Whirlwind

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since the last time I updated the blog. I can’t believe it has been almost 2 weeks since my last writing adventure, but life had me busy. Deadlines, responsibilities, duties, you name it I had it. It’s not that I did not have any fun in the past week and a half, but everything went by so quickly! Let me recap the important events that had my head in a daze of sorts these past couple of days.

Last week was spent amidst preparations to my trip to Panama City Beach. You would have thought I was racing IMFL if you had seen the lists I made. Stuff that needed to get done; things that I needed to pack; phone numbers of people I was intending to meet; countless emails and plans on how to spend the 2 ½ days I was going to be away. All much fun, once you realize that you are doing this because you WANT to and not because you have to.

On my to do list for Thursday was the much anticipated run test. You know how it goes… You warm up for 20 minutes and then you run your booty off for 20 minutes, all while wearing a HR monitor to see what your cuore (I think that is Italian for heart) decides to do. Oh yes, and you can’t eat for 3 hours prior to the thing. I don’t know what is harder: the test or being at work in the morning starving already (mind you just 1 hour after breakfast) waiting for the dang test, only to realize you had forgotten about the stupid meeting that is taking place on the time slot you had planned to go to the gym. Anyhow, after said meeting I went to the gym, and let me tell you… a GU never tasted so good and hit the spot as nicely as the one I was allowed to down before the test.

I got on the ‘mill of dread (or Dready like I call it), and started turning my legs over and over. Warm up: check. Reset HR monitor: check. Set Dreadmill incline: check. The test itself was uneventful. I think I must have looked funny to a whole bunch of people since after running hard for 20 minutes, I basically got off Dready and stood still for a minute with a pen and paper in hand to write some all important numbers that coach wanted to know about. When that was all done, I jumped back on the machine and did my cool down. Now that I think about it, I did get some weird looks… Oh well. After shooting an email with the “magic” numbers to coach she replied saying that I had had huge improvements. Not exactly in the form of speed (which is the kind of improvement I like the most) but in the form of overall fitness. Apparently whatever it is we are doing, it’s working like it’s supposed to. Have I mentioned how glad I am to have the coach that I have?? She keeps me focused, gives me the best workouts and just plain rocks. If you are considering a coach, you NEED to give HER a try; once you experience what I have, you will be a believer!

The rest of Thursday went by without a hitch. When I got home from work I packed the bag (and a small one at that) for my Friday trip, had dinner with Megan, did some extra work and after Todd got home from the airport I went to bed. I slept quite well, but I think I was up before the alarm went off. I did my morning routine, shower, breakfast, coffee; and after leaving everything organized for the weekend Todd dropped me off at the airport. I got on a plane to Fort Walton Beach, FL; where I rented a car and drove to PCB. I drove for what seemed like forever and finally arrived at the hotel, the glorious Days Inn. I checked in, changed into lighter clothes and I went to the race expo (just it case you did not guess it by now, I went to spectate/volunteer at IMFL). Holy Bikes Batman! The place was spectacular and a bit overwhelming. I mean, seriously, there must have been at least 4 million dollars worth of bike equipment in that transition area…. The place was buzzing full of people; athletes, spectators, vendors, volunteers. I had never been to a race this big before and was surprised at the level of organization that it seemed to have. Of course I hit the merchandise tent, and after drooling over a whole bunch of apparel and Mdot stuff, I retreated back to the Days Inn.

That is when I got in touch with Mary. We met at the beach and I was able to hang out with her and Luc (her son). We built some sand volcanoes and even saw them erupt clear lava (ocean water); you should have been there it was pretty spectacular. We even buried a giggling Luc in the sand! 4.30 was my cue to go, and as Cinderella would have done I left the beach to head to the volunteer meeting. At this point I was starting to get a massive headache. I did a really poor job at hydrating that day, and my migraine reminded me of the mistake for the remainder of the day. I stayed as focused as I could and after getting my wrist band I left to go get some food and migraine medicine.

I woke up on Saturday and I was ready to roll! Mary was kind enough to drop me off close to the race site so I could do my volunteering duties. I had picked and was assigned to the women’s changing tent. After checking in and getting my t-shirt I headed over to the swim start. It was a bit chilly, but the ocean looked beautiful. After a few minutes, the canon went off and the athletes hit the water. What a sight! The calm blue water turned white and a sea of colored swim caps started moving towards the horizon. As the pros finished their first lap and headed in for the second one I walked to transition. I wanted to make sure I was on the tent with plenty of time before the first few people started arriving. We got debriefed once more by our “team leader” and within a few minutes the first pros started coming in. I was able to help a couple of them, and let’s just say that not all of them are nice. We got some thank you’s but we also got yelled at.

The age groupers were a different story. At first they were coming about 2 at a time, spaced out nicely and all. I was helping a lady put on her socks and shoes and when I looked up, the place was packed! There was literally no room for us to even help anyone. I limited myself to unpacking and packing transition bags. When things slowed down a bit I was able to help some of the latecomers and got some of the most heartfelt thanks I heard. One lady even called me her “angel” and gave me a hug. It felt mighty good.

