Morphing into a Runner.....

...now that I have a decent two weeks of running under my belt, I am working on becoming a "runner". And I have to say that running is hard, really hard...even though I'm only hitting it three times a week, I can feel all of these little niggles coming out(this week we are pushing for 4x).

Who knew that jogging could make you that sore? Maybe it's my form(or lack of...) or perhaps some of the extra off season poundage, but still, it's not that fluid yet. Perhaps it was a rather ominous sign when after a quick run on the treadmill at the gym this week, a woman came up to me and said:
"I think it's so great that you haven't totally let yourself go".
Me: "Thanks(i guess??)".
But seriously, WTF is that supposed to mean? Probably that my off season needs to be over pretty quick. Actually, it's urgent.

Why??
Because I have signed up for a running race that will take place in around 2 months. No sooner had I signed up and registered, when somebody's fat little fingers were busy entering a credit card number on the race's webpage so he could become a comfirmed registrant in the very same race as well. I guess that another family "race off" is going to be taking place. It also means that I'm not the slowest learner around these parts....Some ground rules will have to be enforced in this competition, especially the ones involving running attire...as in, if there is an "XS" or "S" on the label, it doesn't fit you, no matter how tiny you think you are!!! And even more importantly, men don't wear yoga pants, no matter how comfy they feel. Can somebody get my back on this?

This week included a treadmill run, a hill run (which involved a hard lesson and reminder of what "fast" running means- given by Mrs. AGL) and then a longish trail run in the mud and ice with the MILFs. Still pretty random stuff yet I'm pretty sure if my quest to become a runner is going to be successful, I need to squeeze in a 4th run somewhere along the way....

Cougar spotting on Green Mountain!

I fucking love the off season. Don't get me wrong, I love racing too, and training...but the off season is pretty fucking great. Why? Many reasons but mostly because off season means more time to play(and drink)...and since I was royally ripped off last year from enjoying any part of this, I'm taking full advantage of it now.
After SEVERAL weeks off to recover from Kona, weeks of total nothingness, like nothing but sitting-on-your-ass nothingness, I'm back at it. I'm having fun and trying to get in some kind of aerobic activity every day...but if I don't feel like it, I don't and I eat cupcakes instead(okay, so that's not a big change from in-season training....)

This Saturday, Brandy and I headed out and up to run some trails. Brandy is always game for anything and is the kind of person you want to be stranded with just in case something happens out there. Not only was she a backcountry firefighter but she is a lot like Linda Hamilton from Terminator 2 - she can out chin up ANYONE at anytime. Seriously. So, I wasn't worried about spraining my ankle or collapsing cause my "back up plan" was having her piggyback me back to my car. We ran up Green Mountain again, starting from Broadway and Baseline then cutting through the neighborhoods, across some trails til we finally got to the Gregory Canyon trail head. And up we went...I figure it's around 3000 ft. of up when you start a little lower(maybe more) and we hit the top somewhere just under and hour.

Here is the "picture proof" you might be looking for ;). Brandy is saying "That was easy. I'm bored. Do you want me to climb up and sign us in to the log book? Cause I will after I do some chin ups".


A lovely self portrait with my serious look:


After a little more snow fell on Saturday afternoon/evening, I didn't feel like doing much outside on Sunday so I set up the trainer. I really don't mind doing some trainer riding when it's coldish out just to spin because it gives me a chance to catch up on some of the high quality, deeply intellectual movies I may have missed during the year. So I took this opportunity to watch "Crank 2:High Voltage" with the multi-dimensional "Chev Chelios"(Jason Statham)...my only complaint was that his shirt never came off so I'm not sure it was worth the $1 Redbox rental fee.

We also invested in an "elf on the shelf" this weekend thinking that it might inspire everybody to behave a little better around the house. All it means is that Lucie has figured out what the elf's field of vision is so she now only drop kicks the cat in the bathroom. I don't even want to know what GG thinks he get away as long as the elf doesn't see...perhaps that was his logic when he wore MY yoga pants out for an almost two hour run on Saturday night....

Kona RR #3.2 Finally Done

Yes, that's me running. OMG - am I landing on my forefoot? Must be the shoes...

Okay, okay….you can relax now, because here comes the much awaited finale. This is almost harder than the race itself.
I’m exhausted…..
We left off starting the 3rd section of the run on the Queen K. As I mentioned, this is THE toughest section of the run, both physically and mentally. If you analyze people’s race splits from the day, you will see that for all of the people who ran decent marathons in Kona, this section was the slowest when you look at the mile pace(the fastest should always be the out and back on Ali’i). To run this section well, you need to know that and just suck it up and settle in.

*************Me*********Craig A.*****Rinny C.
Section 1___7:20________6:05________6:20 (average pace per mile)
Section 2___7:19________6:09________6:32
Section 3**_7:53(ooops)___6:44________7:03
(**but notice we all slowed 31 – 35 seconds per mile on this section)
Section 4___7:46________6:30________6:56

(I think there is lots of interesting information to be gained from analyzing this, but yeah, I’ll leave that to you…...and that whole negative splitting myth, uh huh, it's just that.)(and I also don't know how to make a chart...)

Why is this 3rd section the slowest? I don’t think that Palani is that bad, cause after all, it is just a short 8-10% grade hill that doesn’t last for that long….but rather, it is the constant grind on the gradual uphill, without any shade, with few spectators, that really starts to play on people’s minds. Also, you keep looking and looking for the Energy Lab, where you’ll finally be able to turn around, but it never seems to appear on the horizon. Every year I remind myself to remember **it’s further away than you think** and every year, I am cursing myself wondering where the f*ck they’ve moved the Energy Lab to.

I really tried to stay on top of my cooling/fueling plan at this point because I knew that it would pay big dividends for the final stretch. So yeah, this meant lots more coke. I just really didn’t feel like much else at this point and I knew that I was cruising along on fumes. However, in my opinion, I think running on fumes is one of the best ways to run an IM marathon. Your body isn’t going to digest much at this point anyway and if you take in too much, you’ll just make yourself sick. Of course, it was rather hard to weave my way through the crowds of walkers at the aid stations – the ones who had decided that this was a good point to give up on their race and just walk it in. Sometime around now, as I was getting close to the entrance to the Energy Lab, I saw Super G. I was pleased that he wasn’t walking – otherwise I would have slapped/tripped him – but he also didn’t look too good. Of course, I tried to calculate if it would be possible to catch, but I wasn’t sure. But he was running so I knew there would be no screwing around, I had to keep moving, I had a bet to win.

So many people fear the Energy Lab but I love it. It’s hot and seems endless, but isn’t that what this whole race is all about. I also get pretty excited about picking up my special needs bag there at the depths of hell, so I was hoping that Mr. Piggy hadn’t tried to steal mine from here as well. I had a little container of Pringles waiting for me and I couldn’t wait for some of that salty goodness. I don’t do salt tabs or anything and I’m not too sure about the electrolyte content of Coke(lol), so I thought they would go down well. Yet the real reason I love the Energy Lab though is for the out and back section – this is where you can really see what is going on. As I ran down into the Energy Lab, I turned it into a game… I picked my victims – the people that I needed to catch and run down for various reasons. It could be as simple as they were a girl, or a guy, I don’t really discriminate…or it might be because what they were wearing was bothering me, like compression socks etc. I got my Pringles, crunched them up and washed them down with some coke(yum) and focused on catching my prey. All of the low moments of struggling on the bike were gone and I was feeling pretty good and going with it. I didn’t even notice the heat anymore.

