Dearest Joe,

Me, humored after reading Joe's blog

Dearest Joe,

I was very humored by your inept attempt to flee the state and get in more heat training than me. Yesterday while I was baking in the sun for upwards of three hours I was wondering "Is Joe heat training like this?" Never mind that I was poolside sipping on margaritas. It was hot.

My research has shown me that it's a mere 55% humidity in San Antonio. It's 78% right now in Louisville. I would like to remind you that we are not doing IM Arizona, it's Kentucky. And they don't do "dry" in Kentucky. Trust me on this one, I have an entire family to prove it. Never mind that in Tucker the humidity is only 45%. This is a minor snafu that will be taken care of once the rain moves in.

So while you are getting friendly with an armadillo in Texas I will be right here, with no A/C on and the dryer running. Wearing my parka and scarf, five pairs of socks, and a portable heating pad, riding my steel mountain bike on my trainer.

Warm regards,

Dani

PS- Delirium is a sign of an oncoming heat stroke, so you may wanna get checked out by a professional.

Good Karma

I forgot to mention that during my Gaps ride I saved another turtle from possible death. He was just chilling out in the road while climbing up Wolfpen. I unclipped myself and brought him to safety. That's my second turtle in one week! Then on the way home Saturday night from dinner there was ANOTHER turtle in the road! I really wanted to stop and get him, but it was on Northlake Parkway which is busy, plus it was dark, etc.

I think that turtle's equal speed. This is good karma people.

Momma rides!

Imagine my surprise when my mom said that she wanted to buy a bike! I went with her to Performance partially for the support and mostly because I wanted the purchase to go on my Team Performance card. Mom's request for a single-gear bike with brakes on the feet was denied because that will limit her too much on where she can ride. Instead she has seven gears and hand brakes.

Today we went to the track so I could run and she could ride without any interference from other cyclist. Momma did much better than I thought she would! She didn't fall and had no problem figuring out how to stop.

My run was less than stellar. Turns out that circles are pretty boring. I eventually ending up doing some sprints. Ouch. With mom chasing me I got down to a 5:57/mile pace. My knee was hurting. Stadium stairs aren't as hard as I remember them being either.

Congrats to momma for riding five or maybe six miles. She is super-stoked that she doesn't have to wear underwear under bike shorts. She is now ready to conquer some "hills" and wants to ride at Stone Mountain. Watch out!

Tales from a serious brake squeezer!

It's 2am and my alarm is set to go off at 5:00 am for my ride at the Gaps. Instead of sleeping I was reading Competitor magazine and wondering what the world record is for the woman's 40k time trial. Should I fire up the computer and search for it? Nope, I will try to sleep instead. Ugh. Remind me in the future that codeine make me WIDE awake! I can't seem to remember not to take it in the evenings!

Despite being majorly tired I got up and made my way up to Dahlonaga with Keith, Bob, Sue, Tat, Steven, Dave, Hunter, Sarah and Olga. Right away Sue started hammering it and Bob followed. Keith, me, Olga, and Sarah attempted to keep them in our eyesight. They're really good climbers! I learned today just how much I don't like descending. There are cool things about the Gaps: the climbing, the nice scenery, the inspirational things still painted on the ground from the Tour (my fav: Dopers Suck!) But what goes up must come down: and this chick doesn't like going down! When you see a sign with squiggly marks on it and there is a runaway truck ramp? Yeah, um that requires a lot of brakes for me. I would hit about 30 mph and just freak and squeeze tighter and tighter. Olga would blow past me in the aero bars-so much confidence! Keith said "You're pretty good at climbing but you suck at descending" Well brakes are like what $40? I would rather burn through a pair than have an accident any day!

After the ride Keith, Bob and I ran for 45 minutes. My legs were no where near as trashed as I thought they would be. It was a pretty descent run, hot, and not as flat as I wanted it to be. But it was the mountains so what did I expect?

In other news Keith no longer wants to be referred to as "Hill Troll". He believes that it has negative connotations. I asked him if he thought that "Mountain Muskrat" sounded better. He doesn't. He likes the nickname "King of the Mountain" or "KOM" but I think after yesterday, Bob has dibs on that one!

Triathlete!

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.

Life in the slow lane.....

Yesterday evening at Master's there were small signs up that said "slow" "middle" and "fast" I panicked that they were going to do some sort of segregation on us. Fortunately the signs were for the kids swim team practice that now swims along-side us. These kids are really, really fast. They have horrible form, but they kick and flail themselves to the end of the pool much faster than I do. Sigh. I am jealous. BTW, swimming next to two people who are both doing butterfly stroke, and very fast, is difficult. It makes for some water swallowing and slow swimming. Sigh. I am a slow swimmer. At least it's starting to get warmer outside. The pool doesn't feel wetsuit legal anymore.

During Tuesday's ride Tat and I came around the corner and found a little turtle. Well, the turtle was actually big. I slowed down and Tat yelled "come on let's go!" The animal lover in me feared that the turtle would get run over. Or worse, that a cyclist would come around the corner and hit him. I stopped to pick him up and he leaked something all over me. Either he was incontinent or was full of water from the lake. Either way I put him in the grass and then sprinted off the catch up with Tat.

I am starting to get a little fatigued. I guess 13 hours the week after Gulf Coast may have been a bit much. Nothing to worry about just yet, but I am feeling like I need a nap on a daily basis. The week of Gulf Coast marked the one-year point where I started running after my accident. It's hard to believe that I have only been running for a year! I never thought that I would be at point where the pain in my leg wasn't constant.....but it's becoming less and less apparent every week.

Only 9 more days of training until I start a much needed recovery week!

I am in week 10 of a 24-week Ironman training plan. I am not a mathematician but I gather that means that there is a little less than 14 weeks left. Yikes!