T-Minus 2 Weeks and Counting

It's less that 2 weeks till race day and only 4 days till we leave! YEEHAAAA! I can't BELIEVE it's already here. HOLY CRAP. We were up at the Cadman's this weekend and I did 2 open water swims with no real panic attacks at all. In fact, I was feeling pretty good. We practiced starting in a group, with some pushing and grabbing, I practiced sighting and I was pretty impressed with myself as I managed to sight quite well. I haven't really thought about goals much over the course of my training, I've just sort of gone through the motions and done the work. On the drive up to the cottage, Gary told me I should think about a goal; think about what I'd be happy with. So, I thought about a swim time that would make me happy and I figured 1:10-1:15. A 1:15 swim would mean that I dawdled a bit and a 1:10 swim would mean I got in there and found a good pair of feet to draft off of. T1 should be no more than 7-8 minutes. I won't be changing into anything, I'll just be adding chamois cream and body glide so I should be able to get through pretty quick. If I look back to 2 weeks ago at my 175km bike, I did that in just under 6.5 hours. Come race day with fresh, rested legs & race wheels, I am hoping that I can actually pull off a 6:30 bike for the full 180. That would be ideal. An amazing day would be a 6:20 bike. But let's say 6:30. T2 should also be pretty quick as I won't be changing either. Just getting into my running shoes and putting on my visor. 5 minutes maybe? As for the marathon, my main goal is to run the entire thing. Where that gets me, I don't know. In LP I ran a 4:32 marathon and that was with a fair bit of walking. If I can manage to actually RUN the entire marathon I should be closer to 4 hours. That would make me REALLY happy. So if I say a 1:15 swim, 15 minutes TOTAL for transitions, a 6:30 bike and a 4 hour marathon, I'd be looking at 12 hours. That would be AWESOME. I'd be happy with anything between 12:00-12:30. I think the fact that Sue will be out on the course will push me to keep going. She will have about 5-10 minutes on me in the swim for sure and I'm not sure how much I'll be able to reel her in on the bike. My only hope is the run which will be motivation enough for me to keep running.

So Much to Do So Little Time

I don't remember being this scattered & pressed for time when I trained for my last Ironman. I have been so busy lately I've hardly had time to do anything around the house except for laundry. It doesn't help that we've been away for the last 2 weekends. Last weekend we were up at the Cadmans to do our ride and then race the Muskoka long course. What a weekend. We did a 150km ride on the Saturday and then we raced on Sunday. They changed the course in Muskoka and it is WAY harder than when I did it. Holy smokes. I gave it my all on the bike course but still managed to pull off an ok run. I had a crappy swim but so did everyone else. The buoys were off and there was a current in the channel as well. I swam 44:00 minutes for 2km, which is brutal considering I'm a much better swimmer than I was when I did that race. Gary and Sue both had slow swims too (40 minutes each). Sue had a faster bike than me by 30 seconds and that was WITH her dropping her chain 3 times. She's gotten really strong on the bike. I think she may even be faster than me! If she wasn't injured I don't know if I would have been able to run her down. It might have been close. I was 14 minutes slower this year than in 2004. Slower in everything except my transitions. I owe my speedier T1 time to my fancy new wetsuit. It came off so easily it was awesome. I was pretty tired by the end of the weekend. This weekend was our last big weekend so we went back up to the Cadmans cottage again. Sue had a 6:30-6:45 ride followed by a 1 hour run. We rode 6:28 and covered 175km. We had an AWESOME ride. I had a bit of a meltdown between hours 4 and 5, I couldn't get comfortable and I was starting to feel really tired. I have been fighting a cold and I had to take a Tylenol cold & Flu before the ride. Luckily Gary and Rick came back to check on us and Gary pulled me back to Sue. I had a little break at the gas station and got my wind back. We pushed the pace on the way home. We were getting ready to head out on our run when the thunder and lighting started so, we didn't run. Too bad, I was actually looking forward to it.
Today I had a 3 hour run which I did out at Guelph Lake. I went out there to watch Rebecca do her first Olympic distance Triathlon. It was muggy and I thought it was going to rain but the sun ended up coming out. Of course I didn't put sunscreen on so I totally fried. I had forgotten just how hilly that bike course was. I killed my legs. That was one really tough run. I covered 32km in 3 hours and my average heart rate was 155 which is high for for the pace I was running. My legs are TOTALLY killing me now. I had to take an ice bath and take some Endurox. Hopefully I'll be able to walk around tomorrow. But, the hardest part is over. Now it's TAPER TIME!

One Expensive T-shirt

This weekend marks the second time this year I have entered a race and not been able to do it. The first race was Victoria's Du which I couldn't do because of a pinched nerve in my neck. This time, I strained a quad muscle; my vastus medialis to be exact. I am not sure how I did it, but it happened at some point on my 6+ hour ride yesterday. It was about the 4 hour mark when I noticed it and it got progressively worse. Almost to the point where I didn't think I'd make it back to the car. I thought it was my knee so I was really upset. I could barely walk after I got off the bike.

