An Intentional Act.

It’s been very quiet on this space since Raleigh.

Maybe you noticed, maybe you didn’t.

Either way, I’ve been quiet. I’ve been trying to sort through my thoughts around the race I had in North Carolina. To assess what went well and what did not. I’ve been trying to recover and ramp up my training again. I’ve been swimming, biking, running. And I’ve also had a small injury which I have dealt with and that I hope is mostly behind me now.

I’ve been slapped upside the face with the reality that Ironman is barreling down the pipe and will be here before I know it.

I’ve realized HOW HARD this endeavor truly is. There is no escaping it, Ironman is a difficult race, no matter how much training you put in. You have to earn each stroke of the 2.4 mile swim, each peddle of the 112 mile bike and each step of that 26.2 mile run. And even if you put in all the training and work behind each event that you possibly can (while balancing your normal/non ironman life), you still have the nutrition and hydration factor to balance – oh so carefully – during the course of the training and the actual race day. As it turns out,140.6 miles doesn’t come easy. 140.6 miles is a very intentional act.

Here I sit 34 days from the event, the nerves are setting in. I sprained my wrist so swimming has been not so great the past 2 weeks. On top of the wrist, I’ve biked the course in Lake Placid the past two weekends and finally come to terms that my bike seat just isn’t working for me. Leaving me essentially 2 weeks to figure that situation out. Oh, and it’s become clear that I need more practice on hills. Much more practice. Ugh. Finally, the running. Oh the running. We’ve been careful with my running since I was injured last fall with my calf muscle bringing my racing season to a screeching halt. As of 2 weeks ago, I had not run more than 13 miles but have increased up to 14 and 15 these past two weeks. Hopefully I will get at least one 17 or 18 mile run in before race day.

Ok, well now I have that out of my system and into the universe. The world can take my worries and let them disperse. I know that there is not a whole lot left I can do training wise at this point to propel me across that finish line. At this point it’s more about listening to my body, focusing on nutrition and working on my mental strength to get me through. 

July 26th is going to be one for the books. No matter what happens. All I know, is that I have not come this far to not give it my all. 

140.6 miles is an intentional act.

So, what have I been up to these past 3 weeks?

Weekly workouts//

Week of June 1: Recovery Week, post Raleigh 

• Monday – 20 min Recovery Swim (hotel pool, Kansas City)
• Tuesday – 30 min Recovery Swim (hotel pool, Kansas City)
• Wednesday – 40 min Recovery Bike (hotel gym, Chicago)
• Thursday – 30 min Run (hotel gym, Chicago)
• Friday – 2200 yd recovery swim
• Saturday – 2 hour bike
• Sunday – 1 hour run

Week of June 8: Lake Placid Training Camp Fri-Sun

• Monday – 3600 swim ladder (attempted with injury, not great…)
• Tuesday – rest day
• Wednesday – brick: 90 min bike, 30 min run
• Thursday – 45 minute Base Run 
• Friday – (#1) swim 2.5 miles in Mirror Lake, (#2) 32 mile bike – including biking up Whiteface Mountain Road… 
• Saturday – (#1) Bike 110 miles (I skipped the out and back, ran into a few issues on lap 2…) and (#2) run 3 miles (was dehydrated at had to cut my run short 
• Sunday – (#1) Bike 56 miles and (#2) run 14.5 miles

…. Yes, we bikes 200 miles on the LP bike course over 3 days. And yes, this course is no joke. One loop is such a different story than 2 consecutive loops. Hello hills. 

Week of June 15:

• Monday – Rest day
• Tuesday – Sports massage for recovery 
• Wednesday – Swim 4200 yards
• Thursday – 50 min Tempo Run
• Friday – plan to swim 3200, got out after 1300 – couldn’t hold anything remotely close to my normal pace, so I listened to my body and stopped… 
• Saturday – back to LP, biked 115 miles and ran 4.5
• Sunday – ran 15.5 miles in the heat & humidity… Not my favorite run of recent memory. 