I returned to the Queen K and realized that I had about 10k to go. I told myself if I suck it up and I’m quick, it’ll be close to 40 min…why drag it out any longer than I have to? The carnage was really getting thick on the way back. And don’t get me wrong, I understand that people have bad days…I’ve had bad days…and I know it was a really, really hot day….but if you are walking in a pack of guys, laughing and having a good time, DON’T form a human wall. This is KONA!! And I also realize that it is your prerogative to do the race as you see fit, but I know most of these guys(and notice that I say guys, I really have never noticed many women walking, and remember, these aren't BOP'ers, these are the super FOP'ers) have sacrificed a lot to get there, probably have skipped out on their kids’ soccer games and family functions/obligations and now they are going to walk and laugh and keep their kids/wife waiting even longer for them at the finish line? Ugh. At least TRY….

I zoomed through the next aid station, and as I did, I passed a girl who was in my age group. As I ran out, I made sure to get in as much fluid as possible, just slowing slightly, and as I did, this girl repassed me. WTF? I was shocked…I don’t ever get passed. And as odd as it might sound, I wasn’t sure what to do...I hadn’t even envisioned this as a possibility. As I pulled up behind her, (reading her suit and noticing she was from Brazil), she put in a surge. Are you serious? She really wanted this and I went from feeling great to questioning if I was going to be able to hold this pace. Yet I snapped out of it pretty quick…all I have to do is think of my kids and what WE have done to get here....how I have squeezed in my long runs while Lucie has napped with Daddy G(nice training plan, lol) and have had Rain bike out to find me with cold drinks when I’ve run out and keep me company, or how I’ve gotten up early to run and haven’t been there to have breakfast with my family, and so many other scenarios(you know, even really simple stuff like forgetting to wash somebody’s favourite shirt cause you fall so far behind on laundry…). What have I given up to get here and do this? When I dig deep it’s because I “owe” them my best effort out there. I also thought about last year and not only about how it devastated me not to be out here competing, but also, how I wasn’t even sure that I would be able to run like this again. And it flashes through my mind, my family is waiting for me at the finish and I’m taking too long….

I have worked too hard to get here and been through too much in the past year to let this go. I’m going to love the pain(even more). I’m left with no other choice but to punish the girl. I surge hard and she stays on my shoulder, looking at her garmin, so I push a little harder and hear her mutter in Portuguese under her breath “Sub 7, we can’t do this”…of course, I understand and I think “well, maybe you can’t, but I will”, so I push harder and don’t look back(while I wonder why she is thinking in miles instead of kilometres…).

Now I was working hard and just focusing on putting one foot ahead of the other and keeping my turnover quick. Left, right, left, right. Before I knew it, I was running down Palani…the cheers of the crowds were deafening. After being out on the Queen K in relative silence, the sights and sounds are pretty overwhelming to the senses. My quads felt pretty good as I tried to gain some free time on the downhills – I knew that all of the downhill running I had done in training to shred my quads was really paying off here(best bit of training advice ever from Lucho). For whatever reason, I wasn’t sobbing here as I had been in IM CdA…it wasn’t as emotional but rather it felt like I was finally completing a long, overdue business transaction. FINALLY. I was doing what I came there to do. There were never any doubts in my mind that I would finish this race provided that I could get to the starting line in one piece – and now I was about to do that. The looming finish line meant a huge weight was about to be lifted from my shoulders…I had almost accomplished what I had planned to do a year ago. I was pretty sure that I had the fastest run time, I just knew it even though I didn’t know what I had run…and I was pretty sure that I had crushed Super G. However, deep down, I was disappointed as I knew that my bike had been so freakin’ crappy that there was no way, after that poor execution, I was getting my wooden bowl.

I love the feeling of running down Ali’i Drive – seriously, it is one of the best feelings in the world and I felt like I had waited so long just to be back here. As much as I wanted to just enjoy this moment, I didn’t want to back off…Suddenly, above all of the noise, I heard Rain shouting and luckily I was able to spot her and give her and Lucie a hi-5 as I ran by. And then I finished…I was done. And I was okay. I had made it.

I made my way down to the beach behind the King K to meet up with my family and to sit down. By the time I got there, they were already there waiting for me…but Glenn-glenn was nowhere to be found. So I had Rain take my shoes and socks off(and of course, wash/sanitize her hands immediately after….) and my feet were in relatively good shape. It didn’t look like I was going to lose any toenails this time, however, I kind of cheated as I didn’t really have all of them to begin with. And, there was next to nothing on my feet in the form of blisters! I thanked my feet for serving me well and doing their thing. I then decided to get in the ocean and wash off, but I quickly realized that yes, the water was too cold, so it was time to crash the hot tub at the King K for a little bit of hot tubbing. I know, I know…you are probably thinking, who the f*ck hot tubs after being out all day in record setting high temperatures? ME!! Forget the ice baths, I just wanted to sit and soak in the hot tub and get warm. (and trust me, hot is the new cold as your current defending world champs spend more than their fair share of time hot tubbing…just sayin', that's all) And if you think that’s weird, let me tell you that GG knows me well…I was in the hot tub for less than 5 min. when guess who showed up? He knew exactly where to find me!

We then gathered everybody up and headed over to Bubba Gump’s for dinner. This has been a family tradition since Rain was little – the girls love that place for some reason and my mom thinks it’s pretty neat. GG loves the food and my dad, Boris, was just wondering who the f*ck that Gump guy was…. We sit out on the patio, listen to the ocean waves providing the backdrop for all of the excitement on Ali’i and we drink some obnoxious, tropical fruity drinks and catch up on the day while we dine. It is an instant return to normalcy. Of course, Lucie was exhausted after such a long day and has a total one track mind. She had me sitting down and knew I wasn’t going anywhere, and all she wanted was “bubbies”. And I have to say that the human body is truly amazing when you listen to it and let it do what is was designed to do because after a full day of racing, I was slightly engorged(think small B to a rather generous C), so Lucie was able to get her fill. And she was asleep in less than 10 minutes…..

After dinner, GG and I took everybody home and put them to bed, and then we went back to hang out and watch the finish. This to me is one of the coolest parts of the race….everybody has a story, but those people finishing around 16-17 hours are tough as nails. I can’t even imagine how an 80 year old can do that?!? I find watching these finishers to be pretty inspiring and it reminds me what the day is all about. How it is about rising to the challenges of the day and overcoming them, and no matter what, never giving in.