After the last participant was out of T1, my duties for the day were done and I headed back out to meet with Mary and Luc. We had breakfast and went to the hotel to rest a bit. At around noon we headed out to the Memphis House. Mary and Luc were going straight there and I hit the merchandise tent one more time to get Megan a cute t-shirt that says “My Mommy is a Triathlete”. That is when I met Marit. She helped me find the right size tee for my little munchkin and I helped her find some things she needed. After our shopping was done, we jumped on Marit’s bikes (she brought both of them so I could borrow one. Thanks Marit!) and headed out the run course. We found the house no problem… Picture this… a whole bunch of girls in sexy costumes, playing loud music and dancing to the beat. We met Laura and a whole bunch of her Memphis friends ( I am sorry I can’t remember the names). We cheered on the athletes, hung out by the pool with Mary and Luc; we saw Curt (Mary’s hubby) go by and even managed to take some pics. Marit and I rode some of the run course and then we all headed to the finish line.

We were there all of 10 minutes when we saw Curt come in. He finished the race in 9:55 and what ensued afterwards was wonderful. The excitement on Mary and Curt’s face after realizing the feat he had just accomplished. It was beautiful to witness how they didn’t even need words to connect; to know what each other was feeling/thinking. Beautiful, I tell you. Behind my sunglasses, I cried. Marit, Laura and I decided to give the Eggers' some alone family time and headed over to the second lap turn around. That is when we saw Damie make her turn and Joy head for the finish. We hung out for a couple more minutes and then found Mary and Luc again.

That night we did dinner at Dirty Dick’s and went back to the hotel. Marit and I had a nice talk, and it was great to get to know her better. By the time 10:30 rolled around I was toast and went to sleep.

The following morning I woke up before the alarm went off. I changed and headed over to the race site, yet again. This time, to start my own journey. I signed up for IMFL’09. Yes, my bloggy peeps, in exactly one year, I will be toeing the line at my first Ironman. I still find it hard to believe sometimes. Me, an Ironman. Ha!

Sunday went by too quickly. After swimming in the ocean with Marit and Mary (THANK YOU both for taking the time to show me things and for your words of encouragement) it was finally time to head back home. We said goodbye to Mary, Curt and Luc; and after a quick shower we were out of the hotel and on our way home.

It was an incredibly intense weekend. The whole race setting was inspiring; not to mention the people…The camaraderie, the ability to strike conversation with anyone and being able to share experiences and tips, making friends. It was all great. When I got home I was beaming with excitement, I am still floating on air and I have been back for 5 days now.

Next year will be exciting, challenging, short and long at the same time. It will be full of achievements, goals, disappointments, sweat and maybe even tears. Whatever it is the training will bring me, I am ready to accept it with open arms. I am ready to give it my all and aim high for my dream. Here I go.

Yadda, Yadda, Yadda

Not much to report around here. I am still in the “easy” recovery mode. I took last week completely off and had the green light to eat junk food galore. It is amazing how your body changes and how much you care about those changes. Believe me my friends when I tell you I tried to eat junk food, but nothing looked super appealing. Yes, I partook on my fair share of chocolate, cookies and ice cream; and while those could be considered junk food; they don’t exactly fall in my description on “junk” (burgers, fries, pizza, etc). They are just sweet tasty treats J

It took my body about 3 days to quit being sore. I originally thought I’d be much more uncomfortable, in a lot more “pain”; but was pleasantly surprised when that was not the case. I think it would be safe to say that after about 4 days I felt normal again… And then I tried to play chase with Megan… I literally took 4 strides and the body said: “Oh no, you didn’t”. As coach has said to me MANY times, recovery is important and I am making sure my body is fully back to being functional before I resume the schedule.

This week I have been slowly adding some workouts here and there. I went for a swim on Monday and even though the water felt cold when I got in (I was seriously considering swimming in the warm pool because I did not want to face the cold water); it was a nice relaxing swim. Yes, you read that right. I said relaxing. In my world, relaxing and swimming don’t mix often; but I guess there is always an exception to the rule, right? On Tuesday I ventured into doing some strength training with my husband’s P90X workouts. I have not touched a weight in months and I reached for the standard 5lb dumbbell that is usually heavy enough to make me hurt after the first 8 reps. Lo and behold: they were too light! I guess the swimming is really helping out my arm muscles after all! Yesterday I got up early and went for an easy run. It was short, a mere 2 miles; but it felt great! I am really looking forward to running more this winter. I want to get faster and more efficient.

I have signed up for a fall ½ marathon here in town and I am hoping that with proper training I will be able to set a new PR. What is that going to be? Not sure. I’d like to aim for less than 2 hours but I am not able to tell right now since I haven’t even started training and coach is away at Kona so we really have not chatted much about it.

