I survived

It is Monday and I am feeling tired. Duh! The 20 mile run was hard. It was hard for me to keep it together. I was definitely tired for it. More on that below. Everything else seems to be okay. My hamstring is getting managed and the piriformis keeps raising its ugly head. Fortunately I can go to PT if I need to and I keep on stretching. Bike fit for the new shoes went well.

As I am sitting here writing this, I don't really have any questions popping into my head. I think you worked me into delirium this week. All I can think about is eating and sleeping.

Schedule-
Polson- convinced my Mom to go with me and get a fancy hotel. The one that is right on the lake. Woohoo! Girls weekend. We haven't done one since Oliver a couple of years ago. She knows I will need to do something on Sunday though. I was thinking probably am ish so that we can get back to Bozeman at a reasonable hour. She has a cousin who she is close with to entertain her.

IM Wisconsin- I think I am going to ship my bike out there UPS. If I ship it ground it is pretty cheap. I think for it to get there in time and avoiding problems with weekends and holidays, the best day to ship it will be August 26 or 27. Is that going to be a problem. I can ride my road bike for those few days in between right?

Work- The boss is officially back on August 19th. His wife had a baby a few weeks ago. I might need to stop blowing work off when he gets back and after IM I can't take a holiday and I have to work weekend for a month. I am just kidding, but at some point I need to start being a little more mindful about being at work. Just an FYI. I have no experiments scheduled for the week of August 18th-24th.

Wow, this week has been intense!

Tuesday- Super super tired. Masters just about killed me. Actually got out at 2800. Don't usually do that.

Ride on Wednesday was really good. I was really tired on Monday and Tuesday and on Tuesday's run my calves/achilles got really tight. Wore compression all night and all day Wed. The pain was gone by Wednesday evening. Went to Amsterdam/Churchill area where there are a lot of rollers. Good terrain to practice IM Wisconsin on. Was pretty tired when I rolled home but when I started the run my legs felt great. Finished my usual 30 minute run in closer to 25 minutes. That was super motivating. Feeling fit!

Thursday- Good swim with Masters, nice EASY run. At Masters did a bunch of 100's. Played with my pace and how I feel at different paces. I think I feel better going a bit faster. I think if I have to I can go that pace and then take a few easy strokes here and there. I will anyway sighting, going around buoys etc.

Friday- Ride was hard. Wow, that was a serious test of mental fortitude. I didn't realize how many 14 could be. The hill I chose to go up and down that also had a headwind. It was a blustery day. It got a bit tiring. The ride was a little short (20 minutes or so), and maybe the hill was a little too steep because I definitely did not take 3:30 to 4:00 minutes between each up. I actually didn't do a lot of pedaling downhill. I did think about riding up and down hills though, and wasn't not pedaling because I was resting. The hill was just steep.

Saturday- That was a hard swim. Total time was something like 1:25 or 1:30. Worked hard and thought a lot about Ironman pace. Did run right after swim. It was good. I was pretty exhausted after these though. Thought about bailing on our trip for the next day. Wanted to lay on the couch and go to sleep.

Sunday- On Saturday night Erik, Lawrence, and I drove to Wise River. It is the closest place to Bozeman where we could start  a ride on the Pioneer Scenic Byway. It was great. There was a little restaurant there where we ate. Camping in the FS campground was free. The evening was cool. We all got some really great sleep. In the morning left from the campground, rode to Wise River, rode south on the scenic byway, rode to Jackson, rode to Wisdom, and then back to the car. The scenic byway is beautiful. Into Jackson there is a huge pass. Then we got surrounded by thunderstorms, lightning, crazy wind, etc. and it didn't let up for the next 60 miles. Other than being worried that if I got too wet I was going to get really cold, we were totally fine. Had some crazy tailwinds. Erik was going 40 MPH. Also, winds that felt like you could just get blown off the road. Total ride was 119 miles and I have to say I will never forget it and I am very glad we did it. (Will try and post some photos)
Did you know the Beaverslide comes from that area. Have a cool photo of a huge pile of hay.

Monday- I have to do what today? This has been in the back of my mind all week. Blew off work because I knew that if I went to work in the am, the run would really, really suck. I don't like runs to really suck. I little suck comes with the territory, but in general they need to be awesome. Anyway, mapped out an interesting, but very hilly run. Left the house prepared and with the legs feeling very tired right off the bat. Ran about half of the planned run, which was really hilly and then changed my mind and made the rest a lot flatter. This run hurt, I cannot say it was awesome. I had a really hard time settling in and finding something to think about. Kept thinking about how far the road in front of me was. Once I got home I remapped my route. 21.5 miles. It took me about 3:30. I think the first part of hilly town trails really slowed me down. Had a standoff with a cow. That was interesting. He was on the trail and would not move. Had to just walk by him. He didn't seem to mind. I didn't get chased.

