Up the Hill, Down the Hill, Around the Hill, and Back Again...

This weekend we rode the 100 mile route at the 12th Annual Harpeth River Ride. To say that it was tough is an understatment. I think the organizers found every hill in the area and made us climb them. The ride started at a church in Thompson Station and made a big loop throughout Williamson and Davidson County. The plan for the day was to do race day simulation so I was going to ride hard and only stop one time to pee and fill up my water bottles. I wanted to see if I could do the ride with only one stop because in Lake Placid I only plan to stop one time at the half way mark to pick up my food for loop number two.

The ride was crazy hilly. Some of the hills were kind of laughable...did they really expect us to ride our bikes up these hills? I made it up every single hill and stuck to my plan of only stopping once. The worst hill was at mile 75 and at the top they had a rest stop and a guy taking your picture as you got to the top. I wanted to give him the finger but I smiled and kept on going. There was a nice section of newly paved road that was awesome. I got up to 43 mph on my bike which is a record for me. After the ride I had to run 2 miles which I was dreading but it felt sooooo good to get off the bike and run. I did those two miles at a 9 minute pace I think because my legs were so happy for the change.

On Sunday Dana, Bert, Lisa, Rolf, Julie, Kathleen, Rob, and I met at Percy Warner Park to knock out a 20 mile run. I had a bad run last weekend so I was determined to make this a great run. We ran from the stone gates, to the back of Radnor Lake, back to the gates, up in the park to do the 5.8 loop, and then finished off the last mile or so on Page Road. I only stopped 3 times to fill up on water and I didn't walk at all...even on 3 mile hill in the park which I was hitting at about mile 15.5. My legs and feet were killing me by the end but I'm glad I had a good run. I averaged about a 10:28 average per mile which is pretty good considering the distance and what I had done the day before. After the run we went for breakfast at Whole Foods and then went to the Maryland Farms YMCA to float in their cold pool. It was awesome.

Sunday night (after a nap) we met at Bert's to watch our Couer D'Alene Ironman friends cross the finish line up in Idaho. It was great to watch everyone on the live feed online and see them finish such a huge race....very inspiring...very motivating! 4 weeks to go until Lake Placid....

Vegas Baby!

I'm going to Vegas!

I found out today that I qualified in Georgia for the Halfmax National Championships which is the national competition for the half ironman distance. Woo hoo!! The race is just outside of Vegas on October 18th...my birthday weekend! I'm not sure how I'm getting there, where I'm staying, and how I'm going to pay for it but I'm going. I'll figure those details out after July 20th.

Ok, now back to our regularly scheduled programming...Ironman training....

Rainy Saturday...Hot Sunday...

This weekend was an "easy" weekend! We only had to ride 60 miles and run 4 on Saturday and then run 18 on Sunday. It was so nice to be done working out by 11:30 on Saturday. We didn't know what to do with ourselves! Julie, Dana, and I ventured out at 6:30am on Saturday and got caught in a couple rain storms but it was a welcomed change from last weekend and the heat. I'd ride all day in the rain before I'd have to ride an hour in 90+ degree weather.

Sunday I volunteered at the Du Run Run duathlon which was a fun morning but after standing in the heat for four hours that morning I was pretty tired and when I went to run my 18 miler I was toast at mile 3. All of my training buddies ran early and were finishing when I was starting which was hard to stay motivated to run by myself when they were all done. I had to stop several times for various reasons most of which was due to not eating properly that morning, not eating properly the night before (mexican food...eek), and overheating. I started from Athlete's House and ran down Music Row, up 21st, through Hillsboro Village and at that point I stopped and layed down in the grass for a couple minutes. I was only about 5 miles into my run...not a good sign. I felt much better after I took a few minutes to rest and made it to the water stop at Kathleen's house ok. I then got to Percy Warner Park and was toast again. I had to lay down in the shade again and at that point I had stomach cramps and a side stitch. I got up to run down Page Rd. and luckily Rolf and Lisa were in the car trying to find me on their way home. I was so happy to see them. I got in the car and called it a day. I only got 11 miles in but I just couldn't do any more than that...not yesterday. I know I can do the mileage so I didn't feel like I had anything to prove out there. I spent the rest of the night taking naps, going to the grocery store, and regretting the mexican food I ate the night before.

Roasted, Toasted, Fried, and Sore...

This weekend was a whirlwind of triathlon activities...

On Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30am to head over to Vanderbilt for the Middle Tennessee Youth Triathlon. It was a complete success and I think everyone involved was very happy! We finished up around 10:30am and I went home for a shower, lunch, and a quick nap before I had to go run 16 miles at 4:00pm. It was about 95+ degrees outside with no clouds in the sky so it made for a pretty miserable run. We didn't need to run hills but Julie and I decided that a flat run in the sun would be worse than a shaded, yet hilly, run in Percy Warner Park. We ran the 11.2 in the park and then ran Belle Meade Blvd to get the rest of our mileage in.

On Sunday morning I woke up at 4:15am and got myself ready for my first 112 mile bike ride. Rolf, Julie, and I started at 6:45am and did a two loop course that I had mapped out earlier in the week. We spread out from each other because we were riding different paces so we all did the ride basically by ourselves which is good mental training but it makes for a tough day. You kind of start getting a little loopy after not talking to someone for a couple hours...sometime I talk to myself which helps a little. The first loop was ok...yes it was hot and hilly but it was bearable. That all went out the window when I got to the start of the second loop where I could turn left to go to the cars or turn right for another 60 miles on my own in the heat, sun, hills, ect. To the right I went and by then it was about 10am and it was getting hotter and hotter by the minute. I was roasting out there. If there ever was a day to test my mental toughness this was it. At some points I was only going about 4 mph which I'm not sure if that even qualifies as moving forward but the heat was just sucking the life out of me. I have never been so happy to see the old guys hanging out at Fly. The men in there thought we were crazy and I think at that point I fully agreed. Rolf was there as well refueling so we rode into Puckett's together. After a fuel stop there we headed back to the cars....those beatiful beautiful cars. Rolf went to pick up Julie who was at a BBQ joint about 12 miles down the road. She called it day after about 95 miles.

On the way home I was going to stop by the YMCA pool to just sit and cool off but I couldn't even muster the energy required to do that. I did stop at Sonic and got my Hot Fudge Peanut Butter Milkshake which really just rocks my world after a hard workout. I can't tell you how good that tasted after the day that I had just survived. I got home around 4pm and stood in a cold shower.

My skin is sunburned, my legs are sore, my body is just all over tired. I really feel that if I can survive a day like yesterday, I can survive a day in Lake Placid. The key is to not give in to the misery...don't let the heat win...don't let the pain win...it will all be over at some point and you'll be stronger because of it. Bring it on Lake Placid...I'm ready for you!

My sunburned forhead...yes those are stripes...from the airvents in my helmet.

A good look huh?

Georgia on My Mind...

This weekend Julie, Coach Kathleen, and I traveled to Macon, GA for the Rock 'N Rollman Georgia Half Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run). Dana met us down there and my parents made the trek from Augusta. All I can say is that was by far the hardest race I've done....

We arrived on Friday afternoon to the race site where we picked up our packets and checked our bikes into the transition area. My Mom and Dad arrived just as we were heading down to the lake for a quick swim which ended up being the best thing we did in preparation for the event. The water turned out to be really warm but not so warm that it was gross. Very refreshing...and clean...which is a nice change from Percy Priest Lake! After our swim we headed to the hotel to check in and change for a quick dinner at a restaurant down the road. We had a good meal and then it was early to bed...

I think I woke up every hour during the night afraid that I was going to oversleep. At 5:00am I finally gave up and started getting ready for race day. When we got to the race site they said the water was 77.5 degrees and the cut off for being allowed to wear wetsuits is 78. It was already hot outside so we took the advice of Coach Kathleen and decided to forgoe the wetsuits because we didn't want to bake ourselves during the swim. That turned out to be a great decision because some people didn't even make it past the swim....they were so overheated. After the swim we had to run up a big boat ramp out of the water into the transition area. I should have walked it because my heart rate was so jacked up after running up that boat ramp that I couldn't breath for the first 25 miles of the hilly and windy bike course. My bike split was super slow because of that....lesson learned! The bike course was hilly, windy, hot, and had no shade...other than that it was great...ha. I was so ready to be done with that bike.

The run was pretty bad because by the time I started running it was in the heat of the day. Georgia heat is like no other heat...you feel like you are sizzling or melting. It's not fun. We had to run 3 out and back sections so you could see all of the faster people in front of you...the people who never walk and finish hours in front of you on most days. Not that day. I've never seen so many people humbled to a walk. No one was running. I felt pretty bad for the first half of the run but finished somewhat strong at the end. I had heat exhaustion, a bad sunburn, and was pretty miserable but I got it done. It was great to see mom and dad and Coach Kathleen at each transition and the end cheering me on.

For as bad as I felt I ended up getting 2nd in the Athena Division which I think might qualify me for Nationals in October...I'm waiting on confirmation for that. My mom ended up getting my award for me because I was so tired of waiting around for them to announce the Athena division. I walked away to get my bike from transition and no longer than two minutes later they had announced my name...haha...oh well.

