IML Week 6

Ironteam 2009

I guess this is where being at week 6 in your training (when everyone else is at week 19) doesn't pay off. This week, we had our half way to Ironman training weekend down at Lake San Antonio. I managed to get a few (just a few) workouts in before leaving on Friday morning.

Monday - Day Off

Tuesday - Swim
Well, I guess the good news is that my bathing suit is getting too big. The bad news is that it caused some minor chaffing under both arms. Sad. It was a pretty long swim for me but it was a beautiful day.

Wednesday - Spin
I am so into this book that I am reading, so instead of rocking out with the iPod to my metal, I actually read while doing my hill repeat workout on my trainer. Hard!

Thursday - Self Imposed Day Off
I worked the night shift on Tuesday, Wednesday and today and even tho I sleep 7-8 hours, staying up til 2am to read your awesome book still makes you tired.

Friday - Drive to LSA
Got up and leisurely got ready to drive the 3.5 hours down to Lake San Antonio. This year no tent camping for me! I rented an RV with Kristie, Mike and Helen. They all left on Thursday and got everything set up. The drive was uneventful but nice as the day was beautiful and warm. I sang with my iPod all the way down. Got there about 4pm and relaxed for a bit before Mike made us dinner. Got my gear and bottles ready for the next day. Had our team meeting and then popped a Tylenol PM at 8:30p to get enough sleep for the 5a wake up.

Kristie, Hez and Nancy at the team meeting

Saturday - Half Ironman
The day was forecast to be partly cloudy and 63. It turned out to be overcast and cold. Got up at 5a, ate, got dressed and made our way down to the lake for our 7a swim start. I wasn't really nervous or anything. This would be my 3rd or 4th time doing the course. We got in the water shortly after 7a. It was pretty cold. Colder than I expected at 62 degrees. Off we went and that's when it started sucking really bad! Here are the reasons why:

1) My wetsuit was too tight (gained some weight since last year)
2) Couldn't control my breathing
3) The current made it feel like I was swimming though peanut butter (I always forget about that stupid current, der! It's a lake!)
4) The first 15 minutes always suck for me but I couldn't, mentally, force myself to get into it so I ended up experiencing the "first 15 minutes" for about 35 minutes. Sigh.
5) It was my first open water swim of the season

Well, I only made it half way. I decided that half way was better than nothing. I turned around and saw that Yi was hanging off the safety kayak. She said she was having problems breathing and was, in fact, coughing so hard that she was nearly choking. I convinced her to go back with me but she was having a hard time. I told her to hang onto my shoulders and I did the breast stroke while she kicked behind me. I am sure we looked pretty funny because she was hanging off my back and we both have the same wetsuits. Silly us. We made our way over to the shore and rested for a little while. Yi thinks it was the pollen that was really affecting her. I have to admit my allergies have been really bad lately, too. I was getting cold so decided to head back. I was about 1,000 yards or more from the dock and just put my head down and booked ass back. I'm so lame, but it was so easy! The current was with me and I felt like Superman flying through the air. I swam back without stopping but I couldn't even do the whole course. Dumb.

62 Degree Water

Got out of the water and got ready for the bike. And it was COLD. I was half way out of my wetsuit and was standing kinda off to the side away from people's transition stuff. My teammate Michelle was like, "what are you doing?" I was all, "Peeing." (sheepish grin) Yi was getting ready too so we headed out together. I lost her on the mile long hill out of transition only to find out later that her breathing was so labored that she couldn't continue the ride. Did I mention it was cold? My feet were like blocks of ice and they didn't warm up until after mile 30. I am not exaggerating. I was leap frogging with Frank, one of our honorees who is 13 years in remission. At about mile 20 out of 56, I said to him. I think I might get sagged in (picked up and driven back to transition). He asked why and I said that I was cold and this was hard and I don't really need the time in the saddle. I need to focus more on running. He said, "I feel the same way but I told myself that this was the only thing I'd be doing all weekend. We have Sunday off, heck, I might even not do anything on Monday. So let's just get it over with. It's not gonna kill us." ....Aaaand then I felt like a big asshole because I am complaining how hard it is to Frank, the cancer survivor, who probably had a much harder time with all his treatment. A S S. But then before I knew it, it was mile 46...he comes sidling up to me on his bike and was like, "Hey Hez, remember way back there at mile 20 when we both wanted to quit? Doesn't that seem like a whole day ago? And here we are and we're almost done."

Got back to transition and got ready for my run. Moddie came in shortly after me and we ran out together, on our 13 mile run, with Tami just in front of us. This is where the pain really begins! Running is just so hard and does not come natural to me at all. Moddie and I stuck to our 5 minute run, 2 minute walk plan. We also walked every hill because NO ONE needs to run up a hill. I felt ok. My hip flexors were pretty tight which was causing my psoas on both side to ache a bit. But we kept on going. I discovered that I didn't eat enough on the bike when my stomach started growling so loud that Moddie could hear it. I'll have to rethink my nutrition plan as I tried something new out. So here we are, running on the most difficult trail run ever, the sun finally comes out, which is when you don't really want it to, and miles are whizzing by. We caught up with Tami and she joined us in our 5/2's. We talked the whole way. We saw many deer and baby deer too! We also saw a jackrabbit. (oh and I saw a dead kitty on the bike, sad). Next thing you know, it's mile 9 and I am officially running the farthest I have for this season. We were like 3 old, crabby ladies by the end of it. Not really talking but just grunting and groaning at the next hill. Then we were at mile 12 and headed toward Lynch Hill and a mile long descent. Then. Done. Ten hours later.