In the end, I was relatively satisfied with my race and my run…I wish that I had executed my bike better but in the end, I honestly know that I set myself up for failure in that area by not preparing as I should have. I’m also sure that my biking “issues” also prevented me from running as well as I know I can. But whatever…..I can blame it on my accident as much as I want, but ultimately, my success depends on me. I did get the fastest run split but I had wanted to run under 3:10, and obviously, I didn’t. So many people are willing to come up with excuses as to why they can’t do what they want…not me…everybody has their reasons…I’m trying to come up with a plan, to do what it takes to get me to where I want to be(of course, some areas of life are non negotiable…but that’s all part of the plan). And damn it, one of those bowls is going to be mine next year!!!!!

RR #3.1 The run (well, at least the first part...)

Okay….here it is. I know that many of you have been in suspense wondering what was going to happen next in my rather long winded Kona race report. Strange how this whole story is taking much, much longer than the race. Well, I am finally getting to telling that part of the story several weeks later(after all the pressure to get it posted)…and yes, it does involve a marathon.

For this whole thing(run/race) to make sense, I have to provide some of the background details first….those of you who know me or have been following my blog for some time, know that I was hit by a car last summer which completely devastated me physically and mentally. It meant that I couldn’t race last year in Kona and was resigned to being a superstar spectathlete. Yet, all you have to do is watch Kona once and even if you have never done it, it really does get you fired up to get back there and race. And let me tell you, after spectathleting last year and after not having run for 16 weeks, I was really absolutely salivating with the chance to get back out there and race. And quite honestly, I didn’t even know if it would be possible as I was still hobbling around, but I was so motivated to get back there and try. I had some unfinished business in Kona that I needed to attend to. Check out my bio on the Erin Baker’s website(especially that the last couple of lines) and what I wrote to them last year when I applied to be on their team! Could my goals be any clearer? I was on a mission!!

(this picture is for those of you who say I never post pictures of myself)


http://www.bbcookies.com/shop/skin1/pages/US/triteam/kerriewlad.html

So, when I watched the race in 2008, I made a mental note to myself – be back here next year, get on the podium and have the fastest run split. Now that might sound “cocky” to some, but I really do believe in my run and my nutrition/IM fueling, and I believed that if I could get to race day healthy and recovered from my injuries - that I would be fit enough and I would have the fastest age group run. That doesn’t mean that I underestimate that other women I’m racing against, it just means that I know that if they want that run split, they are going to have to be prepared to bring it. And if they are able to run faster than what I can on that day, they really will have deserved it! I have also had the second fastest run split in Kona on a couple of occasions, once missing it by a mere 17 seconds(which were probably lost as I stopped to walk with a suffering GG as I passed him coming out of the energy lab that year). I wasn't prepared to "give it away" this year - I had worked far too hard and been through way too much - I was going for it.

Then of course, perhaps even more importantly, there is the “family bet” and consequent bragging rights that motivate me. Somebody in this family is uber-competitive and likes to place random bets – (and it’s not me) – and this person was pretty sure that, not only was he going to out run me, but he was going to crush me. And you might wonder – where would a 200 lb. running fairy get this kind of confidence? Well, at IM CdA, the fairy ran a minute or two faster than me, outsplitting me for the first time EVER in an IM marathon. Even though the heavy footed fairy knew that I hadn’t run for weeks before IM CdA, knew that I was hacking/wheezing nonstop, and knew that I was still recovering from my injuries…he said a victory was a victory. No excuses. Aren’t all “supportive” spouses like that? So, what was at stake for the run victory in Kona? The winner would get to pick what the “loser” would have to wear to the 2010 Carbo Dinner in Kona(and would have to deal with the whiney-baby loser’s pouting for the rest of our time in Hawaii). Let’s just say the outfit involves compression socks and a fuel belt, perhaps an aero helmet…but not much more.

Long story short - I had all kinds of reasons to run as fast as I could. I had lots to prove. And especially since my bike was so crappy, as I headed out of T2, I knew that I had a lot to make up for. I was prepared to suffer, but most of all, I was prepared to enjoy that suffering. To me, there is almost nothing worse than racing in the cold….and it looked like the day was shaping up to be spectacularly hot and humid, which pleased me quite a bit. The tougher the conditions, the better for me…I eat that kind of stuff right up!

After a rather refreshing T2, I headed out on my mission. I think one of the best parts of the run is the out and back on Ali’i. Everybody is out cheering and having fun and you can just feel the energy in the air. I also think that it is the “fastest” section of the race where you can enjoy the breeze from the ocean and the occasional shady part on the course if you look for the shadows. This is also where you get to witness the first bits of carnage from the race and people giving their energy away. I am always amazed at the people I pass who have succumb to the heat and the “weight” of the race – of course I pass men AND women, but the men always seem to be in much worse shape. These are the guys who have power meters on their bikes, fancy outfits(newtons and compression socks), heart rate monitors and garmins to pace with….yet they are walking because they are "cramping" or can’t keep their nutrition down or are just quite simply melting in the heat. And for me, the most interesting part of all of this is that most of them seem to have the same story – the one where they tell you that they had an awesome ride – rode much faster than they expected and felt great yet it was all falling apart on the run. Hmmmmmm, I wonder why? I am always bewildered by these athletes, who use all of these gadgets and tools, and sacrifice so much to get to this race, yet they seem unable to listen to what their body is telling them(end of mini-rant…I will write more about this on another occasion).

After I went by a rather boisterous group at Lulu's(drunk?), I was thrilled to see my mom and dad and the girls around 1.5 miles or so out on the course in a shady spot! I felt so bad as I was around half an hour later than I said I would be, but they were there waiting and cheering. I apologized for being so late and gave them hi-5s as I ran by, determined to hurry back because I knew they would be waiting there until I came by again. I was trying to keep my eyes open for Super G, yet I usually don’t notice who is around me. At some point though, I spotted GG in his all black outfit – perfect for a warm day- plodding towards me from the other direction. I tried to assess where he was and how he was doing…and most importantly, what my chances were of running him down but my math skills are limited even at my most lucid times, so I tried to just focus on the task at hand.

I am so acutely aware of my body and what it is telling me during the run that I often don’t really even know what mile I’m at. Fortunately, I know the Kona course well enough(not that it’s tricky, lol) to have a general idea of where I’m at. I ran down Ali’i knowing that this was a great place to make up time(all that freakin’ time I had lost on the bike)…all I was thinking about was my turnover and then “cool – refuel. Repeat” at every aid station. If you are so out of touch with your body that your didn’t fuel adequately on the bike or rode beyond yourself, a garmin and a HR monitor aren’t going to be much use to you. You really need to be focused on your body’s needs at this point of the run and to intuitively know what pace you are running and what you are capable of running. I felt that I really kept in touch with what I needed and paced well as I ran up and back on Ali’i– I made sure to cool off and get fresh, cold sponges at each at station(or resoak them with cold water/ice) and to get some kind of fuel and water in. On this day, my body wanted coke….lots of coke….so that is what I gave it. After all, what’s wrong with a little sugar and caffeine buzz at this point of the day? I tried to keep myself amused by counting the people I passed, but even that seemed to require too much external concentration and I was rather content on just focusing inward.

