The countdown

Holy H&%$, S@#%, F*&^,

Yep, my mind is a sailor these days! How are you guys feeling?! Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote anything, but this summer has been crazy/really kind of awesome. But I can't wait until this beast is over and my life doesn't revolve around adapting my day to accomodate exercise. Lots of exercise. And perfect timing, too...teachers go back to school on the 30th so we have a 6 a.m. flight home. Think I can hide under my desk?

TAPER feels good. Although I was an idiot yesterday and after the run and swim, I stood up ALL day in the kitchen cooking/baking. What came over me? I don't know, but I was standing in the kitchen from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m....didn't sit down one time after the 1:40 run and 3000 swim. And my legs were killing me last night, man did they hurt! Which makes me nervous...I'm going to be using them a lot longer than that in 6 days. %^&%&**(

So here's the Wolfe plan: Jake, his dad, and I are driving down to Kentucky. We're leaving Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. and it will take about 12 hours (less than driving to Ohio!). So we'll get there by Wednesday night. Jake's dad has a hotel room so we're staying there W and Th. night. When are you guys coming in? I know Catherine comes in Thursday evening? Shef...Friday?? It looks like we should do our bike on Friday and then we can check our bikes. THere is a swim available on Saturday a.m. from 8-10 in the river that would be nice to check out before we take the brutal plunge on Sunday. So we'll meet up in Louisville, do the race debriefing, get our gear taken care of, and then shit our pants together. Who's bringing the butt cream?

PACKING. I want to get some of this packing done today and I'm completely overwhelmed. (Also, I can't pack tomorrow because I have an eye appt and then coaching from 3-6 and the eye appt is actually a follow-up from one I had on Saturday...apparently I had ulcers on my eyes?! No wonder they hurt. I'm not supposed to wear contacts for like a month. I said, "umm, but I'm doing this race..." so she said I can wear them on the bike. I won't see much on the run. :) )Anyway, PACKING?! I'm just going to bring a whole crapload of stuff and then can we sit down together and figure out what to put in to all the different "bags" we get?? Fantastic.

how are you guys feeling?

jboo

p.s. - Ashley - I'm so sorry to hear about your injury! That's awful! And I read your blog post twice...thank you so much for all the tips and we'll be thinking about you next week!

p.p.s. - Beth...taper starts soon for you, too! Less than a month away! But if you change your mind and want to try and sneak in in Kentucky, I'd love to see you again. :)

Out...

Hey guys, I didn't get to post on here a whole lot, and don't really know any of you guys besides Shef, but wanted to pass on my good lucks to you guys. I have a partially torn quad as of last week and therefore am now out for Louisville. It sucks, but I know its not smart to push my body to try and race when it is not completely healed, this is something I want to do for the rest of my life, not just a few more weeks.

I did get to go down to Louisville and do a half iron right before I got injured and it covered a lot of the course for the full, so wanted to pass along some tid bits. It is probably going to be hot, very hot, it was the day of the half. You won't notice it much on the bike because you have the cool breeze from you zipping through the hills :-) Just make sure you are drinking, a lot, on the bike to prepare for the run. The electrolyte tablets are great too for helping with this. They are something you should be able to use without pre-training with them all that much, so maybe give them a shot on a few rides and see what you think. The hills really aren't that bad out there. There is one nasty hill on an out and back portion (like ride 1694 or something). Enjoy the downhill, get into aero and go, because you will turn around and go right back up it! Use your gears smart (a lot of people were trying to push through in a high gear and it wasn't going well, I was close to granny gear, but passed over 10 people on the ascent just because my legs were actually moving). Enjoy the scenery- oh my gosh is it beautiful out there. There are a ton of horse farms with acres and acres of land. There was one point on the ride where I was riding and there was this beautiful Thoroughbred galloping along side me in his pasture, I had to slow down and just be at peace for a minute at some of God's beautiful creations. As for the run- just keep moving forward. Less than 1% of first time ironmaners run the whole marathon, so just keep moving, whether its a shuffle or a walk, just keep MOVING!

Alright, I think thats all for now. Oh yeah, the swim - use the current!!! But you guys are all swimmers so I don't think that will be much of a problem for you. Just remember it is a river so the current is the strongest in the middle - use this to your advantage, if you are swimming against the current stay towards the edge, if you're swimming with it, move more towards the middle.

I will be thinking of all of you, trying not to be bummed about not being there racing too, good luck and most importantly, HAVE FUN!!!