I had to blow off the swim. Blew off too much work and just don't have the energy to try and fit it into my schedule. I'm sorry, but I think it would have killed me anyway. Too much mental fortitude building this week.

Life

After a totally debilitating day at work. I am still in tears. I found an article that somebody posted on Facebook. It is called "30 questions to ask yourself before you die"  Lots of great questions that makes you realize little work issues are so petty, that people are petty, and that is sucks because there are so many more important things out there, so many more fulfilling things.

Here is the article
http://www.businessinsider.com/30-questions-to-ask-yourself-before-you-die-2013-7?utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer88bd6&utm_medium=facebook

Have been thinking about Polson. What should the plan be for the weekend. I have two options. Go up there Friday, race, come home. Or go up there Friday, race, and stay in Kalispell through Sunday. What is training going to be like after race? Would it be good to stay and swim and ride and/or run in the Flathead? Checked out the registered list yesterday. I am so irked that Linsey Corbin is racing. Is that bad of me? The only races in Montana she shows up to have prize money and she doesn't even have to race to get the top spot. I was looking forward to trying to duke it out with some of those girls, but (I'll stop writing what I want to say). You know how you have to be pro to win prize  money in USA triathlon. I think pros should be exempt in these little races.

So, I have been thinking and sort of stressing about how I think about this. My goal going into IM Wisconsin is to qualify for Kona. Sometimes, I question why. These races make me so full of anxiety going into them, Kona doesn't even sound fun and I haven't even qualified. However, it seems like the ultimate goal. I won't ever be a pro, but I can MAYBE do this. I am ambitious, I want to passionate, I am competitive, and I am also a bit of a dreamer. I guess those are a few of the reasons I want to go. So here is my problem. Did you see that maybe? I really wanted to be faster at Calgary. Those top two girls were smokin, but I still came in right below the 10% mark. That seems to be a pattern and it worries me. I did have a few problems such as shifting and losing two places on the run because I had to use the outhouse.  I don't know how much of that is an excuse, or if it wouldn't have changed anything. So tell me what you think. Yeah, nay? How is Wisconsin going to go. I need a little pep talk, either way. The emotions are running low.

More thoughts on Calgary- my bike was missing a gear. Found it in the bucket Friday. I wasn't going crazy when I kept dropping the chain on the warm up ride before the race Sunday. After analyzing the numbers and converting km into miles I ran Calgary faster than I have ever ran a half!

Next weekend- looks like it isn't going to happen. I should have known. My sister never ceases to disregard our plans. I should have learned by now to not make plans with her. Anyhoo. I might be better to stay around here. I get in a better weekend, not take a whole day off work, and not include 12 hours of driving. 

Maybe I can find some sweet ride to go on and I can still take some time if I should need a long weekend.

Swim- can I get a confidence boost swim. 4k in the pool or a good hard pond swim. Felt like I could do another lap at Calgary, but would like the confidence.

Schedule- Got called to jury duty next Tuesday(13th). I have to report for the whole day. Hopefully it will get called off, but I can't plan on anything for that day. I was going to do an experiment that day, but will now have to push it to Wed. So Wed. the 14th will be a very busy work day. Nothing during the day, and could be a late day, past 6:30. 

The week

Mellow week. Did ride on Wednesday. Easy on the my bike, but I was very emotionally charged and had a lot to think about. Ended up riding into the dark. Even Erik was a little worried. Friday, missed ride. Still had race wheels on bike and shoes with no cleats. Poor planning and my mechanic was not being at my beckoning call.
Saturday was a great ride. Good company and a good not so hard pace. Went over Battle Ridge, stopped in Livingston for coke and French fries, and then over Bozeman pass. 85 miles. Amazing how I didn't feel all that worked.
Sunday- the ride was maybe a little less productive than normal. Decided on an adventure which kind of failed and ended up being a lot of walk a bike. The run was great though. Maybe not flat, but a perfect 1:45 loop on trail.

Calgary 70.3 race report

I need to stew over this race a little longer but figured I could write a technical report.
Race was good in general!
Time 5:04
Swim- In this crazy, man made community lake. I had to be careful not to run into people's docks. It was fine. Lined up on the far edge of people, and started out slow until I was used to the water. Swam on Friday evening so knew what to expect.
Ride- an adventure
Caveats- the ride was 2 km short
               - my bike decided to stop shifting on the second half of the course. I am incredibly lucky and maybe my parents were praying for me because the gear it was stuck in worked very well, the course was a fast downhill, and I could still shift up I'm down in the front. So other than the distraction of my bike making noise before it broke and the stress of getting up a steep hill if there was one I was okay and probably didn't lose time.

