Spectating an Ironman makes for the best day ever

I don't lie in the title of this post! My mom, sister Samantha, and I went out to Arizona to be superfans for Amanda and make sure she had everything she could possibly need to have the best first Ironman ever!

And I'll let her elaborate more in her race-recap post, which I am sure she will write once she has rested and eaten ten pies, but here's a spoiler alert--she AWESOME! She managed her nutrition, pace, and all the logistics beautifully, and her only error that I could tell, was not listening to me when I told her to body glide the back of her neck, lest her wetsuit chafe her.  She didn't, and got a huge chafe, and then when the saintly volunteers went to smother her with sunscreen pre-bike, yikes, did it sting like a mofo!

But back to spectating.  It was indeed bittersweet, and I definitely teared up at the start, watching everyone bobbing in the water as the sun rose, waiting for the gun to go off.  But I'm making great progress with my knee and rehab (walking, swimming, biking on the trainer,), and though I won't be given the go-ahead to run until the new year, life is creeping back to normal, and I've already set my sights on Ironman Louisville, 8/24/14.

The morning was chilly and Sam, my mom and I did not envy Amanda having to brave the water, but we got to watch the mass swim start from the bridge over Tempe Town Lake and it was thrilling! Before we knew it, the pro's were already out of the water, and watching them zoom off on their bikes at speeds I can't even master at the bottom of a huge hill (never mind control my bike or even think about sustaining it for 112 miles), was amazing. (And then they run a sub three hour marathon...&$#*&~>+?!)

I loved cheering and hooting and hollering at every person I could (bonus points if they were wearing a shirt/color/jersey that I could make a personalized statement about), and would go absolutely apeshit everytime we saw Amanda, which was quite often, as IMAZ has a lot of loops, both in the bike and run, so we could cut across certain spots and catch her regularly.

My hands are all cut up from ringing cowbells at people, and I only wish I could have chased my sister every time I saw her on the run.  Luckily, there was a tent full of tipsy cheer-ers who handled that task well enough! The three of us were out there from 5:30am, when we dropped Amanda off at transition, through the start at 7am, to her incredible finish at 8:46pm, a blistering 13 hours and 46 minutes, well under Amanda's anticipated time of 14 hours, and then the ensuing pack-up and stuffing her with food & water.

The finish chute is beyond amazing--the reactions of the athletes as they finish ranges from ecstatic high-fiving and fist-pumping to determination to sprint that last bit to tears to hobbling and wincing--and I was lapping it up, teary eyed and yelling my brains out.  

I loved that 60+ year old women with gray hair and cellulite on the backs of their legs were schooling young, fitness-ad looking guys who looked like they got lost in a spandex factory.  I loved that Amanda was very likely the only person out of 2,700 participants who rode on a 48-inch size XXS bike frame (that had to be specially ordered) and her teeny legs owned people who had legs three times as long come the run.  And then the additional irony that for all her years of bitching about swimming, it was her strongest portion relative to the field by far!  There were guys that zoomed down the stretch with the flag of the Philippines on their backs for the typhoon, and the awe-inspiring amputees. 

Yet for all the inspiration and "Eye of the Tiger" refrains I kept playing in my head, it's still all blood-and-guts and explosive diarrhea and sweat-in-blisters.  THERE ARE NO HEART TALKS IN THE IRONMAN (amirite to those who know this inane term?!) and I could not think of a better way to spend 18+ hours than watching every sort of person, from pros that defy ideas of what the human body is capable of, to the workhorse who crossed the finish line at midnight, just kill it!

One week to go!

Serves me right for bitching.  My last post consisted of my crying about how my taper was so hard and was not going to give me enough rest, blah blah blah.  Well, time wise it was significantly less commitment, which was good because I have a big test coming up Friday, and athletically it was also much less demanding.  So all that specific bitching for nothing.  However, I still do hate the "taper", just for different reasons now.  After working out for a bizilllllllion hours for months I feel like I'm not doing enough and I am wasting away before the IronMan.  As a result I actually feel weaker.  I know this is normal and likely means I'm doing the taper right, but it still seems silly to me.  Related to this, is my own anxiety fueled thoughts, which have only increased as we get closer to race day...did I say it is only a week away?...and I can't even exercise to put them to rest! Damn you taper.  Damn you.

I'm sure the race will be fun and I know it is good I only have THREE workouts next week..THREE!  And they only total 5 hrs...but it mean that IMAZ is actually around the corner.  A difficult fact to accept :(  At this point I just want it to be here and simultaneously want more time to train!

I'll end this silly post with my plug for my charity: the Wounded Warrior Foundation.  Please feel free to donate whatever amount you feel able and help wounded warriors!

http://ironman.kintera.org/arizona2013/20130916175355274

And so begins the "taper"

Can't say no to these faces...or no to a pug snuggle!

Welp...the IronMan is LESS THAN 30 DAYS AWAY!  Absolutely terrifying.  I did get some good workouts in this past week....the biggest ones being a 27 mile run one day, 5000 yards in the pool another, and a 112 mile bike.  There were shorter runs/rest days in between these biggie workouts...but I did find myself exhausted at the end of week.  For example, a 2 hour nap snuck up on me while I was laying on the floor at home with the 5 pugs...even though I woke up at 11:30.  whooooops.  At least I enjoyed a pug snuggle!

