Double Digits & Hitting the Wall

Less than 100 days away. AHHHH!

This past week I did zero training. I had grandiose plans of working out after work (new student orientation=early early mornings). Yeah, didn’t happen. Now I feel behind. Really behind in my training.

I had a great long run on Saturday morning. It’s amazing what cloud cover can do for your morale. I still did not run fast, but I did run for a solid 105 minutes. It felt great. I had zero pain (except the burning from the sweat dripping in my eyes). The clouds did provide some protection from the sun’s direct rays beating down upon me, but they also provided me with some thick humidity. I felt like I was running in a steam room. It was gross, yet cleansing. Every outdoor workout I have I think “there’s no way I could sweat more than I am right now.” Hmm, until the next workout. It’s freakin gross. There was not a single dry spot on my entire body. My hair was wet like I just jumped in the pool. I could squeeze sweat from my little wristband that I use to wipe the sweat from my face. Disgusting! I also need to run on Sundays. The run really zaps my energy for anything I need to do the rest of the weekend.

Biking in the heat isn’t as bad for me. I create my own “wind” on the bike, so I don’t feel drops of sweat pouring out of every pore on my body. It’s not until I stop at a light or have to change a flat or something before I realize how hot I am. I do need to wear a different color shorts. My ass is on fire when traveling west back toward my house at the end of the ride. Speaking of ass on fire . . . how the hell am I supposed to sit on that bike seat for hours on end anyway? Good grief! The little tiny pad in the tri shorts does nothing. It’s like sitting on a Kleenex. Why bother really? My friend Colin has told me about some special cream that the ladies in his tri club use. I need to try that stuff out! I guess the pain is a distraction from the cars whizzing by going 80 mph. The only thing that separates us is the white line painted on the road. Is it really necessary to cut it that close? Three feet folks, give the cyclists three feet. PLEASE.

It is going to be a miracle I even make it to race day. I have my first official injury today. I wasn’t even doing anything related to training either. Frustration! For some weird reason, when the lock in the back door of my car is flipped to “lock,” it locks all of the doors. Is this safe? What if some baby in a carseat locked the door accidentally (or grown adult)? Anyway, I somehow locked the door while vacuuming at the carwash. Inside is my purse, my phone and of course and my keys. Uhg. Do I know a single phone number? (No, especially not in a time of panic.) So, I had to go home and hop the fence in my backyard. I’m sooo glad I had my HOA add that extra foot. Yay. The stucco is especially fun to climb over as well, in 106 degree temps and zero shade (totally could have been hotter today though, lucky it wasn’t). It would have been much easier had I been wearing tennis shoes, but NOOO, I’m in some rinky dinky flip flops. Yay. I’m glad my neighbors were in the pool. They were able to give me the broken plastic chair to prop myself up with as I tried to hoist my body over the fence. My neighbor didn’t find it amusing when I asked if I could borrow his kid to crawl through my doggy door and let me in my house. “Well you have that barbed wire on top.” (Insert hick accent while dragging on a cigarette.) A. I do not have barbed wire around my fence, it is wrought iron. B. I was clearly joking, as your five year old is larger than I am and my dog is a dachshund.

And now the chair is broken in two places and my right side has a few gashes and bruises. Skin grows back right? Right. Now, I’m in decent shape. I mean, we’re 98 days from the Ironman. I do need to work on two things. Upper body strength and stretching. Had my hammies not been so stinking tight, I could have bent my leg up that high a little faster and I would have made it on attempt number one before the hot stucco burned my skin and the chair gave way. Had I been wearing appropriate shoes, I could have taken a running start and hoisted myself (although, also risk impaling myself on the “barbed wire”). Or, if my upper body strength was half of what my leg strength is, I could have held on to the “barbed wire” and pulled myself up. After a few more tries, I was able to get over my fence. (As my neighbor and his kids watched by the way. Could they maybe offer a step stool or anything to help me over? No. Assholes. I always knew they were, but this just confirms my own stereotyped opinions of them. My back yard faces the pool. They watched the whole time. It was awesome.) I retrieved my secret key from my secret hiding spot (that has since been moved so you can’t rob me) and hopped back over.