Total miles? A lot. Since I’m actually typing this post from my phone, I’m feeling too lazy to put together the math right now. 🙂

I’m definitely into the “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” part of Ironman training. 

Only a couple weeks left, and I’m determined to stay positive and optimistic about this. (And for my friends and family’s sake, I’ll try to keep the complaints to a minimum. I am still aware that I chose to do this of my own free will AND that I actually paid to enter this event.)

Now, for the fun part, the photo recap (or what I actually stopped to take a moment to capture…) 

Kid President is the best. 

My newest addition while biking. Bonk Breaker Salted Caramel. Yum! 
Yes! Next winter’s running adventure with my Mom and sister!!

So much wisdom. Life truly is too short and if I’ve realized nothing else during the pat year it’s that I spent too much time with people too concerned with how they are viewed by others. 

 

Volunteering at the Hudson Crossing Triathlon.

 

Oh yea, I turned another year older 🙂 loved this from my friend Kim! 

Sprained wrist = 3 to 6 weeks with this training partner. (I give this about 2 weeks, then hopefully we’re moving on.) 

Getting ready to celebrate a new baby! 🙂 

Our Friday bike of Lake Placid training weekend… Check out that climb up whiteface. Glad we only went up about 3 miles of the 12 mile road!! 

 Bike course elevation for LP. A bit overwhelming… And leaving me wishing I had found more hills to train on… 

5:30 am. My favorite time of day. So peaceful, fresh & new.

Betty Designs secret swap! Looks like my Betty had help decorating the box! 

And apparently chocolate doesn’t like traveling across the country. 

But these spoons were so cute!! 

Biking in LP… At the out & back in Ausable. Probably my least favorite part of the course… 

Still fine tuning my hydration set up. Taking in the right amount of fluid is turning out to be one of the hardest things for me to balance. So frustrating. 

Heading back into Wilmington – last true decent on the course before the 13+ miles of climbing into Lake Placid. 

In retrospect, I probably could have picked a flatter Ironman course to tackle, but there will be no question that I earned my medal once I cross that line on July 26th. 

This will be the most concentrated effort that I’ve ever had to put forth to achieve something in my life. This journey has taught me a lot and I believe has so much more to teach me before I cross that finish line. 

Thank you to everyone that has supported me and continues to support me along this road that I’m taking. It truly takes a village to achieve something like this and I couldn’t do it without each and everyone of my friends and family cheering me on. 

140.6 miles. It’s an intentional act. 

Time is not on my side.

It appears that I’m going to have a lot more time on my hands. (a.k.a. When life doesn’t go as planned… ) 

Time… is (not) on my side… 

In my last post, I was talking about how running is hard – and how I was struggling adding miles to my long runs. I guess this may be a lesson in being careful what you say… Last Wednesday I set out to do a speed workout and as I finished up my warm up, only 1 mile into my run my calf completely seized/locked up. Not wanting to do lasting damage I walked for about 1/2 mile, and arrived at my local track to see if I could finish up my workout on a more forgiving surface. A few hundred feet later it was clear that my workout was over before it really had even started. Whomp whomp… 

Thursday I had a power workout on my bike, my calf was feeling a bit better, so I decided to go for it. While not extremely painful, it was not completely pain free either. Due to this, I cut my workout short and ended after an hour. After talking with my coach, we decided it was time for me to see a specialist as I’ve had minor calf issues all season. 

Enter the pain chamber. 

By Friday afternoon I was in to see the doctor that sponsors our team, and to get some work done. I had the pleasure of experiencing the pain of Graston (scraping) first hand. Holy crap. The short version of the story, no workout on Friday post this session. I managed an easy bike on Saturday, with the hopes of running Sunday. The plan for Sunday was a long run, and I headed to the trails to try and find a softer surface for my aching legs. I walked for my warm-up in hopes I could ease into the long run (planned 18+ miles) and again, half a mile in, it was clear things were not going well. Half a mile later, I realized the run just was not going to happen. 