On the run with Moddie

I am slightly embarrassed about my time. Then again, I did only start training 6 weeks ago. And I think we have a super fast team this year. Anyways, nose to the grindstone and all that. Next week I am off to Budapest and Prague. I am slightly nervous about this since I won't really be training and I just got back into it. I am, however, planning to bring my running stuff. So I hope in two weeks I can tell you that I ran along the Danube (or at all!)

Workout Totals
Swim - 2 hours
Bike - 5.5 hours
Run - 3.5 hours
Total 11 hours

IML 4 & 5

Ok, clearly I am getting bored with recounting my lame training escapades to my adoring public. Let's see...what happened during week 4? You know what? I don't remember but it involved lots of swimming, running and spinning. It also involved my rib still not paying attention to its buddies and where its supposed to sit. Rib? Please sit with your friends.

Week (4-ish and) 5 Saturday - (Swim)/Bike/Run
I worked on Friday night til midnight so I decided to skip the swim and felt ok about that since it is pretty much the only thing I am doing religiously right now. I slept in til 8am (woah!) and then made my way to the Dougherty Aquatic Something-or-Other in San Ramon? Livermore? East Bayness, to meet up with the team. I got there just in time and got my stuff ready for a quick 2 hour ride. We did a really nice loop that went past pastures and cows (of which I CANNOT pass with out yelling MOOOOOO! to every single one of them) and horses and ponies. Early on in the ride we passed the TnT Cycle Team and I saw Coach Cyd. God, how I miss that team. We got back to the parking lot and Moddie and I set outto run three 2 mile loops. We dragged Mike Kyle with us. We managed only to do 2 loops. I did also manage to pee behind a wall in a neighborhood. I am a rebel.

Hez Stretching

Yi, Sedonia, Hez and Mike

Sunday - Run
I readied myself for a 9 mile run. The most I have run this season is 5 miles and I was pretty nervous about it. Would everything work? Would things get tight? Would my hips/back/rib/psoas/knee/foot-arch-thing hold up? YES! It was amazing! Moddie and I met at the monkey bars on the Marina Green and headed out to the Golden Gate Bridge point, turned around, ran up and over the bridge to the other side, turned around and came back. Just under 9 miles with an average speed of 11mph which is really, really good considering we were running 5 minutes and then walking for 2 minutes. We are gods! Then we had a nice lunch at the Crissy Field Cafe place which was much lower key than I expected but a good thing since I was feeling mildly self-conscious about my spandex clad body.

Monday- Day off
Yay!

Tuesday - Run/Swim
I convinced Mike Kyle to come all the way to Burlingame to meet me for a quick run and then an hour pool workout. It was a pretty nice day. We ran around Burlingame for 45 minutes and then hopped in the pool. It was so nice to have someone to workout with! Afterwards we headed over to Stacks for lunch. Yum! I had a massage later that night which was awesome. Jez did A LOT of work on my rib, which may or may not have also included a breast exam. Hahaha, no. Well, it's kinda true since it is all in "that area." He kept asking if I was ok with it. Comfortable etc. I was like, yeah. A little to the left please? NO NO! I didn't say that! It's always completely professional.

Wednesday - Spin
The spin was an hour and a half today. The end.

Thursday - ...
I don't actually remember what I did on Thursday. I did go to the Chiropractor and complained that my rib was still sore. Rabbetz was all, did you ice it after the massage? I was all, no. No one told me! I got some eye rolling in my direction. When my rib first popped out, Rabbetz told me to stay away from the wetsuit because of the compression. So I had to check in with him today to see if I was greenlighted to wear one on Saturday. He said yes. I was really hoping for "no." Then I think I went home and did some more spinning. I don't really remember.

Friday - Nothing. Oh wait!
I spun on Friday, not Thursday. Thursday I think I just did some stretching. The spin was an hour. I putzed around all day pretending to clean my house but sometimes not getting any farther than the couch and an episode of Babylon 5. I made kasha varnishkas (with rice noodle bowties) and cleaned my veggies that came from the organic farm. Sometime around 7pm I pulled my wetsuit out of the closet. It was covered in mold. I guess the last time I used it was in July for my race. Oops. I saw what I thought was three kinds of mold. Gray fuzzy stuff, yellow stuff that looked like it was little sperms and some white whispy stuff (which turned out to be a spider nest). Sigh. I took it outside and brushed it all off mad at myself that I let my $500 wetsuit get moldy. Then I dug around in my cupboard and fished out a bottle of wetsuit cleaner that Ironmo gave me last year before she moved (thank god...the cleaner not the moving). Then I decided that I was in no mood to clean my wetsuit at 8pm the night before I was going to be wearing it. Then I ate my varnishkas and watched more Babylon 5.