Before I knew what was going on, I heard a beep and was at Palani and heading up the hill. I knew this was mile 10 and that the hardest section of the run was coming up. The climb up Palani is steep, and it is followed by a gradual downhill once you get on the Queen K for about half a mile, but the truly tough section is the one that follows that leads you out to the Energy Lab. All of a sudden, you are all alone out there with your fellow athletes and the crowds are gone. The slight breeze is gone. There is absolutely no shade and no where to hide. And there is a very gradual, off camber up hill, all the way to the Energy Lab.

To be cont……

RR part 2 The bike.

Okay, I have really been putting off getting this together. There isn’t much to say about my bike other than it sucked. LOTS. Sad but true. I know I should have biked more, could have biked more, but quite honestly, I think that I’m still too freaked out to put more time in on the roads. Yet I can’t continue to be paralyzed by the fear of getting hit. I need to get over it. So don’t read this as a bunch of excuses as to why I didn’t bike better – a lot of funny things happened on that ride – things that really challenged me and made me realize that this is what racing Ironman is all about - it is what it is. So grab a drink cause this is going to be long...not nearly as long as the bike was, but close....

Back to the race:
I ran through T1 – I think I was reasonably quick as there wasn’t much to do, grabbed my stuff and at the last minute, since it looked like a pretty cloudless day, I decided to put my bike jersey on as I was running to retrieve my bike. Got on my bike and off I went up Palani while listening to the enthusiastic crowds. I was pretty surprised how crazy everybody was going on the little loop through town – most were hammering and biking like total idiots!! Passing on the right, crossing the center line, riding in packs, passing in the “no-pass” zone, sprinting up Kuakini etc. – I had to struggle to stop from giggling constantly at the insanity of it all. As we got on to the Queen K, the madness continued with some rather blatant drafting…I tried to ignore it but sadly, in the end, I think I gave too much energy to a situation I couldn’t control. I kept telling people to get off my wheel/drop back because I didn’t want to be involved in any kind of pack situation and I had no less than three guys tell me to “fuck off”at different intervals before I had even made it to Hawi(seriously, if you’re a young guy riding all the way back here with me, I really don’t think you are going for a podium spot, so really, what are you up to?). And I made a mental note to run down all of those drafting douchebags and as I went by, ask them, with a smile, how all of the drafting was working out for them now….

On the way out to Hawi, I felt pretty good….and even the climb up to Hawi wasn’t that bad with its ever present strong head/cross wind – except for the fact that I was towing a group of 20 guys up the hill. I felt so bad going by Marit at that point knowing that I was bringing this group of dorks all around her that she would have to deal with. The really crappy thing though is that somewhere along the climb, I got the wasp bites that I had managed to avoid all summer – one in the middle of my thigh and a second one in my groin as I tried to sweep it away. Of course it started to swell and get hot immediately….I was a little worried since I always used to carry an epi pen with me for situations like this(until I lost it), but since the bites didn’t get much worse after the initial burning and swelling, I just tried to ignore them away. Maybe it was some other kind of bug….nevertheless, post race,it continued to swell and I had mounds the size of half a baseball on my upper thigh. It looked really hot in a bikini!

Hawi and the turn around seemed to come rather quickly with all of the distractions and I was looking forward to picking up my special needs since I had already used up my concentrated bottle of lemon lime Infinit. I heard them call out my number as I went by the first time so I expected my bag to be waiting for me….it wasn’t….so I pulled over and waited for them to find it as they rifled through the stuff. Finally after a couple of minutes, which seemed like an eternity, the volunteers that were looking told me it wasn’t there. Ugh. I was happy that I had packed some extra powergels and I knew they had them on the course, I was just upset that I would have to be relying on HFCS laden Gatorade to help hydrate me for the rest of the ride…..

Now, a brief interlude for the “interesting” conversation I had with Super G after the race:
Me: Can you believe they didn’t have my special needs in Hawi?
GG: Yeah. Mine was weird too. I had made fruit punch Infinit but I got lemon lime. Also, my redbull wasn’t in the bag.
Me: Don’t you always drink fruit punch?
GG: Yeah. Weird, huh?
Me: F*cktard.

I solved that mystery pretty quickly(much quicker than some others I might add). You see, me and GG’s numbers were sequential – so we were even racked side by side in transition. I now understand why he didn’t get the calories he needed on the second half of the bike…he’s still trying to figure out how his fruit punch turned to lemon lime.

Now, it only gets better. The good thing was that I had lost all of those tools who had been riding “with” me and had plenty of open road. This was good because the descent from Hawi always makes me super nervous with the gusty crosswinds. And since they come from the left, I was riding over towards center so I would have room to go when I got gusted. Luckily, it wasn’t that bad – I think that my AirFoil with the baby 650 wheels handles pretty awesomely in crosswinds so after awhile I was able to relax and slightly unclench my white knuckles. Just as I was doing so, a motorcycle pulls up beside me with a ref on it and he says “You are going to have to stop at the next penalty tent”. I was shocked. What? Why? As he was zooming off, I’m pretty sure that I heard him say something about “position”, so I assumed I had just gotten a position foul for riding too far over. Yet, I wasn’t sure as there was no one around (and I was wondering where this guy was on the way up when there was so much crazy drafting going on). I was pretty anxious to get to the penalty tent and find out what this was all about. I wanted an explanation. I didn’t even know where the penalty tent was…and to make matters worse, I have NEVER gotten a penalty before, so I really wasn’t even sure what I was supposed to do.

To make a long story much, much shorter, I finally spotted the penalty tent after about an hour of riding sitting up and looking around because I was so afraid that I was going to miss it. I pulled up and assumed that the penalty tent guys would have my name/number and know what to do. Well, apparently it doesn’t work like that. I told the guys at the tent that a ref had told me to stop at the next penalty tent and that was them, so logically, they asked me the obvious questions: “what for?”. And I told them that I had no idea and was hoping that they could fill me in(which of course they couldn’t). The next questions was: “Did he(the ref) show you a card?”. And of course, I had no idea…so they explained my options: A/ no card means that you just sign in B/yellow(?) card means a two minute penalty and C/ red card means a 4 minute penalty. Since I had already been stopped for a couple of minutes discussing this, I asked them to please start the watch while I thought about it. The guy with the watch told me that if I did the incorrect amount of time there, I could potentially be disqualified after the race when they compared violations to the time served, so he recommended that I did the maximum to avoid this. I agreed – I didn’t want to f*ck this race up any more than I already had. I was so upset with myself. Upset that I was giving my energy away, upset that I had no clue what was going on and upset that I was losing all of this time…I really had to have a serious talk with myself and the message was simple “Get your sh!t together now…it’s a long day, so stop being such a giant baby”. Sometime during this, Marit rode by and spotted me and shouted “It’s okay.” And I thought, you know what, she’s right, it is okay and it will be okay. Time to refocus, we still have a run to do. So I used the remaining time to walk around, stretch my back and guzzle a full bottle of liquid. The guys then told me the time was up, but before I could go, they took a red marker and drew a line through my number.

