why I don't work on my own bike.....

The lovely image above shows my bike after racing Chattanooga yesterday. Notice the seat pointing totally upwards? That was the result of me trying to adjust my own saddle Thursday to point downwards per my doctors suggestion. I am officially never, ever, ever, ever, ever, going to touch my bike again unless it's to clean it, change the tire, or put the chain on. Everything else will require professional help! Here's what I thought of the race:

Swim: It started raining right before my swim start. Getting into the river and being told when to start is WAY better than a mass swim start. I took off and was feeling pretty decent. Since it was a point to point swim I wasn't sighting like normal until I see a kayak. This meant that I was swimming towards my right instead of straight forward. Doh! So I started sighting and stuck to the left (closer to the bank of the river). They told us that the bright green buoy was our indicator that the stairs were coming up and I got really excited when I looked up and saw a huge bright green thing. Then a couple of minutes later I swam up to a huge group of guys, at least 40 in green swim caps. How did I catch up with them? I kept swimming and swimming, taking 9 strokes and I sighted, still the same spot I was in before. I knew I wasn't moving and started neither was anyone else. I powered myself through by swimming as hard as I could, then the little whirlpool was gone. Apparently there are little spots in the river where this happens. Didn't know that! Swim was 28:04, about a minute slower than I would have liked.

Bike: This bike course was WAY harder than the one from two years ago! But it was really scenic. There were TONS of potholes and I saw plenty of peeps with flats and water bottles all over the place. Around mile 12 or 13 it started pouring rain. It felt like little pellets hitting my skin. I couldn't see anything and was in my aero bars going down a hill. I looked down and was going 39 mph! The rain finally stopped. Around mile 18 my back was just totally gone. I stood up for some relief and when I sat back down my saddle went the opposite way. Oops. At mile 20 I went over a bump and my saddle dropped back even further. At that point I was just trying to not fall off my bike. It was raining again and since we only had six more miles, I thought it would be okay to not try to adjust it. Right. My hamstrings and calves were lighting up like a Christmas tree during those last six miles. It was totally inefficient and wasting a lot of energy. I was still pleased that I managed to avg. 20 MPH. I got a 2-minute penalty for "positioning" because I passed someone and didn't return to the left. It was because the road was crappy there.

Run: The run was a huge disappointment to me. My legs just weren't feeling like they should have, mostly because of the bike I think. I was so proud of myself for putting my shoes in a plastic bag because they were totally dry. Then not even a mile into the run there was a huge puddle of standing water and I got my feet wet. Ugh. I don't like wet feet. The run was better two years ago in my opinion, I thought that this one was harder. Very steep stairs to climb (I couldn't run up or down them). My run pace was 9:04, AWFUL for six miles. I like the out and back on the run because it gave me a chance to see everyone else running, Tat, Keith, Steve, Steph, Matt, Henry, etc ,etc....seeing peeps always keeps you going!

Total time was 2:45:50, not including my penalty. With the rain and my bike issues, I will take it.

Congrats to Tat and Henry on their first Olympic distance race! This was my first Olympic too in 2006! Thanks to Steven and Dave for their support out there! Congrats to everyone else for racing strong in not so great conditions!

Second lesson of the day: Don't make fun of peeps with flats. Someone we know was laughing at Keith because he flatted on the bike. Not even one mile later she flatted and had to DNF because she didn't have a tube. Bad race Karma!

We're 99.99% sure.....

At least the needle is thin!

We are 99.99% sure that you have a herniated sacral disc. This is what Dr. Hamid and Tom the PT tell me today. Why? Well because instead of getting better, my back is getting worse. The more I train the worse it gets. I am receiving very good care, and very aggressive care, and still I fail all the tests that they give me and my back goes numb within 5 minutes of sitting down. Very frustrating! So far I have done ART treatment, Gratson technique treatment, at-home PT exercises, Dry Needling (wow....8 inch needle in my back and then shocking it so my back will twitch....not fun!!!), and today they hooked me up to a contraption that buckled my feet in and twisted me while pulling me. I joked that they might actually add a couple of inches to me! The only way to be totally sure that this is a herniated disc is with an MRI. So I guess that I need to pony up the money and get it done. They said it's not really necessary because they are treating me like I have one anyways, and there isn't much else they can do. Surgery is only for people with excruciating pain who are experiencing numbness and pain all the time.

The really bad news? That the more I train the worse this is going to get. They promised to get me through the next 6 1/2 weeks until my IM and than I HAVE TO HAVE TO take a break. They told me that they are just putting a band aid on my symptoms, not "fixing" anything. So I have to take the break. A break from what you ask? The BIKE of all things. Ugh. The only thing I could spend all day doing is the thing that is causing me this discomfort. Go figure. If I don't back off? The numbness will get worse, I will feel it all day long, have to get cortisone injections, and eventually it could become debilitating. Double ugh. I love riding my bike but not with those type of risks!!!

