Sure Happy It's Thursday

When I was in college, one of the fraternities had Sure Happy It's Thursday (S.H.I.T.) parties. And, it seems to be true, S.H.I.T. happens before T.G.I.F.

I am having the hardest time forcing myself into the pool. I'm not finding it to be relaxing any more. Perhaps because since I had my last swimming lesson, I have been working on pressing more water with my strokes, and frankly, that is not relaxing. It's downright exhausting. So, when I am in the pool, my attention span wanes somewhat quickly, and getting in at all has been a struggle between good and evil. Evil seems to be winning.

It's been a long week. I had a delicious day off on Monday for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, and have paid for it during the following days. Tomorrow is Friday (YAY!) and I WILL get in the pool and do more than 1,500 yards!

Last week I stumbled onto a website where you can order customized silicone wristbands and next to nothing. Today, I received my bands, embossed with "I shall overcome" on the front and 140.6 on the backside. I guess I need to overcome more than just 140.6 miles...I have to overcome my reluctance to get in the water!

Weather Warp

Even though I had decided yesterday that I would use today as a rest day, I woke up this morning with the sun streaming in my windows. I checked the Weatherbug app on my iPhone which stated that the temp was 51 degrees. 51 degrees at 8:30 a.m. on January 16. What a gift! How could I not take advantage of this amazing, beautiful day in the middle of winter??

Since my road bike was held hostage at Velvet Creme (not really hostage, but I didn't expect this brilliant weather so I didn't take it with me after my spin on Saturday), I dusted off the hybrid and headed for the Trolley Trail. It was so nice to be back out in the sunshine and outside on a bike. I keep thinking that it might be the last opportunity for the next three months, but next Saturday is forecasted to be in the mid-50's as well. Wow.

Happy New Year?

The new year started with a bang. I didn't have my January training plan yet, so I continued to do what I had been doing. Monday was swim day. I checked the pool schedule at my gym and saw no classes scheduled, so I decided in the sake of being efficient, I would try to squeeze it in prior to my chiropractor appointment, which is located across the street. Unfortunately, I got to the pool to find that not only was a water aerobics class in progress, they had taken half of the lanes down to hold it. Another lane had three people walking in it, which left only two lanes left for lap swimming. Arg. So much for efficiency. I did manage to eke out a swim, even if it was a short one.

Tuesday was the first night of KC Multisport Power Hour spin class. Then, Wednesday, I was struck down with the flu. It hit me quite suddenly and like a hammer. I left work early with a headache, chills and back cramps that were so severe that I likened them to back labor, not that I've ever experienced those. I rarely ever have a fever and was somewhat surprised when my thermometer kept climbing well above 98.6. Of course, I misread the dang thing and proceeded to post in Facebook that my thermometer was reading 106. Yes, I know that 106 is probably fatal, and I assumed it was wrong, but it did make for a little drama. A few hours later I realized that six tick marks past 100 was not 106, but 101.2. Hey, I had a fever. How was I supposed to be coherent?

Happily, my fever was almost back to normal by 10:30 that night, so it was also short lived, thank goodness. I did end up missing three days of workouts this week, so my normal off day on Sunday, will be filled with at least a swim. Too bad my bike and trainer are at the Power Hour location and I can't do a spin...

I'm crossing my fingers that I got my sick-y out the way for the year and can get down to the business of training!

2012 - And so it begins

January 2nd.

I guess the "off season" is officially over. It is now time to face the reality of what I've done, signing up for a full Ironman. Eeek!

After playing around with various training plans that I found on the Internet, I decided that I would be more comfortable having a live someone tell me what to do. It just seemed too easy to edit those plans to what I wanted to do instead of what I needed to do. I had another conversation with Duston last week and we lined out our expectations of each other and some key races that I should put on the calendar.

KC Triathlon - May 20. He suggested the Olympic distance, but since I'm a little leery of the swim that early in the season, he okayed the sprint distance. The Redman swim blew my confidence a bit. I think that May 20 may be a little early for a 1500 meter swim in a cold, choppy lake. Of course, now that this race has been included as part of the WTC 5150 series, I kind of wanted to do the Oly. But, I am going to err on the conservative side on this one. I don't want another DNF for my first race of the season.

KS 70.3 - June 10. I am not terribly excited about doing this race. I don't really have a reason except, I just didn't want to do it. But, it makes sense. It's a good training race as well as it's the right distance out from LV. Ugh. I need to sign up for it before the entry goes up again on January 10th. I just need to keep in mind that I'm doing it for experience and that it is NOT my "A" race.

Summer Roundup Oly - June 24. This race was my very first triathlon in 2009. It consisted of a 250-yard pool swim, 15-mile bike and 5K run. I did it again in 2011, where it was moved to Joplin from Carthage and the pool swim expanded to 500 meters (bigger pool). I was coming off my Topeka Tinman disaster so it was a nice redemption that I won my age group there. For 2012, they are moving it to a lake near Jasper and adding an Oly.

Then, I was silly enough to mention the Eurekan to Duston. It is two weeks out from Louisville and I thought it might make sense to do the 58-mile bike ride there. I did the full event (short sprint tri, century bike ride, 10K run) in 2011, and I thought that the century ride was the hardest thing I had ever done physically. He seems to think that doing the full event again (two weeks before LV) is a good idea....but, I may challenge him. That event sapped me last year. I don't know that I want to put out that much of an effort two weeks before the new biggest event of my life...