I was off. And it was time to just focus and grind away back to Kona into the crazy headwind. At this point, I was really glad that I didn’t have a bike computer since I really didn’t want to know how slow I was going. And the wind seemed to be getting stronger. I knew this about the course. I knew this was the tough part. And I knew this was where everybody really starts to fall apart mentally. And I couldn’t believe that I had almost become one of those people that collapses mentally when the going gets tough.

You can't imagine the joy when I finally got to the airport and could feel the wind let up and could enjoy the gradual downhill back into town. I had made it. I dismounted and a volunteer grabbed my bike. I’m pretty sure that he was as thankful as I was that he was wearing latex gloves. I thanked him profusely for taking my bike. Making the final downhill to Kuakini, I had debated taking my feet out of my shoes and leaving them on the bike so that, as I so lucidly concluded, I didn’t have to run through transition in my socks and get them wet…cause I mean,they were going to stay dry the whole run, right? Yeah…so I waddled my way to the changing tent, sat down after I had stripped down to my cool Erin Baker’s Granola Splish suit and began to change shoes. I was so happy to be running in next to nothing - the thought of pulling on compression socks, as so many were doing, made my skin crawl. During all of my deep thoughts, a volunteer put an ice cold towel around my neck and I swear the sensation was next to orgasmic. I sat there for awhile thinking about how heavenly it felt…sitting in T2 was much more appealing than heading out into the heat again. I then had the volunteer reapply sunscreen and was thinking about leaving but decided to request the towel thing again first. I ran out of there totally ready to see what I could do…no excuses, no meltdowns.

Just because.....

I found all of these pictures when I was uploading them from my iPhone to the computer. I thought they were pretty hilarious and they show what watching an Ironman is like from the perspective of a 12 year old. Any of you who are on facebook, had the "privilege" of reading Rain's race updates on race day, well, now you know that she was also photodocumenting what spectating the run is like on a 100 degree day - except that not much running was being watched, lol. What a long day for them while I was out having fun ;)(it also looks like my mom carried Lucie around for most of the day, or had her hanging off of her, except for a rather brief interlude).









































Oh and yes, part #2 of the race report is coming!

Kona Race Report, Part 1

Okay – finally my race report(in several installments of course……). But before I start, I just want to say thanks to several people. Ironman is not an individual event – it takes a team effort to get to the start line and to make it through race day. I know that sounds cliché (and super cheesey) coming from somebody like me who does the minimum to get there, however, it really is true. So I truly have to thank my family for supporting my journey - this last year has been tough. I am grateful to my hubby for getting what it’s all about(and recognizing that I run much faster than him), I am indebted to Rain for all her patient help with her energetic little sister and being the best cheerer ever, and I am so thankful that Lucie thinks that it is pretty cool that Mommy likes to run and go to Hawaii. Also, to my parents for making the trip to Kona to watch and hang out with the girls – they are brave enough to take on the girls for the longest period of time I am ever apart from them(a task that is far more tiring than racing). Of course, much gratitude is owed to my friends and training partners for their solid training advice, tireless energy and endless patience for my nonstop bitching & whining about how tired/cold/sick I am. Last but not least, there are those fantastic sponsors who make me feel like I am part of some big extended family on some kind of shared(crazy) adventure – thank you Erin Baker’s, Kestrel and PowerBar. (I’m also pretty sure that I should be thanking Starbucks somewhere in here…..)

All of this leads up to the fact that I just love racing in Kona. My girls think it is just about our family’s annual vacation in Hawaii, but I do manage to squeeze in a little race that I love somewhere along the way. The course is well suited to my strengths -I like being hot and I hate being cold - and the atmosphere there just makes it all the better! I really enjoy all of the stuff leading up for the race(like the beach and the coffee boat), running into old friends and getting into all of the pre-race activities. With beach time, it was a pretty full schedule up to race day. Yet for whatever reason, I still really didn’t believe I was going to be racing even after we got to Kona late Tuesday night(close to midnight). I wasn’t nervous or afraid, but rather, I was quite paranoid as I was just waiting for something to go wrong that would stop me from getting to the starting line in one piece.

Two weeks out from the race, I couldn’t even ride outside any more(hard to believe that I could ride even less than I already was….) as my nerves were so frazzled from the fear of getting hit. So the Friday before, I recruited GG for an easy ride outside, just to act as my bodyguard, as I really needed to ride outside. It really freaked me out when he was late getting to me cause he had stopped to help another female cyclist who had just been run off the road. Yet somehow, much to my surprise, we all managed to arrive unscathed and relatively healthy.

We have come into Kona a few days earlier(and even later)in the past but being here for Wednesday seemed like a good day to arrive. I find it easier just to stay in our normal routine as long as possible before disrupting it with travel. I don’t think there is much you can do to prepare for the heat – you will either embrace it or you melt – there really doesn’t seem to much middle ground. I choose to really enjoy it. We didn't even have A/C at our place.....

The lead up to race day was pretty standard – I tried to get in the ocean every day for a little bit just so I would be used to the salt water and waves. Rain kept me company for some of those swims as we ventured out to the coffee boat and tried to find cool fish and turtles. I was outside quite a bit with the girls – at our pool, at the beach, at the expo – just letting ourselves gradually become used to the heat and humidity(and being thankful I wasn't freezing my butt off in Colorado).

Saturday morning arrived before I realized it and that is when I felt the first tingles of apprehension about getting into the water to begin an all day race with 1750 other crazy people. I really wasn’t looking forward to that much closeness with a bunch of intense people…. I lined up on the far left and hung off the floating “Ford” sign for awhile as it seemed like a good place to hang out. I maybe should have been treading water to keep warm as I started shivering quite uncontrollably and wondered why this swim wasn’t wetsuit legal. Yet before I could spend too much time thinking about how embarassing it would be to be pulled from the water with hypothermia in Hawaii, the cannon fired. Fortunately, this swim is beautiful and I was quickly distracted. I didn’t have much contact until the turn around, where somehow, my swim cap got ripped off by somebody alternately clobbering, then grabbing my head. I’m always amazed by how psycho the “back of the pack” can be...I was worried that I might need my cap for some reason when I got out of the water – not so sure why now- so when I couldn’t get it back on, I stuffed it down the front of my suit. Yet the good news is that my cool Barracuda goggles stayed in place! The main problem though was the lack of visibility for the rest of the swim - if you have long, wavy hair, you will know what happens when you don’t have a cap to keep your hair off your face….so I spent the rest of the swim unable to sight, breathing with mouthfuls of hair, at the mercy of the feet in front of me! Luckily, those feet brought me back to the pier and I somehow ended up back at the transition area in around 1:14 – a little slower than I expected, yet I was extra happy to get out of the water. The ASI photo that captured this thrilling moment isn’t that flattering..I look like a drowned rat. And, I believe the shot was captured just before I tripped on the steps leading out of the water, even though I told myself in my head mere seconds before “don’t trip on the first step, it's slippery”, I managed to go down and gash open my shin in the process. It was a great start to the day!

To be cont…..