Monday brought session #2 with the doctor and an entire new level of pain that I have never experienced. To provide the full disclosure on this, the session was all of 10-15 minutes, I jumped in the car and immediately realized that I was going to be sick and/or faint. I spent the next 15 minutes pulled off to the side of Brighton Ave (luckily on the nicer part of the street). Fun times living in a city without family around to help bring you to the doctors. Also, fun way to start my day and week… 

After this session, which the doctor told me was much more aggressive than normal (because we’re trying to see if I can still race this weekend in Lake George) I was so sore. Thankfully my coworker gave me some pain killers to help me get through the day, since I signed up to volunteer at the State Fair and had to spend most of the day on my feet. 

Now, I have another session with the doctor on Tuesday and I am still hoping for a miracle – that all this pain will be worth it and I’ll still be able to race this weekend.

Fingers Crossed. But realistically, I’m highly skeptical that I will be able to. And if I do, it’s probably going to mean no marathon on September 28th… now I’m wishing I had a few more weeks for some R&R so I could still do all these events and not watch my entry fees just go down the drain. Hence, time is not on my side… 

Anyhow, time for the weekly wrap up. 

Weekly Workouts//  

Was looking forward to getting back at it after being sick for the prior few weeks, but due to injury I only had 3 days of workouts before being sidelined again. Ugh! 

• Monday – Rest Day.
• Tuesday – 2100 yard swim with speed – it’s been a while, and my times showed it! 
• Wednesday – 5×1 Mile Repeats – Injury stops me after a little over a mile… 
• Thursday – Bike – 3/4/5 Power Intervals – 90 minute workout paired back to 60 minutes… 
• Friday – 50 Minute Base Run  Rest Day – Cancelled Workout
• Saturday – 2:30 Brick with Speed work – Changed to 2:30 Easy Bike
• Sunday – Endurance Run – 18 Miles – No go, Injury leads to a lot of walking and only a mile of running… 

Weekly Totals//

• Total Time – 4 Hours, 30 minutes of the scheduled 9 hours and 40 minutes. Not exactly what I had in mind. 

Weekly Photo Recap// (aka random phone photo dump)

The pups soaking up the sun. Taking it all in because Fall will be here oh so soon. 

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge – We had a group at work take on the challenge and dedicate it to a past coworker who passed from this terrible disease. 

Yum!  Love to cook… 

 

AMEN. We all need more high fives! 

So my friend got a new puppy. How adorable is he?! We decided a puppy play date was needed ASAP! 

Roxie discovered a toy with squeaker still in tact – she quickly fixed the situation at hand. 

Some for fun reading. Left me feeling like I need to read it again. 

Rox is still working on her hiding skills. 

 

New trail runners!  LOVE getting new sneakers – especially really comfy ones! 

 

And a few days later… puppy play date! 

 

 

 

 

How cute are these guys?! Although, oddly enough, they really didn’t understand the whole play date thing. Rox was sad that our guests just wanted to play with the toys and not with her! 

 

 

 

Attempts to run on Sunday… while discouraged with my body – at least it was a nice day for a walk…? 

Sunday Funday – Dogs day out.

Part 1 – Chillin in the park. 

Part 2 – New Toys! 

The sign of a good weekend – both dogs passed out by 6 pm… and yes, Rox stole Bronco’s bed.

 

What did you do this weekend? 

Do anything fun?! 

It’s Ragnar Week!

Yep, it’s finally here – Ragnar Cape Cod is happening this week!!  We’re heading out this morning for the Cape & assembling the team tonight for a 9 am start tomorrow!