These workouts were good because I know I can at least do each individual part of the IronMan, but by that same hand I was really tired after all these workouts...and on November 17th I must do them all in a row  :/

Anyways...I officially started my taper weeks off with a 3500 yard swim today.  The workout was actually a good mix of everything, i.e kicking, some fast sets, and some longer sets.  It felt pretty good to do some shorter work in the pool after my last 5000 yard workout, which had a brutal and reallllllly boring 4 x 800 set in it.

Anytime I want to scare myself I look at this on my phone

In looking ahead this week, I see that this taper business is kinda lie, as I have a double brick tomorrow (30 mile bike followed by a 3 mile run...twice), a swim on Wednesday, a run on Thursday, another brick Saturday (2 mile swim followed by 4-6 hours of biking), and then a 20 mile run on Sunday.  I have done similar workouts before...and definitely done longer ones, but when I saw the word "taper" I imagined...not this week ahead hahaha.  Ah well, I am terrified of not being ready, so I
suppose a fake taper is good thing to keep me mentally in the game and my endurance up.

IMAZ you are waaaaaaaay to close!
   

43 Days!

It's been 3 weeks since I finished my half iron and I have completed some difficult workouts since then.  In fact, my tripceps and lats still feel shaky after my double workout on Tuesday.  However, despite these accomplishments I can safely say I am getting more and more nervous, and feeling less and less prepared for November 17.    Part of this is due to general stress in school and life, but jeeeeeeeeeeez I can't seem to find the time to fit these long workouts in.

Hopefully I will be this happy at IMAZ!

For example, tomorrow is a triple brick workout totaling 90 miles cycling and 15 miles running.  Do I dare try to complete that even though I have to study for 3 medical school finals next week?  I guess I'm going to have to get up at the crack of dawn to get that done :(

But enough bitching!  It has been great weather this week for runs and I completed my best mile pacing workout to date: A total of 9 miles, with the middle 5 at pace.  I was able to do those 5 miles at under a 7 min mile pace!  The 5th mile might have been right at 7 minutes, and I had to stop and almost die before finishing my last, slow 2 miles, but I was REALLY happy with that workout :)

Furthermore, because of the furlough, national parks are closed...or at least the roads are, which will lead to some great cycling in Rock Creek Park with no traffic!  While doing my 15 mile run yesterday, I saw a bizillion cyclists in the park taking advantage of the car free roads...I definitely need to do the same.   This will be a perfect reprieve from my normal fear of being run over by a car while cycling!

All in all, these next 43 days leading up to the IronMan will undoubtedly be filled with stress, but I need to keep looking at the positives and the FUN parts of these workouts!  T-minus 43 days!

Half IronMan CHECK!

I hope this is a somewhat uplifting post after Jessica's unfortunate ending one!  I did my first half IronMan last Sunday in Westchester, NY.  I would say that the race was appropriately called the "Toughman Half" for its extremely hilly bike and run courses!  I know I will have to do twice that amount in all the disciplines for the IronMan, but there is no way that Arizona will be as continuously hilly as the Toughman (or at least I hope not).  Additionally, now that I am a couple days post race, I am buoyed by the fact that I did not end up being too sore after the race.  Tired yes, but sore? Not really anymore that after a big workout.  This does bode well :)

Anyways, the race was great!  It was fun to get a long race in before November.  Now all I have to do is double the distance and we are all set!  The Toughman is a relatively small race, which has a bunch of benefits, one of which is the personal attention you get from the race coordinators.  For example, I am still tickled pink about the fact that my race number HAD MY NAME ON IT and my bike racking place had a nice sticker with my name and number, and said that "all of Bethesda is cheering for me".  Very cute!

One of the great benefits to doing this race was, not only was it a great prep, but it also alerted me to some non-athletic components that I must figure out and take care of before November.  The biggest one was chaffing.  I've never particularly had a problem with it, but then again, I haven't done this long of a race in a tri suit.  I got some terrible chaffing from my timing chip, my sports bra straps, and the pad in the seat of the biking shorts.  I did apply body glide before hand, but it clearly didn't help...good thing that you don't really notice chaffing too much until after the race when all the adrenaline wears off.

What a sweet bike :D

Second problem is storage while I'm biking.  My bike is really sweet and tricked out with tons of hydration holders (which this race confirmed I needed), but it lacks a place to easily store a tool, extra tire, GUs, CO2 cartridge/tool, and tire levers.  I will probably need to get another pouch to add somewhere on my bike...an excuse to invest even more $$ investment into that beautiful, beautiful machine.

My last, but most easily fixed problems, were my transitions.  They were so SLOW!  I suppose this won't matter in the grand scheme of things during my IronMan, and it is more important to have all my things before I start the next section of race (I almost forgot my timing chip during one of my regular triathlons!), but jeebus...bottom third of my division for both my transition times? Hahaha not good.