Alrighty so here goes it! I started school last week and got dumped on! I did manage to get up at 5 every morning (well mon-thur) to workout before going to school.....wow was that hard with very little sleep (ave. 3-5hours). School is a lot of work but tons of fun and just recruited one of my friends to spin class tonight so I might have another training partner!

As for the training.....swimming is going to be totaly fine.....biking --> i did my first century ride a few weekends ago with 5000ft of climbing in about 6 and a half hours (not including the fancy rest stops, it was an organized ride with unlimited beer afterwards!).....not horrible but my longest ride before that was maybe 60....as for the runs I haven't done anything long enough by any means :( I need to work on that. This weekend though my tri team is going out to hagg lake, close to portland, and we are going to do some open water swimming and of course some biking and running afterwards! I'm also doing an olympic triathlon next weekend at the same place....pretty hilly course so we shall see how that goes. Anywho I wouldn't reccomend trying to work, go to grad school and train for an ironman at the same time (I'm sure Beth know's how hellish it is) it sucks.

Jill you asked all these questions where are your answers to them all?

hope all is well and relax and have a few beers this weekend to celebrate the 4th! I'm drinking one right now when I'm supposed to be reading for class! woops

cheers,
Catherine

Update me

Hey ladies,

A little over 8 weeks until Louisville, and Beth...10? The end is in sight and it looks like we just have to survive a couple weeks of hellish training before TAPER. Boy, doesn't it feel good to see that word again? Anyway, I want to hear how things (yes, including training!) are going for you guys. Are you all healthy/un-injured? What's the longest ride you've been out on so far this season? Who has done some open water swimming? How do runs go? Spill the deets. I miss you guys.

xoxo

Questions

Why hello my lovely ladies!

First...I apologize for being M.I.A. School ended with kids TODAY and I expect to have a life again (albeit with IM training) so Catherine - I'll call you back! :) And can we get a nice blog shout-out to Beth on her ENGAGEMENT!!!! So...spill all the juicy details!
I've been working out and all was well until this weekend when I attended the Denison 5 year reunion. I did my workout (with Amanda!) and it was alright, but then I came home (after puking outside of Shorney?) and my motivation has been on the down slope. I'm muscling through it, but it's harder. So here comes my questions:
1) Long run this weekend and I'm wondering if you guys are training your long runs with "walks' built in? You know dang well we'll have some walk breaks in the marathon so I'm wondering if I should train with them, too. I did the Flying Pig marathon a couple of years ago and our plan was run 10, walk 1 (minute) and that's how we trained the whole time. So I haven't done any walking yet on my runs, but I'm thinking maybe anything over 2 hours I should build some in?
2) Crap. I swear I had more questions. (I also puked in a subway bag in Greg Haar's car on my 14 hour drive home on Sunday). So, I'll let you know when I remember my tri questions.

Hope you guys are doing well and have a great weekend!!!
Jill :)

3) I remembered a question: HILLS. This week's bike said 5 X 5 min. hills. Where the heck do you find a hill that takes 5 minutes to get up?? I live in MN. We don't have mountains over here. What to do?

4) Love you guys.

Hello!!!!

Hi guys! Thanks so much Jill for adding me in, I'm excited to be able to post now! So- my name is Ashley and I am training with Shefali here in North Carolina. I have been keeping up with all of the posts and share everyone's fear, sometimes lack of motivation and frustration.

It seems like I am exhausted all the time, and can't eat enough to keep my body moving. None the less, though, we have to remember what we are doing, and how amazing crossing the finish line is going to feel, whether its on 2 feet or on hands and knees :-)

One thing that I did last week was watch a race recap from Ironman Louisville 2009. It scared me to death, but trust me - I didn't miss any workouts last week! haha. Try finding a motivational video, they are pretty awesome. I will try and find the one I watched last week again and post a link to it.

I can't wait to meet all of you, I've heard so much about you guys from Shef!

Have a great day and happy training!