But first, a quick recap of this week for everyone…  this week was a slow week for the training due to Ragnar Relay coming up, and the fact that I am still nursing an injury from Seneca 7.  Yes, I’m finally admitting it and telling you all that I strained my calf muscle in my left leg during the Seneca 7.  This is why I took a few days before I recapped the race on the blog – I was pretty bummed that I had such an amazing day but came out of it with a slight injury.  Last week I couldn’t run at all, but was able to bike and swim.  This week things have felt a bit better but I am still not 100%.  To get me through the race, my coach is reccommending the use of KT Tape.  I’ve never used this stuff, and I’ve always been a skeptic of it, but at this point – I’m willing to try anything since rolling and stretching is not doing the trick.

My KT Tape – Praying for a miracle.

My friend RB taped me up Monday for my meet up with some running friends where I did do some minor jogging and I was able to play kickball Tuesday – so things are looking up, and I have my fingers crossed for my 19.9 miles in Ragnar this Friday & Saturday!

Ready for kickball. Intimidation Socks.

Running Friends – cheering on a kickball team. Yes there is a Yedi with us… that is not your imagination.

After kickball Tuesday, I met up with SD for a swim at one of the city school pools.  SD had texted me and forewarned me that the pool was “like a sauna”.  I had to say, I thought she was kidding since this pool is about 60 degrees and we typically freeze, but she did not tell a lie.  I walked in the door and the air was stifling. When we jumped in the pool, it was even worse.  The temp was 87 degrees!  All I can say is that I only got half my workout in before I had to call it quits and I am now officially ready for a tri in the tropics!

Last night, I went to the Bike Loft North for a bike fit.  After last Saturday, it was painfully (and I mean really painful) obvious that I needed an adjustment to my bike fit and a new seat for my ride.  When I took my bike in, there was good news and bad news… apparently I was fit to my bike in a perfect aero position which professionals will ride – great news right?  Well, only if you can actually hold that aggressive position the entire time you ride, which I cannot at this point. The good news is that we can adjust the position.  The bad news is that we have to order parts for my bike which the shop didn’t have.  So, I’ll be heading back for my actual fitting once they can get the parts in.  So I guess it’s a “stay tuned” to see how this all works out over the next few weeks.  I’m kinda hoping for a miracle to get my bike fit complete before the Duathlon next weekend…

Finally, it will likely be a few days before I get a post-Ragnar post up, but in the meantime, if you are curious to what our team is up to – we’re going to be live blogging our way from Hull to Provincetown here: http://runningcapes.blogspot.com/

I’m so pumped to head out to the Cape & get our Ragnar on – fun times ahead!

Only 191.8 Miles until we Crush the Cape!

The official start to the season…

This weekend was beautiful! Spring is just around the corner and I for one, cannot wait!! I’m sick of my indoor biking and running!

I managed to go out on Saturday and run 4.5 miles without much trouble, although I must admit, I am NOT in the best running shape… got some work to do before May 2nd!

Sunday I went back out with the hope of running the same loop again near my parents house, but the combo of back to back runs plus the fact that my sock was too thin and I was getting a blister did not let me reach my goal… The wind didn’t help much either. In the end the run was more like 3 – 3.5 miles in length which is still decent overall. I was so worried about re-injuring myself that I really couldn’t enjoy the run much. Hopefully my workout tonight will be better!

Ahh swimming…

I really love swimming, it’s such a tough workout, but SO rewarding. And it gives me lots of time to just block out everything that’s going on during the rest of my day!!

So, update on the TRI schedule. I got shut out of Green Lakes – stupid YMCA preference, or I would actually categorize as discrimination… allowing YMCA members first dibs on race slots only allowed for 80 non YMCA members to enter. Frustrating.

NOW I am signed up for the North Country TRI June 26th in Hague NY. I’m a little apprehensive about how cold the water is going to be… and I also read a quote from last year’s sprint-distance winner that is was the hardest sprint bike course she’d ever ridden. I’m definitely going to have to go up there and check out the race course ahead of time.

On other related news topics, my knee is still irritated by running and the elliptical. I’m getting slightly worried about how everything is going to pull together here this spring.