Getting closer!!!

EEEEEeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm here in Panama City FINALLY!  The expo was quite nice and made everything that much more real.  I have been to a bunch of different race expos but by far this one had the coolest bag :D  There wasn't a lot to choose from at the expo but that's ok because I don't need to spend that much money.  We each bought a race jersey and a visor and I am hopefully planning on wearing my visor during my run.  It's super soft and comfy!

Ironman swag :D  Our sweet new tri bags

Official bracelet, ticket to everything, makes everything real bracelet!

Ironman timing chip (still don't know how to put it together though)

The last pic, of the timing chip, is kind of confusing.  I have no idea how to put the circle deal on the neoprene strap.  the strap is about twice as thick as the holes in the timing chip soo....not really certain how that's supposed to work.  I guess I'll figure it out here soon!

As for tomorrow we are planning on swimming in the morning, meeting Mirinda Carfrae at noon, going for a short bike ride in the afternoon, checking into our little condo/hotel room on steroids, then athlete meeting/dinner at 5:30, then who knows what!  If the food isn't very good at the athlete dinner then we're going to make dinner in our kitchen hopefully.  Lots to do!  Lots of fun!!  Then Friday is going to be feet up and relax before an early dinner and early bed time!  Yeah!

 

En Route to Florida!

Ok, well I've talked about something exciting that has potential to happen in the near future, I was hoping to have official news of said event before Florida, but turns out they were purposely waiting until after Florida thinking I wouldn't worry about it.  Well so much for not worrying.  On a positive side though, I've been told that I don't have that much to truly worry about.

So what have I done with my new allowance of time?  Due to taper time I am no longer logging more time in athletic clothes than work clothes and have been able to sit back and relax.

My view from my back yard just a few days ago!

This was my comfort and view from the back part of my back yard just a few short days ago.  The temperatures were near the 80s, the sun was out, and I was fully able to wear shorts and flip flops without thinking twice about it.  Then "Sandy" came, yep, that awesome little hurricane, combined with a great cold front prompted "Frankenstorm".  I am very thankful that I didn't have to deal with the weather like people along the East Coast, but it still dropped literally 40 or more degrees in one day, and has since stayed lovely cold.  I was smart and took advantage of being able to have fun in the weather for one more back ride!  

Yeah, the back of my Equinox was looking a wee bit crowded and messy after my ride.  Just think, I didn't even have running stuff in that mess!  I had a blast though and remembered that I really honestly do like riding now and I always prefer to be outside instead of inside.

So after my ride and working and packing and cleaning and fill in blank here with nonsense, it was finally time for my annual pumpkin party that I have with my cousins.  This year instead of having just the one set of cousins we had both sets of cousins, my Aunt, sister, mom, and grandma over to carve pumpkins.  By the time everything was all said and done we had nearly 20 people at my house enjoying each others company, carving pumpkins, and sitting around bullshitting about anything that crossed our minds.  

Our Pumpkin Line on my front porch.

Now that I am relaxed and have found out that tapering can be enjoyable instead of scary, I'm getting ready for Florida!  I worked Sunday and Monday night in order to get my 24 hours in for work, then stayed up Tuesday so that I could sleep in the car on the way down.  We left around 2ish and just stopped in Pelham, Alabama for the night before continuing on to Panama City, Florida tomorrow morning for check in!

So this is rest :D

You know what doesn't help a triathlete taper well?  Kona.  Kona was last weekend and all this week every blog I read, obviously triathlon related, is about Kona.  I WANT TO GO!!!  I know I have to qualify, or luck out and win a lottery spot, but I want to go!  It sounds like way too much fun to not go, plus it's in Hawaii, problem?  Nope!

So I feel like a slug because I haven't done anything in what feels like forever.  I forget that I ran 8.5 miles on Thursday then managed to accomplish virtually no sleep from 8:30am Thursday until 3:30PM Friday.  Yep, that's what working nights and not being tired does for you.  I was completely exhausted come Friday afternoon, and according to Red almost demon-like when you go to wake me up after I've been asleep for only two hours, but you'll have that.  I think in the honor of resting I will continue to not do much tomorrow as well, then do my long swim, or bike, on Monday since I'm off and it's supposed to be BEAUTIFUL out.  I am really hoping for beautiful weather for our race, not something crazy cold and ridiculous, nor super hot and death creating.  I did check the weather and all this week it's supposed to be near 80 down there, I could go for a couple degrees cooler, but not much, because in the early morning during the swim, then after the sun goes down, it could get rather chilly. 

Oh, motivation that I keep mentioning to Red is if I do some how miraculously qualify for Kona I am making my friend train me all year up to Kona.  :D  It's just a dream, but it's a fun dream!