Saturday - (Swim)/Bike/Run
Doug picked me up at the horrible, horrible time of 6:45am. Actually it was 7am because Doug rolls on Asian Time. We drove out to Lake Del Valle in Livermore. The weather report had said partly sunny high of 63. But when we got to the lake it was 41 degrees. Granted it was 8am, but still. I was not really prepared for the weather. I always think East Bay = Warm. But today I learned a new rule: if it's warm in the city it's cold in the East Bay (in winter, I don't think this rule applies in summer). So happy I skipped that swim because the water temp was 56 and everyone just looked miserable. Then we set up our bikes on our trainers and commenced with a 60 minute spin followed by a 30 minute trail run...twice. By the last run, my rib decided to stop cooperating and was giving me grief. At first I thought it was a side stitch but then I realied it wasn't and slowed down. Only manged a 15 minute second run. Then we froze our asses off while eating lunch and listened to the Coach give an inspirational talk. Then I looked at Doug and said, I need to get out of here. I had reached my socializing limit. Got home by 5pm (!), showered, ate about 5 times and then passed out by 8pm.

Hez and Leslie Freezing

Hez Starting to Spin

Hez Spinning

What we all looked like

Sunday - Core
Moddie and I had planned to ride the 45 miles that was on the schedule and then follow it up with another 9 mile run, but then we found out it wasn't supposed to be consecutive. Coach wanted us to ride in the morning, come home, eat, nap and then go back out. Right. If I come home and shower and nap...there is no way I am going back out there. So Moddie and I decided we needed to run more than ride and we planned to meet in Sausalito with one caveat, if it's raining I am not going. Woke up Sunday morning and it was raining! Yay! We discussed for 15 mintues what we should do, worked through our guilt feelings and decided to skip it. I ended up doing a core workout with some serious stretching and felt even guiltier as the day cleared up. But then I went shopping and saw a movie. Yay!

Workout Totals
Swim - 1 hour
Bike - 6 hours 30 minutes
Run - 3 hours 30 miutes

IML 3 & 4

Well I escaped from jury duty! And then I don't remember what happened because, dude, that was two weeks ago!

Last week started out great! I only had three days of work before a much needed scheduling break of one whole week!  I was ready to go and then...

Monday

Rest day.

Tuesday

Did a spin workout in the morning and then headed down to BAC to do some swimming.  I can't express how awesome it is to be able to swim outside in the middle of February/March and it's sunny! And even if it isn't sunny it's still possible being that its about 60 degrees here.

Wednesday

I totally didn't run. I hate it so much that it is just that easy to wake up and be like, nah. Of course this has to change asap since I only have 6 months of training before my race! Woah! That is sneaking up on me! Later that night, while sleeping, I woke up in the middle of the night with the worst pain on the right side of my chest. If it had been on my left side I woulda thought it was a heart attack. The pain was that bad and that scary. I somehow managed to fall back asleep until 9am.

Thursday

I called Dr. Rabbetz, my chiropractor, and he got me in first thing. I just thought I pulled a muscle but it turns out one of my ribs came out of alignment! I didn't know they could do that! He popped it back in but boy, did that hurt! Why did it happen? He says that Western Medicine says that it's because I had a weakness there to begin with, my swim workout the day before and my bad posture.  He also said that Eastern Medicine says that it's because of a broken heart. That anything that happens in the chest area has to to do with emotions of the heart. Well, I won't go into details but I would say that was a pretty accurate diagnosis. Of course, now I can't work out. He said I could still swim, though. I was nervous because my friend Jess was in town and we had a hike planned on Friday. He said I could still do the hike but be careful. If i slipped and fell on the trail, that they'd be carrying me out of there. Yikes!

Friday

Picked Jess up and we headed to the Pelican Inn in Marin. From there we climbed up the Dias ridge trail, over the Miwok trail and down on the Redwook Creek trail. It was a beautiful day. We talked girl talk the whole way and then had a great lunch at the Inn.

Saturday

I went to the team workout with intentions of swimming but as I got in my car, I did a weird fidget movement and I felt something pulling in my chest. I decided not to swim. Instead I rode with Coach Dave in the SAG vehicle during the bike ride and then stood on deck for the swim. I left before the end to meet my other friend in town for lunch at the Ferry Building. Oh, but not before I got a ticket for going through a red light. Ugh. That just kills me. I mean, it's not like I purposefully went through the red light. I just happened to be on the tail end of a line of traffic going through the intersection and when I looked up at the light I was like, crap. And of course there was a copper in traffic he turned the corner and got right behind me. I sat there for minutes just praying as they sat behind me doing nothing. Then as soon as traffic moved they turned their lights on. Damn! You know they did that on purpose. 

Sunday

I didn't do much today but did meet up with the Ironteam 2009 staff for a little dinner party. My chest was still feeling twangs here and there. I plan on taking Monday off as usual, and then start back in again on Tuesday. I also have a follow up with Rabbetz to see if I am good to go!