What caused this you ask? Well a trauma. Most herniated disc are the result of lifting heavy objects (haven't done that), car accidents, and falling and landing on your back/sacral area. Kind of like getting hit by a car and landing on the ground I ask?Yup....just like that (left hip hit the windshield of the car) and the good Dr. said that was probably the likely culprit. So this disc has been out of whack for a while but I am reaching my "threshold" where it will cause me pain.

So for now? I am taped up. Like I said, I am trying everything possible at this point. I have pretty strict instructions and LOTS of new exercises to do (like holding plank for 2 minutes!) I am not giving up on the .01% chance that this may just be an entrapped nerve.

Don't laugh at the tan lines! This might actually work!

Nerve Entrapment

Doesn't this sound so sinister? Well it's not. Thankfully this is something that will be quite managable and will not require that I backdown from any training or racing. WHEW! Big sigh of relief! I was really worried that I had a pinched sacral nerve. The symptoms are similar but what I have is an "entrapment" of a nerve that is most likely caused by my major muscle imbalance. I learned that some of the exercises that I was doing that I thought would help were actually making it worse.

I really had three appointments today. One with Dr. Hamid and two with the PT. I really like them both. They get me, what I am doing, and how hard-headed that I am. I am going to be going to PT twice a week. I promise not to crap out on it. I have no choice, if I don't correct the imbalance this will only get worse. Today they gave me some exercises that I have to do three times a day. I can already tell a difference. I also had my first Active Release Therapy treatment. I was rather skeptical at first but have heard wonderful things about this from peeps who were at their wits end. I have tons of scar tissue so there is a lot for them to work out. It sort of hurts. When I left and went to work I had no numbness at all during my 45-minute car ride. Odd. Than I rode and my back felt fine. Is it possible that one PT session and ART treatment can cause this much relief? They were amazed with how much imbalance I have. It all goes back to that stupid leg-breaking. Whatever. I am alive and they believe that once I get "balanced" I will be stronger than ever. Yeah baby!!!

Because the little birdie said so!

My encounters with animals have been less than normal recently. First I saved two turtles two weeks ago while riding. Then last week I was scared by both a dog and a snake while racing in Macon. Yesterday I was at Target and found this little bird sitting inside the doorway. Poor little thing was breathing really hard and no one seemed willing to help him. I picked him up and gave him some water. Then I put him in some pine straw by a tree and told myself that I would bring him home if he was still there when I left. He was gone when I left. Weird.

On another note I am going to have a X-Ray done of my lower back. My pain and numbing issues have intensified. I can now only sit down for about 5 minutes without my lower back going numb. If I don't stand up them I will get pain in my left sit bone, hip and butt area. If I stay seated eventually the pain will travel down the back of my leg and cause my foot to fall asleep. Very disturbing. The minute I stand up the feeling starts to return. I don't know what to make of it. I ran for almost 12 miles with no problem on Monday, but I can't sit through one class lecture without squirming around like I have hemorrhoids. I am praying that it's nothing serious. I will keep you posted.

My lower back....

I have been having more issues with my lower back lately and it's becoming very frusterating!

My first problem with my back occuring only when riding. My lower back would go numb. This pain was alleviated when I got properly re-fitting on my bike with Matt from The Sport Factory. He rocks!

During Gulf Coast my back was killing me on the bike. I was so uncomfortable that I spent a lot of the last 20 or so miles out of the aero position. My back was going numb, and the pain wasn't sharp, but it was really uncomfortable.

After GC I got a sports massage. She noticed a lot of muscle twitching in my glutes while working on my left lower back area. I told her that it was very painful and she asked if I had a bulging disc. Nope. I felt better for a couple of days.

But now I am in pain again. Lots of pain. The ride on Sunday left my left lower back screaming. Even after being off Monday and spending hours on the heating pad and stretching I still had to use the bed to help turn myself over in the middle of the night.

Now the pain has started in my butt too. Left lower back, left butt cheek. It's a burning pain in my butt and a tightness in my back.

I did my core, leg, back strength workout today that Matt prescribed. It was really hard to do anything one-legged on my left side. My butt was very unhappy.

Should I give it another week and see the doctor? I am only 26 with back pain already?!? I am about to stretch and spend another couple of hours on the heating pad. Ugh.

Gulf Coast Triathlon

Me and Sister Madonna Buder, 78 years old, oldest Ironman finisher, a legend!!

How do I even begin to do a race report on this event? I found myself calm on race morning but very emotional. It was unlike most race mornings, I just wanted to burst into tears and I couldn't explain why. My mom called me and just answering the phone made me cry. I couldn't tell her why, I was just so overwhelmed that I was about to do this race! So here's the lowdown:

Can you tell that the swim a bit rough?