Real quick.  I've discovered a good way to get more vitamins and goodness in my little body.  My new smoothies taste amazing.  I've been using V8 as a base, then mango, strawberries, and baby spinach for my happy little smoothie.  I can't taste the spinach, which is a huge plus, but I still get the benefits!  Yeah!!

Understanding Taper

Ok, so part of the Ironman thing is becoming obsessed with the process, race, and everything that surrounds Ironman.  Part of that obsession is reading other triathletes blogs and trying to figure out how they train, the best nutrition, ways to prevent injury, and deal with life working full time, training full time, and not let the house go completely to crap.  Well in reading these blogs I kept coming to people saying how you go crazy during taper and start worrying about every ache and pain and if you ever did enough training.  I didn't get that point and didn't understand how you wouldn't welcome not having to train for 15-20 hours a week and actually get a break.  I get it now.  I was looking at my training plan and I realize that I'm still technically 3 weeks out, 2.5 but whatever, and my taper is supposed to start next Monday.  Well with my work week going on like crazy and some potential for awesome changes coming about, I think my taper is going to start a week early.  With that being said, I am nearly positive that unless I start running in the very limited time that I will have, or doing circuit training in my basement with my kettle bells, I am going to go crazy.  My body has adapted to the high mileage just fine and feels like if I'm not pushing myself every day, or at least nearly every day, that something is wrong.  I had to remind myself that I just swam 3000 meters last Friday before going to work, swam 1600 meters Thursday, and ran 15 miles Wednesday, I forget what I did Tuesday and Monday, but I do know that I did something every day last week.  I was just on the trainer this past Sunday and I don't feel like I've done anything.  Now with taper coming up and me not feeling like my legs are on fire or something I understand how other triathletes say they start to go crazy from the lack of intensity.

I'm just going to try to embrace the taper and remember that the crazy miles I put in all year long are going to carry me through in 2.5 weeks and that I'm not going to lose all of my endurance in just a little bit.  I am going to be fine.  My goal is to embrace the taper and enjoy this time of not trying to fit in a 2.5 hour run, or a 5 hour bike ride, or find something else to fill my time.  It's time to embrace, understand, and love the taper.  Or maybe I'll find something to do on Monday or Tuesday since I'm off lol.  Maybe I'll embrace the taper on and off depending on my work schedule.

Happy training!

Ouch

The three week mark is here!!!  Next week is my last huge push of mileage before I start my 2 week taper.  I cannot wait for taper time!  I would like to say I've always considered myself to be in fairly decent shape and athletic.  I have played sports year round during high school and when I got to college I still ran and went to the pool.  When I moved to Cincinnati my sister suckered me into a 5k and distance racing became my new obsession.  I have done half marathons, full marathons, and every distance of triathlon up to a half thus far and nothing compares to all of this mileage.  Yeesh!  I have been finding new and entertaining ways to make my body perpetually sore for nearing a year now and this is the longest my legs have ever stayed this tight.  I ran 15 miles on Wednesday, that's cool, I biked the night before, swam the day before, and on Monday put myself through an intense kettle bell workout circuit.  It's Friday and my legs are still sore.  Since Wednesday I have swam nearly 3 miles, doesn't sound like much, but considering the fact that it has been done essentially with no kicking and only using my arms, that's a long way to drag your body with just your arms.  Want to know the funny thing?  I want to do it all over again.  :D  I'm crazy, I know, I'm a nut case, I know.

One of my friends just mentioned last night that Ironman Texas still has some spots if Red and I were interested.  Red of course scoffed at the idea because the race is in May, me...well I'm intrigued.  I have a new strange addiction called Ironman and I think I'm in love.  I'm incredibly tired, sore, and worn out, but I'm in love!  I have abs that are better than any time when I played soccer, I actually have calves instead of sticks, and I don't feel like I'm going to die attempting to run more than a couple of miles.  I'm ok with this!  I mean I didn't even bat an eye when I took off for a 15 mile run, I just went, yep sounds good!

Well I have to work tonight, yippee, which means sleeping during the day.  Tomorrow will bring sleep until early afternoon, then head down to Mariemont (no idea where that is) for packet pick up and a 5k run that Red talked me into, hopefully pick up my new Merrell boots that I've been wanting FOREVER, then go to the UC football game, and eventually make it home to sleep again.  This weekend means tomorrow is a rest day because, if all goes well, Sunday is going to be roughly a 7 hour training day.  I'm supposed to be on the bike for 4.5 hours, run for 1.5 hours, and swim for .5 hours.  I'm not super certain how everything will turn out but for now the weather appears to be on my side so yeah!!  7 hour training day here I come!  Night!