Scared Shitless

So Shef I almost started crying because of that and I think because I'm so god damn scared of this thing that we are doing. As you guys know I have a coach but of course he isn't there for everything that I am 'supposed' to be doing......I have been doing an OK that is only and ok job on keeping up on my week day workouts but you all know me I like to have my fun on my weekends and I have been traveling a lot so that doesn't leave too much time for a 3 hour bike ride :( I need some push from somewhere to get my ass to stay on a bike for 3 hours at the moment. Anyway the other weekend I did do a mini tri with my tri team and we went out to a place called Hagg Lake.....water was 53 (f'ing cold) but I managed to borrow my coaches wetsuit (man's wetsuit=big) and another guys sleeve top (very big) needless to say I could barely move my arms and got some mad rashes but a good experience. Glad I don't have to wear one in the race come August. Anyway after that we did a bike in gorgeous weather but i got my ass kicked so really my biking needs to be picked up but the run felt pretty good aftewards....only 3 miles but up and down a hill.

Alright that's all I got but still I'm super scared and need some push from any of you! miss you all and very excited to see you soonish!

betty

Gu's and Water and Weather...OH MY

Shef - you are amazing. Remember how much we trained for that half-IM last spring?! That was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life and you just cruised in there thinking, "no biggie." You're a rockstar. And a dummy. (I say that with a lot of love, of course.) But seriously - who just goes out and DOES a half-IM on a Saturday morning?! We didn't even have to do that in the training program yet! Like I said...dummy rockstar. But you survived and probably won't make the same mistake twice, right? And I want to hug that lady for you! What a sweetheart! There are some dang good people in this world.
And Beth - amen to healthy eating. I've been doing SO well for the last 2 weeks. (not counting my 2x/week dairy queen, but I've been snacking on healthy foods instead of jelly beans and snicker bars)...oh until yesterday. Teacher Appreciation Week. I had 8 cookies. Yep. 8. And then Jake wanted DQ for dessert that night...you can't really expect me to say no to that? So yesterday was a bad day...I'll try to do better. BUT - May is whacked! We were out of town last weekend (more to come on that), and this weekend I'll be in Wisconsin for a bachelorette party, next weekend up at Jake's family's deer shack for turkey hunting (yep!), one weekend off for landscaping around our house, and then my cousin's wedding over memeorial weekend and then the denison 5 year reunion road trip to Ohio. Needless to say, I've had to be creative with scheduling my workouts. I skipped my "Monday off" to move to that to Saturdays for the next couple of weeks when I'll be without a bike, and am doing some early mornings to try and fit it all in. Not ideal, but that's life, right? And I'm not going to NOT do all the fun things because I have to train. Then I'd reaaallllyy hate this ironman business. Anyway, it'll be an interesting month.
While Shef was dying of heat stroke last weekend, I brought my bike up to Grand Rapids, MN for a weekend with Jake's grandparents. I had the 3 hour bike ride and I was hoping to get in at LEAST 50...I think I was close. Anyway, it was the worst ride ever. 40 degrees outside, freezing rain, and winds 30 mph. I unclipped at one point because the wind seriously almost knocked me over. It was absolutely awful...and by far the best mental training I've had in a long time. The last 40 minutes was straight head-wind and I wasn't moving anywhere. So mother nature and I had some serious talks. Basically, I was egging her on to give me her best shot. (I'm not kidding, I was somewhat delirious and freaking freezing...I was off my rocker) so I'd be like, "That's IT?! That's all you have?! Come on, there's a hill coming up...you're not just going to let me ride up that hill are you?" She said, "Hell no...take THIS, Jill Boo!" and then she got me good. This went on for 40 minutes. We were quite cross with each other when I finally pulled back into Grandma's house. A hot bath and the fireplace helped. But I, also, could have eaten a little more.
Last bit - I got aerobars!!! An old teacher of mine (and colleague of my mom's) had an extra pair! So I haven't put them on my bike yet, but I can't wait to try them! Any tips?
Miss you guys!!!
love,
me :)

Shefali- I loved that story!

Shefali- you should be a creative writer. I was so engrossed in your story that Robbie yelled, "what are you doing that is so important...I have called your name 3 times!" Woops. I'm so glad you finished and are okay! I definitely need to work on the nutrition part. I always forget...but I know it is so very very important.

Sorry I have not written in a while. I'm getting ready to start PA school in June, so things have been quite hectic getting ready for that.

Training has been going really well- and by training, I mean, biking and swimming. I still have my stupid stress fracture but I am babying it...so I am hoping it will heal up soon. I loathe the elliptical at this point. No fun!

I definitely need to start working on the nutrition outside of exercising as well! It's so nice that working as much as we all have...we can have a little extra food here and there (and beer- that was for you Jill) with no poundage addition... but yeah, need to work on that.

Sorry again for being MIA! Wish we could be training together instead via the internet :) I'll try to be better about blogging!