I have also been busy scheduling doctor’s appointments and checkups. Not that there is anything wrong with me, but there were some things that I knew needed my attention; so I am taking care of them now. One of them was a visit to the dermatologist. I have a couple of moles I was concerned about; and since this sport has us being exposed to so much sunlight I decided that it is a good precautionary measure to add a visit to the specialist once a year; just to make sure everything is in order. By the way, my moles turned out to be just that: moles. Nothing to worry about. Exactly what I wanted to hear.

I started thinking about my season next year and toying around with what races I’d like to do. Some of you might have already read it on FB; but I made a HUGE decision. This November I am going to Panama City Beach, FL to volunteer at IM… The day after, I am signing up for IMFL’09! To this day, it still surprises me that I am even thinking about Ironman. I remember when it seemed so far fetched a mere 3 seasons ago; and now I feel like I am SO ready.

Husband and I have discussed multiple times about the commitment this will be for all of us as a family unit; and he keeps reiterating that he supports me 100%. I have even showed him some of the posts coach put on her blog about her personal experience with IM. He is still on board. And I am psyched!

Besides the BIG race, I will also be doing two half Iron events; a local one and then Augusta 70.3 with Muppetdog, and maybe some sprints (have not decided on those yet). For now, I am focusing on the Off season and becoming lean and mean. This november I am supposed to "Become a swimmer" in Liz's words... I will let you know when and if that happens. Right now, I am off to enjoy some homemade food (that reminds me of Home with my mom and dad) made by yours truly. Catch you later.

PS: Hola Mamma! Te extranio!

Volunteering and the ride from hell.

After the tri last weekend, my body was pretty trashed during the first part of the week. Getting up to do my workouts required a lot of mental strength. But I got through them and by friday I was feeling pretty good.

Until I went on my 1:20 run. I had not run that long in forever, so it was actually nice. Even though it was humid and very sticky, I managed to keep a nice pace while keeping my HR in Z2 as Coach wanted me to do. There were some times where I'd have to walk to keep HR down, and that made me a bit mad.  This HR training is definitely not easy for me, because I like going fast; but I have already noticed improvement in my running ability so I will suck it up and keep doing it.

Yesterday I volunteered at a local tri. My duties included body marking and then being in the run course, at a turn (more as a one person cheering squad than a course "marker").

Body marking was interesting, I got to see up close a whole bunch of different people: men, women, young, old, first timers, elites. I managed to make some of them laugh, was scared of some others. There was one particular gal that I remember quite vividly. I marked her number and then asked what race category she was racing in, she replied Athena. I had to do a double take... "Athena? you don't look like an Athena"-- "Thank you, I had gastric Bypass surgery and the skin is what makes me be over 150 lbs"--- "Well, you look great"-- "Thank you". Talk about turning your life around 180 degrees. Impressed, to say the least. I was also pleasantly surprised at people thanking me for volunteering and for being there. Always nice and something that i will definitely do when I race.. Now that I have been on the other side, I know how good it feels to be recognized for the good things you do. What goes around comes around, right?

After body marking for about an hour, they took us out on the run course. They put me in a spot where the road split in 2, to make sure that people took the correct path... even though there was a sign with an arrow. I saw the elites go by, riding their disc wheels... (love the sound). This was a sprint, so within the hour those first runners where going past me. I did not cheer for the elite people... I found that they do not like it very much... as if it breaks their concentration or something. A short while after the elites came by, everybody else started showing up as well. Let me say, I need a new set of hands and a brad new set of vocal cords. Towards the end, when the runners were coming every few minutes, I would run out to them; and join them for a few yards giving them words of encouragement, or simply talking if they wanted to. I am embarrassed to say that this felt good for 2 reasons: being able to help them keep going; and moving my legs!!!! After standing up for so long it felt great to actually run/jog some.

The last guy came by, and it turns out that with about 7 miles to go on the bike; his bike broke. So he got off it and ran with it, barefoot, to transition (7 mi) put on his running shoes and did the 5k. And finished, last but he crossed the finish line. Human willpower at its best.

After the race was over I went to do my 2:30 ride that coach had put on my schedule. I loaded my water bottles with accelerade, got my food on the bento box and off I went. It was 11 am.

I was too keep HR in Z2 for most of the ride and then let it go to zone 3 when climbing or riding into the wind. Well, as I have said before, Charlotte is like a constant hill. Needless to say, I had a tough time keeping my HR low. I also struggled with going slow. I do not like it. 

About 1:30 hours into the ride; I was ready to get off my bike. My lady parts hurt quite a bit, my legs were complaining (I would too if I had been forced to sustain the body weight for 5.5 hrs straight) and I had miserably failed the task at hand of keeping my HR in check. Oh, yeah... I had also fallen of the bike in the most stupid way possible, so my left leg and but cheek have some nice bruises that make me tough. With about 45 mins to go I finally talked myself into letting go of the speed. Get aero, keep cadence and just HTFU. The last part of the ride was better. I kept my effort constant, and made my legs shut up. 

I did pretty well with my nutrition, or so I thought until I got off the bike... That's when my stomach dropped. Coach thinks it's because maybe my stomach can't handle the whey protein in accelerade, and suggested I tried other sports drinks. 

I wanted to ask you guys, what has worked for you?