That takes care of the multisport races. Throw in Big Sur marathon and Hospital Hill Half Marathon to round out the roster and we'll call it done. Except for the Austin 70.3 cooldown half in October. :)

I have got A LOT of work to do. Again, I have one word for it. EEEK!

I downloaded my totals for 2011. It's pretty awesome, for me. 1,500 miles on my bike? What is most astounding is the 91 miles I put in swimming! That's almost incomprehensible. Wow. Plus the fact that I only missed two complete weeks all of last year when I didn't swim at all. Whoa. I've come a long way, baby.

LV Resolutions

A couple weeks ago I mentioned to a friend that I was giving up Diet Coke (again) after the first of the year. She asked me if it was a New Year’s resolution, and I immediately responded, “no, an LV resolution.” I am wont to make New Year’s resolutions every year, so what better route but to combine the New Year with all the good habits I need to adopt to be at peak condition for IM Louisville? It just so happens, that my LV Resolutions fall very closely in line with good habits I need to adopt for life in general.

1)      I’ve already mentioned Diet Coke. I actually had given it up earlier this year. I don’t think I had a single one for at least two months. I can’t say that I felt any different physically, but I did feel a bit virtuous as I had a 3-4 cans a day habit for quite some time. Since it is nothing but chemical upon chemical, it is definitely a habit that is long overdue. I shouldn’t have let it creep back into my diet, but it is insidious. An occasional can easily became a daily habit once again.

2)      Related to diet in general, another resolution is to eat better and really, really get this excess 15 pounds off. It will only make me ride and run better (though the blubber may be helping what seems to be my zero buoyancy in the water). And, it will also help my self-esteem which takes a beating every time I see my waistline rolls in race photos.

I picked up a copy of Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman. While I won’t say that I’m completely inspired, nor do I desire to become a vegetarian, I do believe that what he writes is true. I am going to try his six-week kick start. Well, I’m going to try it for a week and see how that goes. Hopefully, I will be able to stick it out for the six weeks. Again, I don’t want really want to be vegetarian, but I don’t mind cutting back on meat and other animal products, and I’d really love to FEEL better in general.

3)      The next resolution is also a combo one, as there is much cause and effect in these two. I am going to get 7-8 hours of sleep a night. This is going to happen because I am going to stop watching so much TV. So many people will say that their DVR actually reduces the number of hours they watch TV because an hour long show is really just 40 minutes when they fast forward through commercials. This is true, however, I also end up watching more TV because there those shows are queued up in my DVR, where I can easily watch two or three in a row (equating to 2-2.5 hours of couch time vegging out.) 

I learned from experience this past year that it was so easy to “excuse” my couch time because of the time I had worked out. I would get home at 8:00 p.m., fix some dinner and eat it in front of the TV. Then, I would end up not getting up from the couch, but instead watch two shows. I complained that I didn’t have time to clean or read or catch up on other chores while I was training for Redman. Hmmmm, I wonder why…

So, once I stop watching so much TV, I should be able to get to bed at a decent hour. Training for a full IM is going to require more morning workouts, and the only way I’m going to accomplish those is to get in bed before 11:00 p.m.

4)      Lastly, I do not want training for Louisville to completely consume my life the way triathlon training did this year. I am taking the training very seriously, as I want to be successful on August 26, but I want to also have some balance. There’s got to be a way to fit it all in (again, see resolution #3…less TV!!!)

I am excited about the adventures that 2012 will bring.

Enjoying the Last of the "Off Season"

December 20th. Less than two more weeks to be able to "slack off" relatively guilt free. I've tried not to totally backslide on my training this past three months, though getting on the scale right now would prove that I have been slacking on my eating. But, it has been a nice swim, run and ride the trainer in the amounts that I choose and because I enjoy those activities. (Though, I still cannot say that I enjoy riding on the trainer!).

I've been debating what to do regarding coaching this season. I thought I'd made up my mind to go with a guy that I'd met earlier in the summer. However, we've had such a hard time connecting and communicating that I've just about decided that I might just go coachless. I found a couple of plans on the Internet that seem to be fairly sound and more detailed than the first month's plan I received from the coach. Those and the experience I can draw from the folks I've become acquainted with the past couple of seasons, may be enough. I asked a friend if she thought it was too risky to do my first full IM without a coach and she told me that she thought the majority of the age groupers didn't use a coach. That most people didn't spend the money that we evidently have. I laughed out loud when I heard that. Duh. How true that statement is!

I spent a fortune on this sport this year. My last big purchase was for a new wheelset that I'm SURE will make me go at least 2 mph faster (ha!). I think I would like to get some different aerobars, but I should be set for gear going into the '12 season. I think I will spend my dollars on the specific areas where I need assistance: spin classes, strength classes and swimming instruction.

So, in the spirit of enjoying being a slacker, I may just skip my spin class tonight. The weather outside is frightful and the couch sounds so delightful...

Thankful

It's Thanksgiving and a good time to stop and reflect on the things that I'm grateful for. It's so easy to get caught up in improving my performance that I can forget how lucky I am that I simply have the ability to move my arms and legs in a way that equate to swimming, biking and running. The mere fact that I'm able is something to never take for granted.  One of my goals for the coming season is to be much more mindful. I tend to look beyond the moment instead of experiencing what is going on at hand. Sometimes, blanking out the pain and the boredom is preferable, but the pain and the boredom is part and parcel to endurance sports training. Embrace the moments and embrace the experience!