Beth

The ' what not to do' race report

So this past week I did the white lake 1/2 Ironman. With 2 halves under my belt this was going to be cake right, so with no taper or real decrease in training intensity i headed out Friday to do just another half- no biggie right? .... Uhm no, wrong.
We started the day with the temp being ~75 degrees at 7am, hot and muggy. Even I had to eventually take off my sweats because I was hot. The water temp was 65 degrees so I had to fight the sticky sweat and try and get that damn wetsuit on. I thought of Jill and Catherine the whole time because they would have ditched that thing and still done awesome. Anyways at the cost of being too cold I tried not to get too exhausted as I yanked the neoprene over my body. After it was finally somewhat on (hanging crotch) I got in the water to catch up with the other 6 Duke people doing the race. After an eternity we finally started...of course I chose the goggles without the tint and the sun blazed in my eyes the whole way. The buoys (yellow) were hard to site as the men under 40 in the wave before us had yellow caps and boy were they ALL over the place. Anyways i got through my 'strongest leg' after swimming probably double the distance by zig zagging all over the bloody lake. I got to the transition and HAD to pee...
Lucky for me i had the spot closest to the end so as I yanked the wet suit off and put on my biking shoes I just sat in the grass and ..peed (my tri suit was ON). Yes, of course it was the longest pee of my life and all I could think of was crappy transition time as the clocked ticked on.
The bike was great...after I finally got clipped in and going.. it wasn't anything too epic however I was very nervous of biting it in front of all the spectators. I was enjoying how lovely and easy the bike felt as well as trying to get away from the mob so I could try and reach for my water and gu's. Now I have ridden this bike once before and not practiced reaching here and there so I decided to wait till i got settled and away from the others... bad move i would pay for it later. I did get eating and drinking an hour into it. Anyways after fighting a pretty significant head wind for most of the ride i was done. I think its the first half I finished and didn't hate myself. My legs felt good and ready for the run.
Transition was quick, smooth and I got a nice big bite of my banana. I decided to run with a water bottle pack which for the first mile was annoying as heck. Apparently at mile 1 I lost my water bottle so I gave the pack to the next closest volunteer hoping to get that $50 thing back on my way back. Everything went as planned but by mile 4 the temp was now at 95 degrees and I could feel it. I picked up ice towels at every stop trying to stay above the heat. At mile 6.5 I started pushing the pace as I was half way done and figured I felt great and I could finish the race easy right? nope wrong again. At mile 10 I stopped at the aide station for my ice towels and some water and they were OUT. What ??? out ??? yes so apparently it was so damn hot that people had taken more than their share (how can you limit it ? lawsuit comes to mind!) so us stragglers in the back half of the pack had to just deal with it. At probably mile 10.5 I started to notice the ground getting a little blurry. I tried to run a little further and bam started feeling lightheaded and woozy. The panic button hit because (this is why being a PT is a curse) I knew these were signs and symptoms of heat illness (homeostasis gets messed up body starts overheating). All i could think of is how much damage I was doing to my body practicing for my Ironman race.
But then the coolest thing happened. This lady running by stopped to ask if I was okay. I said No. She proceeded to walk with me for the next few minutes. I felt a little better after she shared her pretzels with me and I encouraged her to start running. I promised her I was okay. As soon as she started running I felt my breathing get shallow and the panic spread through me again. If i was alone it would take a while before EMS came by and I was scared of the consequences... so I yelled out to her that I was not still ok, she came back. The rest is kind of blurry but we got to the aide station at mile 12 where I got water, 2-3 orange slices and some ice (which I put in my sports bra - it made my boobs like huge ;) ) I finally felt better at close to mile 13 and of course my guardian angel lady was right there with me!!! We ran the last .3 -.5 miles to cross the finish line and I cried like a child because I was so grateful to this wonderful lady who had just thrown away her own race to help me through mine. Made me think about why I do triathlons...
The last race i did some lady spectator fell off her bike and hit her helmet on the street... i ran past because i was at pace to finish the race sub 6 hours ... i did tell the police officer down the road to go help...but i didn't stop.
Anyways the point of this really long narrative is to talk about HEAT and NUTRITION. On the bike i was eating every 30mins and that was NOT enough. The heat made me crave stuff every 20mins. I also needed something solid other than Gu's - a bite of a cliff bar would have been great...too bad i didnt have any
So despite the fact that we are all in different climates I encourage everyone to do a couple of trainer/ treadmill workouts with the heat turned on because Louisville will be 95 degrees on the bike and most of the run, and of course your body responds very differently than the weather we are currently working out it. I was not prepared for it and that's why we practice right?
On that note, I'm just glad that I am alive, and that lady who ran with me is going to get a free race entry to her next race on me.