Overall, this race was great and even though it was a difficult course, I highly recommend it!  T-Minus 65 days until IMAZ!!

So this is where my Ironman journey ends....

I am very sad, frustrated, and angry to say that as of yesterday, after two weeks of emotional roller coaster riding, that this journey is going to be down to one iron sister between now and November.

I was feeling GREAT with training.  I was getting some excellent rides and runs in, and even a few open water swims, and was feeling perfectly on-part fitness wise for where we were in our training brick.  I went to the beach and after a great 60 mile ride and 6 mile run, the next day was a rest day so I was on the beach laying there and enjoying the sand, sun and surf like a normal person, and after riding some waves in on a boogie board and laying there in the sand on my stomach, I swung my right leg around and felt a very pronounced "pop."

I should preface this for those who don't know, but just over ten years ago, I was hit by a car while crossing in a crosswalk and suffered a compound fracture to my lower right leg that involved five surgeries, a rod, some screws, grafts and even a battery to regrow nerve tissue.  I was able to put weight on the leg for the first time six months after the accident, but after I got up and moving/walking, while I was definitely weak, my recovery was fine, and between then and now, I swum three years in college, have run two marathons, and done ten triathlons.  Never any knee problems whatsoever.  Every once and a while, my knee would feel loose and "pop" a bit, but nothing to report, pain wise or swelling wise, with all the miles and miles I have run.

So one can imagine my shock, when, after a preliminary orthopedic visit and an MRI, I get a call from the doctor last night, to say that not only do I have a "bucket tear in my meniscus," where the torn off piece of cartilage is flipped underneath the main piece, but that I ALSO have no ACL.  It's been torn completely in half.  When this happened, I have no idea...what happened on the beach hurt, but not the way I hear a torn ACL is supposed to hurt.  Nor have I noticed anything in the previous ten years! 

So maybe it tore the night I got hit by the car, and what with bones hanging out of my leg and a huge windshield gash in the back of my head, it was never discovered, and obviously I have gotten along fine without it thus far, so I never ever thought to check to see if it somehow wasn't there! Maybe it was one time when I fell playing beach volleyball 4 years ago? I'll never know, and the reality is, it doesn't matter when it happened, just that it did.

The problem now, though, is it will be hard to fix a meniscus without an ACL, nor could I run 26.2 miles anyway on my meniscus as it stands, anyway, so with the recovery time involved to fix these, this is the end of my journey to IMAZ.  I am crushed and disappointed to say the least, but hell, if I could do this much training thus far sans ACL, whenever I do find the right time in my life to take this up again, boy will I be ready, complete with new knee, and everything will be that much sweeter.

 I don't regret anything about this process, as if prior to this whole endeavor beginning in December, one had told me that I could even get through some of the more challenging workouts that I did in the past month, I would have laughed.    And while it will be bittersweet cheering Amanda on in November, I can't wait to be behind her 150%, and then pick her brain about everything she learned on race day when it is eventually my turn.

So this blog will now be a strange combination of Amanda's continuing journey and perhaps the odd update about rehab and surgery, and maybe perhaps when I feel ready to sign up for a new Ironman... I spent all of last evening allowing myself to bawl my eyes out and wallow in self pity, but that is over now.  The only way is forward, and while I am disappointed beyond proper articulation, I know deep down that in the game of life, this is really small potatoes, and that I have the husband, family, and friends I could not have ever dreamed up, as well as the cutest little red dog, which of course, is what's really important.

Big Week of Workouts!

Super long time between posts!  Unfortunately my life has not been as exciting as Jessica's, nor has my life been as exciting as her posts seem to describe, just busy, busy, busy. Leadville, CO was amazing, but for the entire week I felt like I was working out...even though I was just walking.  The biggest perk from that trip was when I got back to DC I felt like I was swimming in excess oxygen, and it felt GREAT!

An EYE OPENING workout!!

Anyways, I unexpectedly had a lot of free time this week...so plenty of time for working out!  I managed to get a workout in everyday, including a double during the week (swam in the morning before classes, did a track workout in the late afternoon).  But by far the culminating workout of the week was yesterday: the dreaded DOUBLE BRICK.  The brick sounds simple: 25 miles biking, then 3 miles running, followed by another 25 miles biking and 3 miles running, but holy schmoly within the first couple miles of the second bike I thought my quads were going to fall off/stop working...and I only had around 25 more miles to go!  I sort of rallied for around 20 miles, i.e no one was passing me, but the last 5 miles were BRUTAL.  I'm pretty sure snails were passing me while I was going up the last big hill and people on mountain bikes were passing me (this is not a knock on mountain biker fitness, they are usually slower because their bikes are a lot heavier), but I made it!  The three miles running wasn't that bad, but I think that's because I have more experience pushing through physical challenges while running and I'm just in better running shape.

This double brick was definitely an eye opener for me regarding my cycling shape...I need to GET TO IT!  In looking forward to our next couple weeks, I do see that there are lots of long bike workouts and I am already mentally preparing myself to get them done.  To give myself motivation (read: to keep me on track), I will make sure to update the blog more :)