Run -felt good most of the way. You are not supposed to feel good near the end, correct? Pushed hard to get 5:04.

Had a great time at the finish chatting with Canadians. I love Canadians. They recommended the Great White North. Something about trains.

A good week

This week seems like it has been very good for training. Lots of good key sessions that were done with motivation and purpose. Until the weekend got here. Was tired going into Saturday and Sunday. Rallied though and now that it is over feel very good about it. Had some great company on Sunday which helped.

Calgary- We are going to leave Friday morning. Hopefully get there early enough to check in and get our packets and swim? My idea is that we get our bikes ready to go on Friday and then bring them to the T1, likely do a ride on Saturday, and then drop them off. All in one fallow swoop!! We will drive home Monday morning.

Schedule- Am starting a big experiment that I will take down the Tuesday we get back from Calgary. I shouldn't plan on doing anything during the workday.

PT- Didn't get to see regular PT last week. He was out of town. The other one just did the dry needling. Was doing the prescribed stretching one day last week and really felt my hamstring release!!! Woohoo!!! Anyway, the run after the ride on Sunday felt really good. No left leg pain.  I am going back to the PT today to get another run evaluation and more dry needling today, so I can ask him more.

Tuesday- am ride was great. I got up made some coffee and headed out the door. The day was blustery and only got worse as it went by, so the am ride was perfect. Had a a good set of 3 minute intervals. I kept running out of road though. Two minutes recovery didn't give me enough time to get back very far. Oh well, it was fine.
Masters swim- Also great! I was motivated to get in some good yardage. One of my favorite things is how I feel post a good hard swim. It seems nicer to make a delicious dinner. My lane at Masters is driving me crazy though. For one, the fast lane now has very fast 19 year olds in it. So, the old lane 5 fast people are moving down to lane four. That makes the lane faster than I can handle. Also, they talk a lot, and all finish after 3000. See Thursday for more....  Anyway, got in good yardage.

Wednesday- At 3pm saw a warning for severe thunderstorms in the area until 10pm. The sky looked mildly cloudy, but not bad, so I hightailed it home and got on the bike. Good thing I did. The last 20 minutes of the ride or so were pretty spooky. Lightning in my path and a good old soaking in the rain. Had a good hard, pretty hilly ride too. Funny how in Bozeman it can go from 90 and you think you are going to melt, to getting caught in a thunderstorm. I have to confess, I didn't do the post ride run. I felt like I had enough adventure for the day. By the time I was making dinner it was sunny again.

Thursday- One hour run at lunch. It was hot out, and I wasn't feeling super snappy. Started thinking about Calgary. I am really excited to go up there and race. That got my legs turning over a little better. I don't think that there is a huge # of people doing the race. On the swim start heats it said 250 AG women. I am excited to race those women.
Swim- Demoted myself to lane 3. We really need 6 lanes at this point. One super fast lane, one fast lane, one medium fast lane etc. Anyway, I was totally fine with it. I wanted to get in a good workout that was at my pace. The workout was really good too. Some longer swimming to get a good rhythm, some IM but not an overwhelming amount, builds, fast, etc. There was only one other guy in the lane and I actually had a good time with him. It is amazing how fast the yards go by when you don't stop and listen to everybody talk for minutes on end. Actually finished the workout. 3000-3500 or so.

Friday- I think you could call that run more of a waddle. I stretched my piriformis yesterday and maybe held it a little too long. Those muscles on both sides were sore. I also wanted to take it easy to rest up for the weekend. Did the PT afterwards. Felt my hamstring release!! Woohoo!! Rode to and from work and to and from downtown for some dinner. John and Lisa showed up really late for dinner, so we sat around waiting for them for a couple of hours. It made for getting home a bit later than I wanted and also for being tired on Saturday. I need to be more careful about socializing to much on Friday nights.

Saturday- Swim in pond. It took a little over 3 minutes to get to the other side, so I added two extra intervals. I was tired this morning and was really having to rally to get motivated.

Ride- Rode with Lawrence. We rode up Hyalite, to the nudey bar, out to the mouth of Gallatin Canyon and home. It was about 65 miles and more like 4.5 hours. A little longer than prescribed. I was super tired after this. Hangry.