Be safe and train smart. Love y'all.

Life as an inspiring Ironwoman...

Dear lovely friends,

It's Monday. First of all, thanks for getting the blog juices running, Shef. As a girl who needs to find some people to train with, I appreciate the "oh I'm in a different time zone, but doing it too!" commraderie. I enjoyed the "easy" week of training last week, especially with allergies and a bit of a cold. Yuck. But it looks like this coming weekend might be a kicker...oh yeah! I've been doing well staying on track with the training program, although I often have to switch days around or take my rest day later in the week because life just gets busy...and now with wedding season fast approaching, I'll really have to be on top of planning it all out far in advance to make sure I can get it all in!

Now Miss Catherine just did a marathon at the beginning of March and a half marathon yesterday?? Haha, beast! Good for you, Eastman! The weather is getting nice out here in MN so it's getting more enjoyable to do the longer runs and rides these days. Now if only it would get hot and I could swim outside...ahh, not much better than that!!!

So my life as an inspiring Ironwoman. Pretty uneventful. Jake came for a ride with me last weekend and it was WINDY as heck, but he said since he is the Man in the relationship, he's going to... draft behind me the entire time. He said, "I'm not above that...you're the ironwoman after all."

Nutrition: Yikes, I better get that article. TODAY I'm starting a healthier diet. People at work brought in all these jelly beans. I eat them by the handfull...and then there was a "buy one gallon, get one free" of ice cream...well we know where that went. Anyway, I need to be better about overall nutrition AND get the scoop on what to eat/how much for the race. Any tips you remember, Shef, yell them on out!

Hope you all have a great week and would love to see you soon!
jill :)

quick note- must buy!!

Hey Guys
I just got the new issue of triathlete magazine (May 2010) and the issue is dedicated to triathlon nutrition. Its great because that's one area that I need to be better about. As we scarf down calories it gives some good options as to what we should be scarfing...on and off the bike.
So anyways, a must buy the next time you are at a good magazine or book store-
you can always read similar stuff if you go to the triathlete magazine website!
happy training
Sheffy

catching up...literally

I thought this blog was supposed to fire us up....where is everybody ??? and where are your posts???
I hope everyone had a good productive recovery week. It's so important to be rested in the building cycle to prevent over training... i see people walk through the door all the time with overuse injuries, rest days or plans dont fit their lifestyle, so they are working on recovering from injuries instead!
I have been more religious than I thought i would be with this plan. I occasionally miss a workout here and there but for the most part im kicking my butt up and down some of our hilly durham roads... its great to have Ashley with me ...I would encourage you guys to find group rides etc soon. Its a WAY more enjoyable experience when you have someone bitching about the hill with you :)
I hope to have more pictures of us training up soon.
Well, thats all I had just wanted to HI EVERYONE. Get off your butts (bikes) and write something once in a while, i need some inspiration!!!

hell yeah 24 weeks

Yes Jill the 24 weeks start today. I took the weekend off just because I could. I will try and send out the rest of the plan so that you have the whole thing! I am excited - more later
p.s. catherine - have you found a tattoo place near the race ???
jill have you chosen the secret spot ;)

Fitzy Plan begins...24 weeks and COUNTING!!!

Well my ripped ladies,

According to my calculations, we begin the Fitzy plan for the remaining 24 weeks of our triathlon training. Am I right...or am I right? 24 weeks! Jeez - we're 1/3 of the way done with it! So, I was looking at the workout plans that Shef sent out and I'm already excited. It's less time than the other program I was using before and I'm glad to start focusing on some higher intensity, but shorter workouts. 8 weeks of base training before we move into the build phase. But let's not get carried away here...one day at a time and today is REST DAY! Now that is sure a nice way to make Mondays a little nicer. :)

So here is my question I'd like to pose. The workouts, especially this week, aren't very long so if there is a 30 min swim and a 40 min bike, I'd like to do it all at once. And I think we're supposed to do the "all at once" sessions on the weekends, too. So if it is listed "swimming" and then "running." Do we do it in that order? Or can we run and then swim? I'm sure it's not a HUGE difference overall. But the part of me that doesnt want to be wet and then put on running clothes would prefer to end with swimming. But the part of me that is thinking, "swimming comes first so it would be better to use those muscles and then practice the rest of it because it'll be similar to race day" thinks I should swim first and then do the run/bike. So - suggestions?! What are you guys planning on doing?