Photo Diary

Okay, okay, we're back....and the race report is coming soon, I promise, if there is anybody still out there and reading. We are just having a really hard time adjusting to this time zone and the grey skies. Sigh. In the meantime, I'm posting a couple of pictures that show some of the highlights of our holiday(I know there was a race in there somewhere....)

Me and Rain at coffee boat(just as they were running out of coffee!!)


Testing my new, cool goggles!! (thanks Matty)


Sign on ocean floor!


Photo shoot for the best sponsors ever - thanks Erin Bakers and Kestrel!!



Place of Refuge(somebody has lost his shirt)


Mommy and Daddy/Nana and Papa


Me and Rain infront of Painted Church


Guess what we're doing?


Coolest playground in Kona.


Waipio Valley - absolutely stunning!


Waiting for high tide.....


musubi roll(still no shirt)


Stand up paddle boarding


Double fisting Mai-tais :)


Thighs already rubbing together 3 days post race.....


Family portrait after crashing the pool and hottub at the Sheraton(again....)


Tiger trap at Waipio Beach


Hula girl at Lava Java

Taper time...

What do you do when it is taper time? Well, in spite of the taper, it has been quite a busy week in the Wlad Mengering household.
Lucie is in full on "princess" mode - somewhat like the stage a lot of other 3 year old girls go through. Now when people talk to her, she just whispers under her breath: "Princesses don't talk to people" instead of talking about how much she dislikes them. With this in mind, we have watched a few more movies/t.v. this week than we ever do.

"Sleeping Beauty" was a big hit, however, Lucie really didn't identify with Princess Aurora but rather, with "the really cool princess with horns who can turn into fire".


Malificent has been keeping Lucie quite busy as apparently she likes to nurse a lot. Do you also see the two little princesses in the picture? She has had great fun playing with those too this past week...they were brought to masters swim class the other day, and while Lucie watched on deck, she took turn launching them into the water and screaming "help, help, I'm drowning".


The extra taper time also left us with a chance to do a bit of waxing. I know that several guys shave their legs and arms before big races, so, why not do your back? We(the girls and I) decided to help Glenn-glenn out with his "little problem" and just wax it away. Pretty easy. Fun times were had by all, and overall, I would rate this pretty high on my list of "fun family activities" that we can all do together.



I have some packing to do.

Off in a week!

Now I feel like the countdown is really on!! We leave for Kona in a week and I have so much to do still before we go. I have been cramming - kind of like I have a big test coming up and I forgot to study.....but better late than never...I guess. I have been keeping with my training plan of doing something, not as much as I want to do and less than I am "able" to do, and so far, so good.

After these past solid two weeks of training(lol), I'm feeling my run fitness start to come around some what. I usually try to run year round because generally, I enjoy running(swimming, not so much). Last fall, after I was hit, was the longest I had ever taken off running - and I'm including in this several running injuries, pregnancy, surgery, travel, etc. That was really tough physically and mentally, so now, I'm just really grateful to get out there. However, just because I try to run year round, doesn't mean I run hard year round. Most of my longer runs are done at around 10 min/mile pace(really) and I try to ramp that up as I get closer to my "A" race. For me, one of my fitness markers is a longer progressive run where I gradually warm up and then start to drop 15 to 20 seconds every mile until I get to a fast yet maintainable pace. I don't know if it really serves any training purpose except for the mental aspect yet when I am able to do my long run "hard"(precisely what you are never supposed to do in training), I know that I am getting close to being ready.

I obviously didn't do this last fall since I couldn't even make it around the block, but I clearly remember nailing this run two years ago before Kona(and even the year before). Two years ago, I used Glenn-glenn's Garmin, and he promptly uploaded it to the computer to see what I had been up to, wrote the splits down his arm, and set off to do the run. Several hours later, when it had gotten dark and coldish, I set out in the car to find him and pick him up. I found him wandering and shivering down St. Vrain Road in total darkness. Yet, some people never learn. Before his long run yesterday, I saw 'somebody', once again, in front of the computer, furiously writing down numbers on his hand and I knew that it was "game time".


Of course, Super G wasn't going to take any food or water on his run-cause he's too tuff for that, just his HR monitor, Garmin and tiny black shorts. Since he refused to take a phone this time, I went out to check on him near the final 1/3 of the run(and to take him food), and sadly he nailed this run pretty well to the second. I say "sadly" because now Wolfgang and I will have nothing to laugh about today at the pool.....

Back it up!

I'm on the 'back it up' plan right now...and you might wonder what exactly that is. Well, nothing like redoing your whole training program and goals about 4 weeks from your "A" race, but it had to be done. And no, the rumour that I started about myself in the hottub last week while talking to CW, and telling her that she didn't have to worry about me this year since I was going to be racing Athena, isn't quite true...close, but not quite yet. Basically, my new plan means that I am only doing what I know I can safely do one day without destroying myself so that I am able to "back it up" with another workout the next day. If I am too shelled, then I have done too much, or if I have had to work too late or Lucie has been up all night, then I need to adjust my plans and appropriately scale my training back.

I think this whole season has been such a disaster because I have wanted to jump right back in where I left off last season without factoring in any kind of rebuilding and recovery period. Anyways, even I can now see how f*ed up that was and how it really hasn't worked out so well for me. Thus, in an effort to salvage the last race left in my season and get me to Kona without being sick or totally injured, I am trying to be a little more realistic in my focus. I think about what I 'want' to do, what I probably 'should' be doing, and then I do about 3/4 of that(ETA or maybe it's more like 2/3, lol but I never said I was a math wizard).

For example, I have really, really wanted to get in a hundred mile ride this year or be in the saddle for six hours before I got to Kona, yet, I have come to terms with the fact that it just isn't/wasn't going to happen(and I know that I probably wouldn't leave Lucie for that long anyway, even if I did have the chance...). And I repeatedly remind myself that it's okay not to ride 112 before race day(and that the last 35 miles after the turn at Kawaihae really won't be that bad. Or totally uphill into an 80 mph headwind. Really.) So, I recruited AGL for my long ride on Friday, and she so willingly agreed to keep me focused and on task(not easy) and we rode for a steady 4 hours. Crazy, huh? Yet, as pathetic as that sounds, I was able to follow it up with a solid long run the day after. And I did the same thing with the run - running over 2 hours just isn't going to happen for me at this point. I think it is all about the damage outweighing the limited benefits a longer run would provide me with so it just isn't worth it. And since I truly don't believe that you have to run a marathon in training in order to run one in realy life, it should work out fine. If not, look for me somewhere in the Energy Lab at that really fun aid station.

Even with this refocus and new race goals, mainly the "just get there" one, I am still so excited to travel to Kona this year with my family. We leave in two weeks and I know that we are going to have a great time....for whatever reason, when I get off the plane, and smell how Kona smells(and I'm not talking about the spam musubi rolls), I always feel like I am "home".

Harvest Moon RR and other random stuff

It has been quite the eventful week!!! I got another great package in the mail this week from Erin Baker's and Kestrel and came home to find this:


It really doesn't fit, yet some people never learn.......