4 weeks!

We have reached the 4 week mark!  This is terrifying and exciting at the same time!!  I now have 2 weeks left of high mileage/high intensity training before starting the 2 week taper.  I feel like my taper started three weeks ago, but I'm hoping to actually pick it up this week and get a lot accomplished.  I've been getting kind of bored running the same routes all the time so I decided that I would try to change it up a little bit.

There's a nice neighborhood, that isn't very big, across the road from ours and I thought I would check it out.  Well I am notorious for getting lost so I figured writing everything down for directions would be a good idea. It is a good idea so long as there aren't very many turns.  I forgot how tiny my arm was, so my little 6 mile run took up my ENTIRE arm.

Yep...That wasn't thought through..

This run didn't turn out very well anyway because it was supposed to be 6-8 miles and it turned into only 4.  Mapmyrun doesn't show gated communities that have a million signs everywhere saying "No Trespassing"  "Private Property, Trespassors will be Prosecuted".  As I was debating about running through anyway I realized that there was a giant fence going all along the property and instead of just a small gate that swung open it was a huge sliding door gate of sorts.  So much for that plan, so I turned around and migrated back home.  

On a positive note, I have 4 animals in my house, 3 cats and a dog, and they are all AWESOME!  Some people say my smallest cat is evil, but I prefer to think she's just very partial to her mother.  I am pretty much the only one that can pick her up, toss her around, snuggle her, or do whatever I want and not risk getting clawed or growled at.  The other cats are huge cuddle bugs, and my Zoey is the best dog on the planet. 

We did not stage them like this.  :D

Meekah is the giant cat on my right, Sakhmet is my tiny cat on my hip, and Zoey is my puppy by my feet!  They love to cuddle with their mommy!  

Ok, well I'm going to finish up a couple things around the house then hopefully run before going back to sleep.  I have to work tonight but fortunately I only have to work tonight and Friday this week!  Yeah!  That means lots of training this week!!  Woot!

Happy Training!

Ironman Athlete Guide is here!

Ok, so this morning I was having a little issue getting out of bed.  It's super cold and rainy outside and I was toasty warm under my covers, no likey getting out of bed.  Well I finally migrated to the kitchen for some coffee and was putzing around cleaning and then eating breakfast.  My phone made the little noise to tell me I had an email, yippee, either a bill or junk mail right?  WRONG!!!  It was the Ironman Florida Athlete Guide!!!  I went from blah to ridiculously happy in about 0.0002 seconds.  Yes the guide is kind of boring to read and it's not the most riveting material out there, but it is just another mile marker of how close we are getting to my very first Ironman!  I'm so excited!!!!

I'm hoping that this little guide will be the motivation that I need to jump start my training.  I've been picking up crazy hours at work, and the weather here in Ohio has been far less than ideal.  When i'm not working it has been roughly 50's to low 70's, not bad right?  But then add in the constant threat, or actual, rain along with a healthy dose of wind.  I've said it once and I'll say it again, I am a huge baby when it comes to training in the cold and wet conditions.  I will play soccer no matter what the conditions, but riding a bike when the lows in the mornings are in the 30's to 50's and it's sprinkling...I think not.  I did get the dreaded trainer out the other day so hopefully that will help :D.  I have noticed that my bike fitness is MUCH better than when I started this nonsense last winter.  It used to KILL me to be on the trainer for more than about 5-10 minutes because the resistance felt so crazy, now I'm fine on it resistance wise, but my attention span needs work.  I'm hoping to force myself onto the trainer more here lately so that I am forced to deal with boredom on the bike for a couple of hours at a time.  Red swears that will be my un-doing at our race, I'm really really hoping to prove him wrong!

In other news, there isn't a whole lot going on.  I may have an opportunity here soon to become a certified Personal Trainer, and get paid for it.  The only other thing that is going on is the fact that I am teaching a friends daughter gymnastics and that I'm going to get my hair cut in about 30 minutes.  Woo!  I know, exciting!  Ok, well time to get my tush to the gym, which coincidentally is where my hair appointment is :D  Lifetime has the "Lifetime Spa" where they do massages, hair stuff, and other nonsense that would probably make a lot of sense to a normal girl, but I'm just figuring it out.  I'm hoping they don't screw up my hair.  Lifetime seems to do everything from their pool maintenance, locker rooms, and work out equipment in high quality.  I'm hoping that the efforts put forth in those areas translates into the spa deal, which I think it may considering they are booked whenever I hope to just walk in to get my hair cut, Great Clips this place is not.

Later,

Happy training!