And who is judging the photos? I'm pretty impressed with all of them here.

And I'm also glad someone else will be doing the same training program...maybe that will make it less lonely. Goll, those bikes can be brutal. COME ON SNOW...MELT!!!

Tri me,
jill :)

Look at that 6 pack!!!! And no Jill, not of beer :)

Catherine's entry to the photo contest

Attention Beth and Ashley

We really need you to submit your picture by the end of this week. I think i have found a judge ...

Can I still do a picture?

Sorry guys! I was in Ohio for the past weekish living at a retirement home for a little bit with my grandparents...so was unable to take a pic! I don't have to be in the judging, but I may do one this weekend just for fun :) Jill...I love the ice cream pic. The funny thing is, I could see you really doing that! And Shef...look at those GUNS! Woweee!

So guess what. I gots ANOTHER stress fracture! This is the 4th one I've had in my hip :( And I wasn't even running that much. UGH. Welp, it's to the bike and the pool for me for a little while.

Hope all is well with you guys! and i'll get the pic posted this weekend :)

Ouch

So...I was trying to bench Jake and he was going to help me with this picture. But, I mean, once he grabbed the beer and ice cream, he was just too heavy. He squished me. I may seriously have a black eye tomorrow because he smashed my goggles into my face and clearly wasn't in a hurry to get up when I was screaming, "OUCH OUCH OUCH!!!" And this ended the photo shoot. :)

Hydration

Must stay hydrated.

Motivation

Faster...harder...stronger.
No prob.

IRON WHAT...?? a little help from my friends

my coach

IRON WHAT??????

Louisville watch out, here I come.

picture contest ends at midnight!!

Reminder - contest ends tonight at midnight- get your pictures in and your giggles on.

If you cannot make the deadline - excuses will be entertained on case by case basis.

cant wait!!!

bike me sideways

Sounds good to me...we have until Sunday at midnight to post the picture. HAHAHA, hilarious.

And I LOVE cliff block shots! I've been experimenting with different stuff on my weekends. I had the sharkie gummies a few weekends ago and they were ok, but they would get too stuck in my teeth. I had the cliff block shots this weekend (also strawberry flavor!) and loved them. Do you eat a package an hour, Shef? I am not a big fan of the gu stuff, but I had a raspberry "hammer gel" on Saturday and that wasn't too bad. I also tried the sportsdrink, HEED. I didn't like my lemon flavor, but I felt great during a long run when I was drinking it. And Beth -I love the idea of a looking-forward-to yummy drink. But what's a good recovery drink like that?! Anybody have any suggestions?

In other news...well, I don't think I have any. I think Jake and I are going to go rock climbing this weekend! Yep, it's Monday morning and I'm counting down to the weekend....

Miss you girls!

clif shot blocks

The best gummies out there... better than gummy bears, better than starburts Jill!!
I love the strawberry and have to hide them from bryan or he will eat them like candy!!

Deadline for photo contest

The deadline is next sunday 2/14 by midnight, incase you are canoodling all day with your sweetheart and you need till midnight !

Hellllo Hellllllo

Sorry girls! I've been MIA lately. I started writing a post the other day and I thought it saved it...but it didn't, so I'm gonna rewrite it :)

Jill....excellent idea. When do you want the due date to be?? I'm going to be gone the next week and a half....so I may need a little extra time.

Things are going well here. Luckily, Robbie is training for a half Ironman so I have a little help with training, however, I do it mostly on my own. So, I feel ya Jill!

Also, thank you so much for all the information! Very helpful :) I also got some tidbits of info that I would also like to share with you...but it's not nearly as in depth as your Jill :) That was pretty close to another Germany email :)

So....what I found out:

1. Find a yummy recovery drink that you like. It was suggested by Andrew (Kimmy's bf/profession triathlete/will be joining you all in KY) to find one of these drinks and have it either is your transition stations during the actual race or as one of your water bottles on your bike. He said that way it's kind of like a yummy treat during the race that you look forward to AND it's high in calories and a good replenishing drink.

2. Advice from my dad (he's done four of these dang things) don't drink TOO much water. You don't want to dilute your body too much lowering your salt to water ratio. The salt tablets are important. Drink when your thirsty, and don't force yourself to drink when you are not.