Stupid Tan Lines and Other Musings

My body took a beating this weekend. Partially due to my stupidity but mostly due to Mother Nature. I had a 5 hour + 40 minute run off the bike on Saturday. We rode out in Bolton / Caledon which is REALLY hilly. There are very few flats on the ride that we do. To top it off, it was REALLY windy. And the wind didn't seem to be coming from one particular direction. It was almost like it was circular. No matter where we turned we had it in our face. There were a *few* (ok maybe 2) times on the entire ride where the wind seemed to be kind of at our back. Holy crap. My heart rate was well above where it should be. I think my average heart rate was about 152. I should be about 145. I started to fall apart half way through the ride and I didn't think I was going to make it back to the car. Miraculously, I started to feel better on the way back. My goal this week was to make sure I ate enough on the bike. I thought that I did, but, once again, I don't think I ate enough to take me through a marathon. I had to do a 40 minute run off the bike and 30 minutes in, I was STARVING. I also didn't put any sunscreen on so I managed to get some great tan lines on my legs - I should actually say burn marks because I got totally singed. I also managed to garner some spectacular red blotches on my arms - I wore a cap sleeve jersey and arm warmers but my arm warmers didn't meet my sleeves so I had some exposed skin. I now have to very attractive and seemingly random red patches on my arms. I'm not sure how I'm going to even these ones out.

I also took the plunge and bought myself a new wetsuit. Crap. All I can say is that I better be faster with this baby. It cost me $600! I'm hoping there's some kind of jet propulsion somewhere, because that would just make things a whole lot easier. It's a 2XU wet suit with "rollbar technology". Supposed to help me roll a little better in the water. We'll see about that in a few weeks time. The best part about this suit is that I seem to be able to get it off my calves with minimal effort, which is MAJOR. I don't want a repeat of my first ever transition at Muskoka (4+ minutes I think). I'll get to take it for a test spin in a couple of weeks since I'm racing the Muskoka long course. WOOOHOOOO!

Warranty Expired

Less than 2 months to go and I am totally falling apart. I thought I had solved my foot issues but now some different pain has manifested in my bunion. My running is suffering big time; I've gotten a lot slower and I can't seem to physically manage getting through a long run without feeling a LOT of pain & fatigue in my legs. I've done one long really long run so far and that was 2 hours about 2 months ago! I was supposed to run 2 hours today but I couldn't do it. Mainly because I pinched a nerve in my neck / shoulder so I could barely swing my arms. Now, I'm a LOT of pain, I can't even turn my head to the right, nor can I move my head forward so I'm not really sure how I'm going to race tomorrow. I've signed up to do Victoria's Du, a 4km run, 25km bike and 4 km run but if I"m still like this tomorrow I won't be able to race. The last month has been very frustrating. Work has been super busy and my training has suffered. I have to focus on remaining consistent over the next few weeks if I'm going to see any gains in my training.

2.5 months and Counting

The countdown is really on now. And so the really hard work begins. Our week in South Carolina was good; not as good as our first year (at least for me) but good none the less. I had a really good ride our first day out even thought it was windy, I still managed to push the pace a bit and keep myself together until the last 45 minutes or so. It was a bit of a struggle to get back to the cabins. But I was happy. I climbed well and managed to hang with the boys (even if I was at the very back) so I was pleased. I didn't ride as much as the first year (only 350k) but I think I really needed a break so I took the time to enjoy myself and relax. I climbed Ceasar's head again this year. I was about 2 minutes faster this year than 2 years ago so I was pretty pleased with that.

I had a lot of foot issues later on in the week. I'm not sure what the problem is - it might be my orthotics, I don't know but I'm having a lot pain in my metatarsal area on my left foot so I've been getting "hot foot" on the bike and suffering through my runs by altering my gait slightly. I really need to get that looked at so I'm going to call Pivot tomorrow to see when I can get in to see their foot guy. I really hope I haven't done anything bad to it.

The last couple of months have been a BIG struggle for me mentally. I have been lacking serious motivation and most of my workouts see me just going through the motions (especially my swim workouts). I don't think I push myself as hard as I should, although, that being said, I'm obviously doing something right as my cycling has improved. My running is suffering at the expense of my riding but, that seems to be the way the plan goes. We're supposed to start some track workouts in the next few weeks so I'm hoping that my running comes around again. Obviously I need to get my foot issues sorted out first.

All of A Sudden....

the snow was gone! Yes, it's true. That white stuff is NO LONGER! The birds are singing, the crocuses are blooming and once again, I can see my backyard! WOOOHOOOOO! We had a BEAUTIFUL weekend but surprisingly Gary and I opted to ride on the trainer INSIDE. Yes, I said INSIDE. I rode for 3 hours and 40 minutes. I think I lost my mind at about 2 hours. But, it doesn't matter because from here on in, all of our rides are going to be outside! Starting next Sunday with a nice little 4 hour jaunt through the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Gary's workouts for the week in South Carolina have been posted and I took a look. Holy crap. He's got a 4 hour ride followed by a 40 min run, followed by a 30 min open water swim if possible. Monday is a 30 min swim, 1:50 run followed by an 'easy" 2 hour bike. Tuesday is a MEGA day- a 6.5 hour bike followed by a 20 minute run. Wednesday in an INSANE day with a double brick; bike/run/bike/run - 2 hours 50 minutes then a 50 minute open water swim. Thursday is the longest bike ride of the week: 7 hours. Friday is a 1 hour run with a 5km time trial in it followed by a 3.5 hour bike, followed by a 45 min open water swim. Saturday we drive back and Sunday is a day off. Thank GOD. Holy. I'm going to try to do everything in Gary's schedule but I think I'm going to have a hard time convincing Silvia to ride for 7 hours and I can't keep up with the guys so, we'll see what happens. Maybe I just end up doing loops to make up whatever time I need to.

I'm hoping that I manage to hold together next week. I've been having foot issues and my elbow has been bothering me the last 2 swims. I'm thinking that it's probably because I'm really tight through my shoulders and back. I'm scheduled for a massage tonight so hopefully that helps. As for my foot issues, well, I'm not sure what's causing that discomfort, probably tightness in my arches. I really should be wearing orthotics in all my shoes but I don't, only when I run. I should probably go and see my podiatrist at some point....when i can find the time!