I eased my way back into training this week as my hacking cough has finally started to fade away(for the most part) and I figured that NOT training wasn't really going to help me any more. Back when I was planning on being super healthy and fit at this time of year, I entered Harvest Moon - a local, half ironman event. I thought the timing would be perfect in my Kona build...I totally had a plan: I would time a nice rest week in the week leading up to the event, hammer out a fast race and get all the kinks out, rest a few days, and then follow it up with my last couple weeks of training. Well, things really didn't work out that way....this week was more about getting back into training and seeing how many "missed" workouts I could squeeze in. Nothing like cramming. To top it all off, race day forecast was for a freezing cold day with a 60% chance of showers. Thankfully, I've had lots of time to work on building an extra layer on "natural insulation" to protect me from the elements during my training hiatus.

Race day was pretty uneventful, yet cold. We were up early and off to the race - it was about an hour drive, so that gave me and GG lots of time to caffeine up and wake up. I started in the first wave with all the other 35+ old ladies and the elites, while Glenn-glenn started 15 min. behind me. This was a change as I am not used to ever starting in one of the earlier waves, let alone the first one. The swim course was kind of like a backwards L....we swam out on one side of the buoys and back on the other side, yet instead of following the buoys on the way back, I swung wide cause I was sighting off of a building on shore by the swim exit so I thought I was swimming a more direct route. Several times, I stopped on the way back cause I was totally by myself and I couldn't see people any where. I stopped and treaded water and looked around and started to panic wondering how hard it could possibly be to get lost in a small reservoir, especially when I could see the shore. I had had a horrible swim on Thursday where I was officially the SLOWEST person in the pool(by a lot) so I was wondering if once again, I had just been left behind by everyone. The funny thing though is when I got out of the water, I looked at my watch and saw 28 min. After the race, several people were asking me if I thought the swim was short....NO WAY...that has to be totally accurate. Really. It must be my wet suit(and built in flotation).

Off I ran to transition. My hands and feet sadly hadn't been blessed with an extra layer of fat, so they were quite cold. I had to sit down and put on all of my extra clothes and socks and gloves. I eventually gave up on my arm warmers because my fingers weren't working properly. And off I went on the bike. The first 8 or so miles didn't seem that bad, but when I turned around, I realized that it was because we had a tailwind and they were pretty much downhill. I had almost completed this first out and back section when I heard somebody growl "ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAR" and sensed the unmistakeable whoosh of a disc wheel before GG came raging by. I wasn't expecting to see him this early and was surprised by how quickly he was moving as there were only about 5-6 people ahead of me at that point on the bike, including the two elite/pro guys Brad and the Jeffster.

I love my Kestrel Airfoil and am pretty comfy on it, but this course was challenging because of the wind, hills, uneven road surface and sketchy parts, and since I hadn't pre-ridden or drove it, I just couldn't make myself get into aero position for about 90% of it. The last stretch of the course just reinforced this as it was relentless with about a million hills..and as much as I love my bike, I just really wanted off it at this point as I really wasn't feeling it. I was cold and cranky. Usually I would ride smart and just spin up all of these steep, shortish hills but since I was feeling so impatient, and riding at about 2 mph(and getting ridiculously slower) into the head wind, I just ended up standing and grinding my way up them. I figure it was good training.

At some point in the middle of my little pity party, somebody rode up beside me. I turned to look and it was Super G. Apparently he had ridden 8 miles off course....the two pro guys at the front of the race had a lead motorcycle(that I hear Jeff was totally drafting off :)) but GG was somewhere behind them in no man's land, getting to different intersections in the race before the marchalls/cops had shown up. He missed the last major turn because just as he got to the intersection, the cop was arriving and waved him through instead of directing him to turn right. Luckily, after a while, the cop realized his mistake and radio-ed a motorbike to retrieve GG and bring him back to the course. It's really too bad cause GG is raging fit, so fit that he was able to follow up the race with an easy century on Sunday. He's going to have a good race this year in Kona. Anyways, as he went by for the second time, I encouraged him to refocus and just think about having a solid run. And I tried to do the same.

T2 was pretty good and I don't think I took too long(I still haven't looked at results....so I don't know any of my official times) but for whatever reason, I had to sit down again to change my shoes(who sits in transition?). I was looking forward to running and actually had a plan for this part of the race. As this was going to be my long run of the month, I wanted to run fairly conservative for the first half and then try to pick it up on the way back and negative split(as it was an out and back course). I started off pretty steady, maybe a little too conservative, and had to take a pretty immediate pee break cause I felt my full bladder was slowing me down. I caught Whitney - the super swimmer/biker girl ahead of me - much sooner than I expected. This was good and bad. I am so used to "chasing" in a race that once I had caught her, I pretty well settled in. I'm not sure that I know how to mentally focus running out front(not a major concern though since it never happens...).

Just before the turn around, I saw a girl running back towards me...ugh...I had totally missed her(had thought she was a boy on the bike)and realized that there was indeed a women's pro field racing - so it was time to focus on doing some chasing again. I was hoping to get some zippy legs, with quicker turnover on the way back but it just wasn't happening. I was quite happy to see the finish line and be done...I was freezing cold and not really into racing all day long. I'm pretty sure I need some kind of attitude adjustment but I just don't find it too much fun to race unfit and fat.

I'm glad though to have logged the time in the race and to have put in a solid effort(it definitely counts as training hours) and it was great to see everybody out there - the social aspect is one of the things I miss most about missing workouts/training. The race seemed to be fairly well organized (except for the lack of marshalls on the course), and I do like to support local races!! Now I just have to rest and recover and see if I can figure out a game plan for my A race since I have less than a month to go.

My Training Week

Training log for this past week:
swim: 2x30 min.
run: 40 min.
bike: +/-60 min.
weekly total: around 3 hrs. give or take.....

I have been avoiding blogging and reading other people's blogs cause I just really don't want to see the killer workouts everyone is doing or think about the key training sessions I am missing in preparation for Kona. Besides, feeling sorry for yourself is very time consuming. VERY.

After spending 10 days being up all night coughing my lungs out til my throat is bleeding and not sleeping, I finally went back to the doctor. Somehow my chronic bronchitis never-ending-hacking cough came back in full force after only a month long break. It missed me. I am very tired of this and growing weary of people treating me like I have the plague...anyways, after a nice doctor's appt. on Saturday, I left with several new prescriptions and more Advair - the asthma medicine stuff that I had used previously to clear up my cough. Hopefully it will do the trick and get rid of my cough for good, if not, I'll have to really quit smoking now for sure. I also try to keep myself amused by thinking about how frightened people will be of me in Kona if I'm still coughing. lol

On the upside, not training and not sleeping really opens up your schedule for all kinds of things. In spite of being sick and sleep deprived, I got a lot of things done these past two weeks that have been on my to do list. I did some laundry, ate lots, read some, ate some more and took Lucie not only for a "annual" check-up(hard to call it that when it hasn't really happened before...) but also, we managed to get her hair cut when I was getting mine done. Crazy, huh?