3. When on the trainer or doing a long bike, practice one legged bike strokes. All this means is petal like 25 (or 50 or whatever) strong on your right, while the left leg just kind of goes along with it, then switch. This will give your legs a rest...but you'll still be moving along.

4. Like Jill said, practice your nutrition habits on the bike/run. Andrew suggested cliff nuggets or whatever works for you.

Hmm...I think he said more things, but I forget. I'll post as I remember.

Miss you all :) And I'll start working on my picture!!!

Challenge...

Well hello ladies,

Shef - that was as an excellent post and I kind of wanted to hug her too...anyone who still has the energy to shout "asshole" at the end of the workout is good in my books and it's AWESOME that you have a training buddy. Beth...Catherine...how does that look on your end?!? I'm flying solo over here and it's pretty hard. I asked Jake to come with me yesterday for a little bit and he looked at me like I had a chicken on my head. Ah, I miss you girls!

So I have a little challenge for you that will hopefully get us laughing a little bit. I need laughing. Let's have a little contest. I propose the first official PHOTO contest. This should be a picture of you in your most intimidating triathlete pose. The more serious you are, the more hilarious it will probably be. You may have props in your picture but no photoshop or anything - pure reality of your intimidating nature.

What do you say? I already have a plan for mine....

:)

7 months to Louisville..ode to my training partner

I have a new rule for this blog, everyone has to post atleast once every 2 weeks. I miss hearing from all of you.

After having all of you at Denidoo to train with I can get pretty lazy/ unmotivated some days. I have always tried to find someone to ride or run with just to motivate me when im feeling blah. They have been too fast, too slow, not competitive enough, too nice etc, all that made me not want to work out with them. For example after a hard run on the beach one thanksgiving Bryan tells me that he didnt get much of a workout so he was going to run sprints after we were done...I almost punched him in the face.
When I signed up for the Ironman I spent a good hour convincing Ashley (who I had gotten to know a little bit) to do the race with me. She signed up and I got nervous. what if she doesnt work out as a training partner and then im stuck??!!
This past wednesday I realized I had met my match. Ashley and I had enjoyed a run and a ride together before, chatting more than working, but nothing like the track workout we had. Weather was perfect, Duke track team was just getting done, lights were on and we were ready to do 5x800. 2 weeks before that we had done 4x800's and gone ~4:30s.
We started running and clocked the first at 4:00. Soon we did 3:55 and 3:52. I was hurting and told my body ok just one more. I turned to ashley and asked how many she wanted to do- she looked me in the eye and matter of factly said 2 more, we did four last time we can do five this time.
My mind cringed at the news, especially because this Ashley girl was pushing the pace and I had to pull out 2 more?? Ashley decided to set the pace for no 4 and I would for no 5. Ofcourse my competitive nature pushed me to keep up we her and we clocked in at 3:48 for No 4. I almost puked a lung out and defn saw stars. We clocked No 5 at ~3:45 (correct me if im wrong ASH). The most awesome part of the whole 800 was on No 5 when i decided to just sprint from the start, forget pacing, and took it out fast. I heard Ashley yell next to me "Asshole". It made me want to stop and hug her because after all these years I found someone who fit my match for a perfect workout partner. Something we would have done at practice back in the day!
Really had i not had Ashley I would have altered my plan on wednesday, would have gone home, had dinner and gone to bed. I guess the ironman is all about finding your motivation and I certainly found mine. I am so excited for the next 7 months!!!!!!


(excuse me but I just proof read this and sounds like im about to propose... well endorphins do crazy things to your mind right? )

Hugs to all

im teaching my dogs to run

Ashley and I have been slowly getting moving, the weather has been gorgeous (66F today) enough to run and ride outside. We got in a run (6miles) last week and a 30 mile ride on the weekend. We have been trying to do some spin here and there and lift here and there, trying not to get too serious too soon- i'm certainly the burn out type!
I had my first crash on the ride on sunday, poor ashley helped me roll off the road. We were going pretty slow and I tipped over, so my butt is sore for all the wrong reasons! Im glad i got my first crash out of the way just getting the wind knocked out of me!!
I also had an exciting day on sunday as Bryan took me to look at bikes. Currently I ride a $300 le monde that i bought from a traithlete at a bike swap...works amazing but i think im serious enough about this sport to try something a little more..fancy. Ashey's sweet TT bike had me swooning, however since my balance and bike skills are pathetic there will be no shopping till around April/ May. Clearly some practice will be good :)
I cant agree more with that tri lady about fueling, so everytime you ride or run practice eating and drinking. I have this fanny pack water bottle thing i got at a running store and at the cost of looking like a grandma, i stay hydrated on the long runs.. i am doing a half marathon in march and a half iron in May to make sure my fueling is working..
Anyways hope this note finds you all as sore as I am, getting back into shape is fun. I am enjoying working out hard so I can eat desert every night.
hugs
Shef
p.s. my mother thanks you for the call out J-boo

Scoop from the inside...and I don't mean ice cream.