The Swim: The swim was not at all what I was expecting. I have heard nothing but wonderful things about how calm the water is at Gulf Coast. Well, not this year. Women were getting in, then just coming back out immediately. The picture shows my wave, about 50 yards in. Everyone promised the water would get better once the whitecaps stopped, but it didn't get better, it got worse. It was hard to see buoys because the swells were so big. I didn't really swim that much freestyle, it was a whole lot of tarzan-like swimming and gulping so much water that I was sure I wouldn't need salt tabs. At the half-way point I was 19 minutes in and feeling okay. Coming back in there was a current that made it feel like we were moving at all. I kept seeing the sand at the bottom of the ocean, and it looked like people were getting close to being able to stand, but when I tried, the water was too deep. I finally made it out, about 6 minutes slower than I projected for myself, feeling like I had spent time in a washing machine not swimming!

The Bike: My goal was to not ride so hard that I blew up on the run. I knew that I could average over 20, but was also aware that I could go so hard that I would blow up too. I wanted to keep my HR below 155. I was surprised to see it stay in the 140's the entire ride. In order to keep it in the 150's I was riding over 23 MPH and I knew that was too fast. So I just dropped it back down and thanked God that something was going my way. The bike felt really effortless and I passed a lot of chicks going out. I was very chipper and made sure that I told everyone that they were looking strong. Not one guy said a word back. Most women said thanks and I was looking strong too. About 20 miles in my back was totally fried. Aero position was very uncomfortable and I had to get out of the saddle a lot. After the turnaround I saw that people were really slowing down a lot. I passed even more people. The wind picked up quite a bit but it didn't do anything to my speed which I was thankful for. Reger passed me at mile 45. I passed him a few minutes later, then he passed me, then I passed him, and finally around mile 51 or 52, he passed me and I didn't put up a fight to catch him. But it was nice to have someone to play cat and mouse with! I got off the bike feeling really wonderful, legs were a lot fresher than I expected them to be. I averaged 21 MPH and although I could have gone faster, I don't think it would have been smart!

The Run: The run started off great. I was clipping off mostly 8:45-9:00 minute miles until mile 5 when I noticed my arms were very hot and beat red. They were also bone dry. I knew immediately what the culprit was: my $#%&*#@@ sunscreen. I was so worried when I bought suncreen that it wasn't going to be breathable. I (thought) that I read all the labels to make sure that I would still be able to sweat. But I clearly didn't (later I read the label and it's "sweat proof") My body was so hot I thought I was going to pass out. My lower back and legs were the only thing that was producing sweat. As it turns out, sweat is a very vital part of cooling your body, both internally and externally, and without sweating, you will overheat. By mile 6 I was totally miserable and was dumping everything I could think of on myself, ice, water, sponges, etc. This turned my socks and shoes into a sloshy mess. By mile 8 I had blisters all over the place and was dizzy. Mile 10 I noticed that my arms were now cold to the touch and covered with goosebumps. I was concerned that I was on the verge of a heatstroke (those are the signs) thank goodness for Tat being in the park (and being a nurse) she ran with me when I was sure that I was going to pass out. She refused to let me walk and promised that I would not die of a heatstroke. The only good news about the run is that I felt like my form didn't break down. Aside from being hot, my body didn't really feel all that bad. Around mile 11 my hips started to bother me, but that was really it.

The finish line wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. Instead of elation that I had finished my first half-Ironman, I felt like my body was 108 degrees. I made my way over to the medical tent where they covered me in ice and cold blankets. They insisted that I was dehydrated although I told them that there was no way because I hadn't been sweating. They poked me 5 times and couldn't get any veins. Finally they hooked me up to and IV bag. The IV made me feel worse, dizzy and a throbbing headache, so I asked them to take it out.

My time was 5:47:29. Not the 5:35-5:40 time I had hoped for. Under different conditions I think the race would have been a better experience for me. But you live and learn, and I figured out a lot of things that I wouldn't have known had I not done this race.

Major appreciation to the "super-fans" Tat, Steven, and Eduardo who came down to cheer us on. Tat even jumped into the medical tent and started giving IV's! You guys rock!

Sudie, Dylan, Steve Brown, and Matt all brought home hardware. You guys rocked it too! Congrats to everyone else who finished strong: Joe, Keith (who was upset he never caught me), Bob, Ashley, Hunter (it was his 1st half too!), Gary, Randy, Sue, and all the others who were out there racing hard in tough conditions.

It's also very sad to learn that an Atlanta resident, Pat Kane, died following the swim portion of the race. The comments that were left on the news story were shocking and very inappropriate given the fact that someone lost their life. Some people are just disgustingly rude.

Click on my Flickr link for the rest of the pics!

$#@%&**!!!!!

My left foot is killing me! Specifically my arch. It is a sharp pain that feels worse when I am standing or walking in my runners. It was bothering me a lot today while I was at the gym (yes it was my off day but this wasn't triathlon related). I am rolling it on a soup can right now. I left my strassburg sock at home and I am staying at my mom's house tonight so the can will have to work.

Marc I saw you in the pretty yellow Tri-Atlanta shirt tonight! You dissapeared before I could make fun, er, ask you about it!