When we were at the doctor's appt., I was quickly reminded why I avoided these so-called well checks for the most part. As Lucie whispered to me, rather loudly, part way through the check-up: "I don't really like her" about the doctor we were seeing that day(we really need to work on tact), and I saw the shocked expression on the doctor's face, I really felt that I owed her a little explanation. So I told the doctor not to take it personally as Lucie frequently tells me that she doesn't like most people and goes out of her way to avoid interaction with most. To which the doctor replied: "Have you considered counselling for her?" WTF?!?!? she's THREE. And I made a mental list to add this doc. to my "do not see" list. I find it so odd that somebody can feel so threatened by a small child who communicates so clearly....However, on Lucie's "like" list is Alex - the Russian Rocket triathlete and hairstylist to the stars. Alex had just gotten back from his great race at IM Lou so we went for a visit at his salon. It must be his soothing russian accent or the fact that he returns the kissses she blows at him, but she not only allowed him to brush her hair, but also, she let him give her her first trim. Very sweet!!



The good news is that today was my birthday - yay - and the only thing I wanted for my birthday was the chance to go on a bike ride, pending how I was feeling, and just put some (pathetically slow) time in. Super G let me sleep in and then made my pancakes for breakfast before I ventured off alone, as I am too out of shape(and hacking) for company, and in one day, I beat last two weeks training totals(wasn't really that hard though...). The bad news is that I borrowed GG's garmin and discovered that my "long ride" was only 60 miles and not the 75-80 that I had always previously guesstimated it to be. Oops. Oh well, at least I'll be able to make it to Hawi. I still have a month to Kona though, right?

Again...

...yes, I'm sick again. Can you believe it? I can't. But with the start up of school and others being sick, it was probably a little naive to assume that I would escape unscathed. So once again, I am coughing, have a sore throat and an endless stream of green snot flowing from my nose. In hopes that it doesn't get out of control, I just finished taking 3.5 day off and overdosing on rest and vitamin C and zinc. We'll see how that works out. I'm trying not to panic, but I know that Kona is sneaking up on me.....

Most of all, I'm trying to figure out why I keep getting sick. Not enough sleep? Poor diet? Weak immune system? I don't know...I have some ideas, but I would really like to resolve it. The fantastic doctor that I've been seeing that has helped me resolve my iron/ferritin issues is incredibly thorough - and she also saw me in the midst of my 8+ week battle with bronchitis. We spent a lot of time talking about my lifestyle and the energy requirements that my body needed - basically, was it getting back what I was making it put out...probably not, lol. And of course due to my(our) parenting styles and the fact that Lucie is still nursing(and not showing much interest in weaning most days)and that she still wakes up at regular intervals during the night, the doctor was not only shocked that I was able to do some of the training I did, but also asked me to reconsider some of the crazy energy demands I was placing on my body. Yet, even after reconsidering the demands, I know that she is not ready to wean, I'm not ready to spend less time with my kids or put them in the care of others just so I can rest/work/train, and, if Lucie isn't ready to sleep through the night, she isn't. And as challenging as they sometimes are, I will enjoy those fleeting moments of nighttime parenting while they last. I know this isn't permanent and won't last forever yet I wish that I would stop getting sick.

Yesterday, the girls and I watched GG race an Olympic distance race in northern Colorado(where he finished in the $$!) The girls love to go to races and watch,play and hang out, and this one was at a great venue with a giant playground and onsite pioneer museum plus an arts and crafts table in the expo complete with coloured feathers and glitter glue. Although it was an early start to the day, I can't imagine a better way to spend part of the day yet I am always surprised at how many people make racing an individual activity and not a family one(obviously it's very different if you force your kid to stand in one spot and actually watch the whole race, lol). With this in mind, when talking with the other "triathlon wives", I was still shocked to find out that one of the top contenders in GG's age group was again not taking his kids to Kona, that they were just going as a couple. Super G and I talked about that and how "decadent" that must be but later wondered what the f*ck we would do with all that spare time and quiet on our hands?!?!? And yet at the same time, GG wondered if that is what it takes to finish at the top of his age group in Kona....oh well, we'll never know(nor do we want to find out) cause Rain and Lucie are already talking daily about what they are going to do in Hawaii and we are really looking forward to all the fun we are going to have. I realize that different things work for different people, and that many people have different priorities yet I think that people's priorities get a little messed up when racing/training becomes first priority and family is a distant second.

Now some pictures from the race:

Glenn-glenn finishing the race after having thrown up that morning(lol):


GG recovering after the race:


Rain showing off her fantastic feather art project from the craft table in the expo:


Lucie monopolizing one of the slides at the giant play structure by the transition area:

Back to School

Although it just seems to be warming up here in Boulder, I feel that summer is symbolically over when school starts up again. And it also means that it is time to start doing some serious training for Kona!
This week has been crazy - first we had Lucie's Birthday Party(I'd post pics but almost all of the kids ended up naked after a couple of minutes, following Lucie's lead) and a big anniversary celebration for me and GG(same thing with the pics, lol). Then I headed back to work(just part-time) as the semester began and both girls got a mysterious 24hrs stomache flu....sadly for Rain, it coincided with her first day of school and the death of the pet snake she had recently rescued. For Lucie, it mostly involved filling her carseat up with puke, yet as she tells it, she was "smoking up" in her carseat. (They grow up so fast!) To add to all of the excitement, we have a few childcare "issues", which have forced me to rethink some priorities and make me realize where I am really needed(but more on that later....).

While Glenn-glenn was out riding on Saturday morning (on the ride that some people didn't even know they were going on but turned up to anyways and/or, knew they were going on and showed up for, but then tried to sneak away and ride by themselves), Lucie and I decided to check out a dance class AND a gymnastics class for her. I'm trying to find an activity for her that involves distracting her from her penchant of taking her clothes off and helps to "socialize" her. She said that she was quite excited about it as long as she didn't have to touch anyone or hold hands - I thought those were pretty good guidelines to follow in most situations, so I agreed. Dance class turned out to be a total waste of time because as 5 other little girls twirled and marched their way across the room, Lucie decided to sit at the back of the room, with her arms folded over her chest, and observe. After 30 min., when the class was finally over, she got up and calmly went over and requested a stamp on her hand and left the room.
Sadly, gymnastics class didn't go much better. Unfortunately, it was a parent and tot type of class...and once again, I got to be "that" parent. Lucie did not want to warm up or listen to the instructor, who she at all times referred to in the third person, by screaming "she's looking at me" or "she's talking to me"..."tell her not to". I won't even mention the other polite three year olds that were encroaching on Lucie's perceived personal space. Lucie just wanted to go to the uneven bars, as she fancies herself as a bit of a monkey, thus she had little patience for circle time, sommersaults and safety stops. After the millionth blood curdling refusal to participate with the group, I calmly picked up her thrashing little body and carried her out screaming under my arm.

So, you might wonder what on earth this has to do with ironman training? At the end of the day, ask me what is more tiring...I am sure looking forward to some exhilarating, refreshing(puke free) long rides during my Kona build.