Sunday- Lawrence, Art and I did the Castle Mountain Tour. It starts in Ringling, then Martinsdale, Checkerboard, White Sulpher, and back to Ringling. It is also a bit longer than prescribed 88 miles and about 5:15 of ride time. It is a great look to settle in and those 25 minute intervals were perfect for it. Really liked the 25 minute intervals. Was really tired going into this morning. Started intervals out a bit slower, but comfortable. Really focused on IM pace. It was great though, because as the day went on, I felt better and better. The last 25 minutes was climbing this little pass out of Checkerboard and I felt amazing!!!

And the joy wears off

One thing I have noticed with this Ironman racing is a much more awareness of my body. Specifically how I feel because of hormones. I usually have 5 days or so right before my period where I can't sleep. I also seem to have a few days of being down and sometimes kind of pissy. I really started to feel the down on Thursday which is definitely exasperated with my little mt bike accident. Hopefully this is part of a monthly thing not and not a new general low setting in. Did I ever tell you I got my period the day before Canada last year. Do you think it could have had an effect on my race?

PT- did prescribed exercises after the run on Thursday. After the needles in my butt I sat in pigeon for a good long while and it really released that knot in my ass. I think a couple more sessions will be good. Maybe not as hopeful about my hamstring.

Canada 70.3 - I'm ready to really just go for it! PR my 70.3 distance!?

Tuesday- Booze cruise. It was fun, lots and lots of fun, but fine to do only once a summer. I would rather be riding my bike than drinking in the middle of the day.

Wednesday- Nice little 30 minute run at lunch. Met up with Lisa for a ride after work. She was ambitious. I followed her for most of her ride bit turned around early. Ended  riding for a little over 2 hours. Went really easy and it was downhill for the second hour.

Thursday- Running partner is in Russia. Lucky her. Anyway, ran at 11. Nice run. Did I tell you about the dive bombing bird? Or the kid who squirted me with a super soaker. Makes me smile every time I go by there.
Swimming - was super motivated before getting to the pool to get in a great, long swim. The lane had seven people and we did a 1500. Everybody else was using paddles and fins. They kept lapping me. Demoralizing. Moved down to a slower less crowded lane. Ended up not getting in that awesome swim.

Friday- nice bike ride up Moody Gulch that turned into a bloody mess and a nice walk down.

Saturday- Urgent care visit left me to rest for the day. Get ants in my pants. Feeling anxious to be out. Did get my blood work done at Urgent Care. Was curious about my iron levels. They are normal. Everything was normal. Woohoo. Feeling healthy

Sunday - Nice long ride with Lawrence. Found some rollers for hills, not any big long mountain climbs. Went at a pretty relaxing pace. Feel really good post ride. Feeling good about the distance.

The Bangtails didn't eat me

The week was pretty uneventful. I tried hard to get in power resting. On Thursday I was still feeling tired. I am assuming it was from Rapelje. It was also really hot this week. My run on Tuesday was hard, and I think a lot of it was the heat. 

Schedule - Not much going on. Nothing that I know of for work next week.  Looking forward to not having a race to prepare for this next weekend.
In general - my sister is living near Jackson Hole. She has some rides and runs mapped out for me and a lake to swim in. She wants me to come down. She is a firefighter so may not be around but I could stay at her place. Anyway, it might make a good long focused weekend on new roads and trails. I would like to go down sometime between now and the end of August.

Saturday- Up the earliest I have been for a race in a long time and got to see the sunrise for the second time in one week. I really enjoyed this day as a finale to my four weeks of racing. The past few weeks have been really fun, memorable, taught me a lot, and has hopefully although not seeming direct contributed to my race at Ironman Wisconsin.
Started the race out slow. Walked the steeper parts of the climb for the first 2:00 and then pushed the pace. At 2:30 I had just left the 2nd aid station. I think it was at mile 11.5 or so. Figured I would be happy to finish by 4:30. Rolled across 24.4 miles at 4:36.  I was in the back and didn't have an overall great "race" time but considering my longest run recently has been about 14 miles I was pretty happy with holding it together. It was hard to hold back on the early hills while lots of girls ran by. My legs are tired now though. Had to stop at work and shuffled in the door.

Wow, I could go on about the race. The Lupine were so abundant that the smell was almost nauseating. I have ridden that trail numerous times but it was great to be on foot and see some of the views a little more. The Bridgers, the Absarokas the Crazies, so beautiful. The trail was a little muddy from our recent rain and the puddles got annoying also the trail wasn't always smooth and was washed out making it super hard to get a good flat footing. I had to walk a few steps now and then and tell myself to stop being crabby.  My ankles and feet will be hurting. I have done the Ridge Run a couple of times and really thought this was harder. A lot more rolling, not the bombing as ascents and descents of the ridge.