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 :)

NYC Triathlon and Altitude Attitude Adjustments!

Long time no write! Between some traveling on both our parts (Amanda is actually still away, but more on that in a moment), there hasn't been much time to write, nor much to write about, training-wise, as it has been pretty consistent thus far, until the past week!
Neither of us has spent much time at altitude...my time has pretty much been limited to assorted ski trips over the years, when I'm too focused on my imminent doom and my pounding heart and a zillion other tings to really worry about something so inconsequential as air. But I took a little "family trip" out to Snowmass/Aspen, CO with the hubs and the hound and while I felt great on the hikes we did (Sasha was SUCH a champ, I can't even properly put it in to words!), when I rented a very nice road bike from the folks at Aspen Velo, I was in for a very rude surprise.

My Everest!

I'll first state the obvious and say that there is no flat riding Aspen/Snowmass.  You're either going up a mountain or down one.  I suppose you could cut across the center of the Roaring Fork Valley, but that's Highway 82 and while the guys at the bike store said it "was totally cool to ride on it," that didn't seem like a very good idea to me, as there were no real shoulders, not on the highway nor the other roads.   And the hills are not hills.  They are mountains.  6-8 mile steady climbs are the norm, and it's literally just up and up, no straights to rest or catch your breath.  And here's where the lungs started to burn, then the legs, and before I got the pass-outs, I would have to pull off the road and de-clip (hard to do when you're already going so damn slow it's hard to stay up as it is), and gasp for air while waving off kindly motorists who were asking if I needed help.  I would get so frustrated that by the end of the week, I almost broke down in tears! It was probably one of the most disheartening moments when it came to IMAZ training thus far, and the downhills didn't help me catch my breath/rest either, because now it is just down and down and down and it's windy and terrifying!

This was about what I felt like on those hills

But I guess that's why the real toughies go train at altitude and really stick it out for a whole season for their bodies to adapt.  It obviously would be possible in a few days, but I did come back feeling stronger and will never ever fear anything I come across out east (at least until I try to tackle Bear Mountain, although at least that is at sea level!!).  My best workout was a 15 mile ride (so basically 7 up and 8 down)) and then I ran about 8 miles back to where we were staying in Snowmass, essentially straight back up the mountain on a trail.  Running was hard as hell, too, but somehow easier to work through than biking, likely because during long uphill spells on which I was super winded, I could slow down to a shuffle and catch my breath, which just isn't possible for me on the bike.  And I could run on the trail too, which helped a lot mentally, too, since I didn't have to worry about cars or see that daunting black stretch of road go up and on and on!

I got back to NYC on Friday and the NYC Triathlon was Sunday, and while I felt a bit wobbly on my Cervelo after a week on a road bike to start, I was quite pleased with my race! I took four minutes off from last year, and though the heat and humidity was pretty insane, I felt really strong on the run and bike, and ironically, I think where I messed up was the swim! I just don't think I was as aggressive as I could have been, and veered around too much instead of holding a better line, and my time could have definitely been a minute or two faster, whoops.  My transitions felt solid (the NYC Tri has about a 600-700 meter barefoot run from the swim exit to transition, so there's 3-4 minutes right there) and I could have been a touch more aggressive on the bike downhills (the course has a lot of rolling hills), but the conditions of the road we bike on can be a bit treacherous (LOADS of divots and potholes and joists and rumble strips) and I didn't want to risk a bust or a flat, and tried to make up for it on any stretch of freshly paved road, flats and uphills.

I got 9th in my age group, yay, and looking at the splits of the other girls (esp the top 3), I'm right on par with them in terms of swim and run (in fact, my run was faster than most) but they're 10 minutes ahead on the bike...still a lot of improvement to be made there!

And now for an update on Miss Amanda.  Speaking of altitude, the 8,000 feet of Snowmass/Aspen is small potatoes compared to where she is: Leadville, Colorado, the second highest city in the entire US, and the staging ground for the infamous Leadville 100 Ultramarathon featured in Born to Run at a nutty 11,000 feet.  Amanda is in Leadville for an Army/field medicine training course that works out the intricacies of field medicine/trauma, etc. at high altitude.  Very badass, and they're doing a lot of bivoucing, etc. so she should have some interesting stories about her experiences upon her return! She isn't going to have any time for any swimming/biking/running, but hiking around in full body armor with her field kit/pack/etc. at 11,000+ feet has got to do more for mental toughness than anything else, not to mention those lungs!

P.S.: while hiking the Rim Trail, we saw Lance Armstrong.  Sasha tried to sniff his mountain bike, and he smiled at us. He was on the phone, so no chance for further dialog.

Today went swimmingly...

I swam a total of 2 miles (3200 yards) today in the pool and 2000 of those yards were just straight swimming.  As I've mentioned before, I'm the black sheep of the family because I got out of the swimming game early (pre-highschool) and decided to pursue sports on land instead.  Since I stopped swimming competitively at such at early age, I'm 99% sure that was the most yardage I've ever swum straight. Not too shabby!  This workout also had the added benefit of being in an outdoor pool, so I managed to get a sweeeeeet one piece tan as well.  

I'm the crazy sheep in more ways than one...

Today was also a fabulous day because I am now fairly certain that I can do both the half iron on September 8th and the actual IronMan on November 17th with my current school schedule for this fall/winter.  I've been angsting about this since I found out that I CAN'T do Age Group National Champs over the summer.  I was super bummed about that, but now that I know I can do the other two races, I'm not as peeved...although I've also had a week to get over being a whiny poop face about it haha.  I'm hoping to do at least one regular triathlon before the season is over so I can attempt to qualify for the Age Group National Championship race again (and hope that I can do it in 2014), but we shall see!

And lastly, I only have one more week as a first year medical student! First year went by so fast and the speed of these past few months can be attributed to my training.  It definitely kept me sane and has helped my focus while studying.  So, while training can sometimes be boring, or painful, or tiring/exhausting, or scary (at least when I'm biking), etc. and many people tell me I'm crazy for not only doing an IronMan, but also doing it during medical school, I'm really glad I have committed to doing IMAZ.   144 days and counting!!