Yo vanilla's,

How is the training regimen going for you girls? Getting long/hard yet? The weekdays are fine (although it's still hard getting up early) but the weekends...uff da! My bike on Saturday was a 40 miler and let me tell you, my butt hurt. That's not even close to half-way! And then I had to go for a 30 min. run after that sucker. Yowsers.
Anyway, when I finished with that nonesense I met up with that girl, Val, who did the Louisville ironman this past summer. She is such a sweetheart and she fielded my flying questions for over an hour with a huge smile on her face, assuring me that when she did her first ironman she had someone she asked all of these same questions to and she was happy to give me anything she's picked up along the way. I should have taken copious notes, but I'll give you the rundown of the highlights still fresh in my mind:
1 - if you aren't going to drive, she recommended a Tri Bike ship that brings your bike right to the bike zone and makes sure you are all set.
2 - Throw some "margarita and tires" parties...basically you drink margaritas and practice changing a flat tire on your bike many many many many times. She said that is one thing you are expected to know how to do and if you aren't worried about it, it won't cause you any more stress...just pull over, change it, and keep going. The back wheel is apparently a little trickier because of the gears. She said she always brings 2 extra tires and pumps incase you get 2 flats.
3 - Run/walk ratio during the marathon. She said she did 4 minute run, 1 min walk. Others run for the mile inbetween each stop for fuel...but she said she needed more breaks.
4 - DON'T GO CRAZY ON THE BIKE. She has a triathlon coach and she said he drills it into them that "the race is all during the run." If you make up a half-hour on the bike...chances are you will lose an hour on the run. She said it's usually around mile 90 when people either lose their race or get it in gear.
5 - Train a lot on the bike in the summer....lots of long rides to get your body used to the position...not just your legs. She did 100 mile rides a couple times a month leading up to her race.
6 -Nutrition. The scaries party. She said 200-250 calories/hour. Your body can't absorb more than that and you need at least that to keep on chugging. Mix it up with liquid and some solids and don't forget salt tablets. she does 2 each hour. She also sets her watch to beep every 10 minutes telling her to drink/eat something...force-feeding is good for you becacuse otherwise you won't feel like eating/drinking and that's when you run into trouble.
7 - Chicken broth. Drink the chicken broth during the run.
8 - She did get sick at one point during her training. She tried to go through it and ended up with bronchitis. Stop if you're sick...even if it's a whole week and let your body recover. She said most training plans overtrain you about 10% on purpose because...it's life...things come up and we'll be ready.
9 - The volunteers ROCK. She said they make your day totally worth it and they know what to do and do it so well. In the transition areas, they'll help you change and hand you the clothes in the order you want them (also note about this - she wore a tri suit for the whole thing, but she said some people change after the bike because you want to be as comfortable as possible throughout the run), and they'll help you put on sunscreen, make sure you can open your gu's and cliff shots, etc. One of her friends got sick on the run and a volunteer came and sat with him for 20 minutes until he got back up and started running again.
10 - Overplan what you may need. We get color-coordinated bags for each part of the race and she puts as much as she can in each one because she'd rather be safe than sorry. Food/drink in all of them, long t-shirt before the run incase it's cold, extra sunglasses, chapstick, extra socks in case it rains, etc. etc.

I know i'm missing a whole lot more -but that's the top 10 I can think of at the moment. I left feeling...well scared...mostly about nutrition.

I just ate a bag of gummies...why would I be worried about nutrition?? :)

Miss you girls!
word to your mother

a good resource..

I don't know how many of you get the triathlete magazine. Along with the obvious promotion of some pretty sweet bikes there are some GREAT training tips. If you don't get the mag, http://triathlon.competitor.com/ is where you can get all the training articles... try some yoga the next time you are swamped with work and need to do something...

Happy training
32 weeks to LOUISVILLE!!