As I was out there doing this race and feeling pretty bad all I could think of was how in the world I was going to survive Lake Placid in July. Luckily some friends of mine that did the race this weekend who have also done Ironman races said that the race in Georgia was so much harder than any Ironman they've ever done. So that at least made me feel better....if I can survive Georgia heat I can survive Lake Placid.

(a little post race treat...cold fresh strawberries...yumm!)

The perfect day...

Today is a perfect day. It is Memorial Day and I got to sleep in. No alarm clock...no pool wanting to be swum in...no bike wanting to be ridden...no shoes to be run in. It is 1:24pm and I'm still in my pajamas, laying on the couch, and watching TV. It is pouring outside so I think the lake swim that we had planned on for 3:30 is going to be called off...or atleast I kind of hope so anyways.

On Saturday we went up to Clarksville and road the CRAM century ride. 100 miles of flat, windy, misery. We rode fast but I've decided I like hillier courses more than flats. With flat rides you are always working, always pedaling. There aren't many opportunities to coast and rest your legs. I also wore a pair of shorts that I usually don't wear on such long rides....yeah...bad idea. I won't get into details but the seams of the shorts basically wore through my skin. It's not chaffing...it's beyond that. And it hurts...enough said.

Yesterday we ran from Bongo Java on Belmont to Bongo Java in East Nashville and back. I felt awesome considering the 100 mile bike ride from the day before. I met Melissa and Carla for brunch at the Pancake Pantry afterwards and it was, as usual, fantastic. Last night Bert had a cookout at his house for everyone and it was awesome. Lots of hanging out, eating, drinking, talking about upcoming races, and shaving Bert's legs. Yes, Bert got his legs shaved. I'm not sure if he'll remember that happening as of this morning....

This week will be a light training week because I'm doing the Georgia Half Ironman on Saturday. Mom and Dad are coming down to Macon to see me race. I'm really excited about them coming because they weren't able to come to Gulf Coast last year. It will be interesting to see how I do at this race compared to last year. I feel so much stronger this year and I've trained so hard. There are 8 Athenas signed up right now so I have some competition out there for sure. This is a qualifier for Nationals so if I place high enough I could possibly compete in the National Championships the weekend of my birthday in Vegas. I'm trying not to think about that too much but it would be pretty cool.

Until then....I'm enjoying my Memorial Day at home, resting up, catching up on sleep, and enjoying the rainy weather.

Four what?

I have decided that there are certain hours of the day that should really be left unknown, unvisited, and just downright unexplored. I have found this time of day to be in the wee hours of the morning around 4:30am. I don't know if you've ever really been awakened at this time of the morning on a regular basis but holy crap does it hurt. (I wanted to insert a photo of my alarm clock going off at 4:30am this morning because I thought it would be a nice touch to this blog but I was too tired to turn the camera on...not kidding).

Most of us have had to get up at this hour at some point to maybe catch a flight or what not and others of us have stayed up that "late" after an all night lovefest with alcohol and friends...or if you're me, an all night lovefest with your friends sans alcohol but with lots of chauffering. The difference with those situations is that most people don't have to do it on a regular basis AND most of the time the latter is on the weekend so you have another day to "sleep it off."

Every Wednesday for the months of May and June I get to see what happens in the world at 4:30am and let me tell you, so far you aren't missing much. I'm doing a series of indoor cycling classes where you bring your own bike and it gets hooked up to these special indoor trainers and a computer system. The computer system changes the resistance on the trainer which makes it harder or easier on the rider. We watch an image that is projected on the wall that shows where the hills are and all kinds of data that I won't bore you with here. It is an incredible workout for an hour and a half and pretty much kicks our butts every morning.

So back to 4:30am...Did you know that "After Midnight with Blair Garner" is STILL on the radio at that time which means a program that started just two hours after I went to bed is still playing?! That's just wrong. Also at that time TV programming hasn't switched to back to "normal" TV. It is all infomercials and "paid programming" which means the other morning while I tried to wake up and eat some breakfast I learned all about how my colon is completely stopped up and basically killing me from the inside out. BUT...if I ordered this stuff it would clean out my colon (which probably means I'd be on the loo for a week) and I would look as gaunt and unhealthy as the man selling it. Let me know if you'd like for me to purchase on your behalf. I believe it is called the "Almighty Cleanse" and no I don't know if God is endorsing this product or not but it must be a religious experience based on the title. I can only imagine.

So all that to say, getting up at 4:30am hurts and makes a day very long. The good thing is that doing these classes is making me a stronger cyclist which is great. If I have to feel (and maybe act) like this crabby baby below once a week it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Only 9 weeks to go....