The bleeding has now stopped and the bruising is looking pretty cool. One bruise runs all the way down my forearm. My wrist hurts a lot. I hope it doesn’t affect my swimming. It happens to be in the perfect spot for rubbing the wrong way on the aerobars on the bike. Yay. At least my feet & legs are ok. I have a big gash on my toe and another near my knee (darn you stucco!) but, ‘tis just a flesh wound (with some deep bruises).

I guess this injury makes for a better story than “I’m over-trained” or “I was hit by a car” or “I drowned.” I hope this is my only injury too . . . when I literally hit a wall. It should be relatively quick healing (hopefully, my luck with bruises. . .) A bonus too. . . it’s not an overuse injury, so I have no excuses to skip out on training this week. Back to the grind! It’s safer out on the roads anyway. I wear protective gear and there’s no broken attack chairs lurking about.

Nutrition

I’ve entered the part of training where I am hungry all of the time. It may not even be the training. I am trying to choose nutrient filled foods to fuel my workout. This is different than my normal eating where I choose foods to satisfy some other sort of “hunger” (I’m bored, I’m stressed, I’m happy, I’m sad).

I am trying hard to eat when my body is physically hungry and needs food. I am trying really hard to choose snacks and meals that are nutrient-dense to make sure I have the energy and power to get through my work day in addition to my workouts.

So far, I’ve been successful.

It’s been three days.

I’m starting to worry about the ‘fourth’ aspect of the Ironman triathlon: nutrition. There is a delicate balance of energy my body needs to complete this thing. Believe me; I have PLENTY of “energy stores” packed away in my body. It’s really unfortunate that they aren’t as readily available to burn off as I’d like. Where is the button to push to get immediate access to that “energy.” “Oh, I’ve been running for four hours, I could use an energy boost. How about this inch I can pinch here? Yes, done!”

That would be so nice. Instead, I munch on a serving of almonds.

My normal pre-marathon breakfast is something like this: 1 c oatmeal, 1 banana, 1 c coffee, 1 GU packet. This is after a full night’s sleep. This is not the best option for my pre-marathon meal during the Ironman. The logistics behind having hot, fresh oatmeal on the bike are tricky in itself. I need to replenish my depleted energy plus get a little excess fuel to survive.

I guess I will be drinking a lot of “stuff” on the bike. I need to find something that I can enjoy at mile 25 as well as mile 105. It needs to be enough to refuel and store but not too much to cause GI problems (another blog about my experience with this soon, aren’t you excited?!). I have started experimenting with what to consume on the course. I was not at all impressed with my recent product at first. By the end of the two hours on the bike it wasn’t so bad. I suppose it is better that it got better as the ride went on instead of getting worse?

Choosing the right foods includes getting the appropriate carb/protein/fluids balance from my food. Carbs to replenish my glycogen stores, protein to build & repair muscle, fluids to hydrate. I’ve been doing a little research to see what this should look like for me. In my three days of serious focus, I can tell I need some work in the protein department.

I will burn upwards of 10,000 calories on race day. I need to make sure my glycogen stores are fully loaded. I’ll carbo load for a few days prior to the race. According to some basic math from one source, I should eat 832 g of carbs to carbo load (in one carbo loading day). This equals about 3,330 calories from just carbs. (YES! How many carbs are in Kraft’s Deluxe Mac & Cheese? Oh wait. . .back to that nutrient dense thing. . .)

The Chase

What do you envision when you think of “the chase:” a dog chasing after a ball that has been tossed by his owner; police chasing after a suspect; children chasing each other in a game? Whatever you think about, the act of chasing implies the subject is in pursuit of something of great importance.

I am chasing a finish line that is 140.6 miles from the start. And once I catch that line, I will be called an Ironman.

It’s more than a title. It’s more than just crossing the finish line. It is a mission of individual dedication and discipline combined with a smidge of madness to catch a dream.

Away I go . . . chasing 140.6.