11 Days and counting...

Have been using this since IMFL. I can't figure out my "One Thing" for IMWA yet...I would like to say "place in my AG" but feel too intimidated to do so:

The One Thing (by Rich Strauss of Crucible Fitness)
The run is where the rubber meets the road. Let's consider the entire Ironman starting field and the likelihood of these athletes running to their full potential on race day. A percentage will be eliminated due to improper training. The classic example is training for a marathon, not a 26.2 mile run after a 112 mile bike ride. Another percentage will be eliminated by nutritional and pacing mistakes that begin to express themselves either late in the bike, or mid way through the run.
So when we reach T2, we have a small subset of the entire field who have created the opportunity for a successful run through the skillful manipulation of many variables: training, physical fitness, nutrition and pacing. Of this subset, what then determines who runs to their potential and who does not? The One Thing.
First, a successful Ironman run = slowing down as little as possible. Not slowing down is almost entirely a function of maintaining focus, not fitness. If you are not cramping up on the run, you don't need to be running very fast to have a successful marathon, by Ironman standards. Despite what you might think, the difference between a good and bad marathon time is just continuing to move forward, as best you can, for the entire 26.2 miles. Sorry, but that's about as sexy as it gets out there.
You MUST expect your body to have a conversation with your head at some point during the run:
Body to Mind: "Ok, I'm truly suffering here. I can keep going, but you need to give me a very good reason to continue suffering like this."
Mind to Body: "We suffer because of the One Thing. The pain won't last forever. Just keep doing the best you can do and we'll get there."
My One Thing
The One Thing is whatever has motivated you to do this to yourself in the first place. Before the race you need to take a long, hard look in the mirror and identify what your One Thing is. And this is no time for bullshit. Be completely honest because your body will play your bluff when the chips are down. You can't lie to yourself out there.
After four Ironman finishes, I have identified my One Thing as very concrete goals, time or place based.
Ironman Florida, '00: I came off the bike with a shot at going sub 11hrs for my first IM. I used this goal to maintain complete focus on my run and had a successful day, despite donating blood 18 days before the race and to this day not remembering miles 13 through 22. One Thing = sub 11:00, determined in T2.
Ironman California, '01: 30-34 AG qualifying time in 2000 was 10:20. I wanted to qualify but wasn't completely committed to it. At about mile 10 of the run I had seen many 30-34 calves pass me and knew I wasn't going to qualify. I began to lose my focus and ran into some nutritional issues by mile 22. Picked myself up and finished in...10:19. Just below the qualifying standard but a year too late :-) One Thing = Kona, but I wasn't completely honest with myself. After that goal become unrealistic, I should have set an alternate objective of sub 10:10, as a tool to maintain my focus.
Ironman Wisconsin, '02: Not confident in my run fitness and expecting a dogfight with Pedder. However, I came off the bike 15th overall, with a very good chance of qualifying or even standing on the AG podium. Maintained complete focus and ran 3:45 on about 3:30 marathon fitness. One Thing = Kona and AG podium, determined in T2.
Ironman Hawaii, '03: Injury and first time on the island combine to set my goal at having a successful race. One Thing = no execution errors. Without a concrete, quantifiable goal I struggled to maintain my focus and failed to do so, relative to my performances at Florida and Wisconsin. I was a machine on those days, but not in Kona. My One Thing became pain and the desire to make it stop. I had a strong last 5 miles, considering.
Your One Thing
My One Thing may or may not be yours. I know what mine is now and will plan my race goals around it to increase my potential for a successful race.
How do you determine your One Thing?
Identify why you want to do the race before signing up. Are you doing it for you or to prove something to someone else? Be completely honest with yourself. "I'm a doing this Ironman so I can earn a unique title that is mine forever." One Thing = title of Ironman.
Take that One Thing and mate it with your race goals and expectations: "The title is important to me, not the time. I want to finish with a smile on my face."
Remind yourself, daily, of your One Thing and the race goals and expectations you have built around it. Through this process your One Thing will provide clarity of purpose to your training. When the Phunometer is pegged during a 6 hour long ride, you'll know why you are still out there.
In your mental rehearsals before the race, visualize the conversation between Mind and Body when the Body begins to question the Mind's commitment to the One Thing. Prepare your rebuttal beforehand.
On race day, continually remind yourself of the One Thing. Focus completely on its accomplishment. Remember, you can never disappoint your friends or family. They will be proud of you regardless. However, you can let yourself down. In the end, the best we can do is follow our commitment to our One Thing.

Last big Push..

This was on the schedule for yesterday: 5000 yard swim, 120 mile bike, 4 mile run brick after bike.  A month ago I would have said that was crazy, never could be done. But as the days of training have rolled on, so has my strength and confidence. Lastly being the B2B half IM, in which my confidence got a BIG boost with a 2nd place finish and a PR. So H & I were on track to do this thing yesterday, even after I obsessively looked at the weather the day before and decided to go with Accuweather, which is not necessarily so-but it said partly cloudy all day-humph! Anyway we knew it could rain anyway so came dressed accordingly.

We learned that the Westside gym does not open until 7:00 AM on Saturdays-are you kidding me? Guess you Westsiders all like to sleep in after a Friday night out...the peeps I know out there do NOT! Ok so we started at 6:00 AM at the Eastside gym, where I guess folks like to work out early on the weekends. We got to the pool at 6:10 and already all the lanes were taken-say what? We were pretty surprised but oh, well off to tackle to 3 miles of swimming. H decided we should break it down into 1000, 500-repeat times 3 after 500 warm-up. This proved to be a little faster, as we knew we had a big day in front of us. 1 hour and 50 minutes later I was in the shower and drying my hair. We arrived at the Westside gym and were off about 9:15. Who should we see but Steve B., who graciously rode with us the first 20 miles or so. He informed us cheerfully that the rain was coming at noon-thanks Steve..See our friend Joe is the local weatherman so Steve has the inside scoop..so much for not-so-accuweather.com! It was cold to start, cloudy but not so bad. I warmed up quickly-that wasn't so hard. Steve also informed us it was goathead season-thanks Steve! More flats to worry about.. We got north to Bernalillo and beyond, heading out to San Felipe or Hollywood Casino. The clouds were all around us, but no rain yet. As we got to the dog part of the ride I saw a dog and we immediately considered turning back.(one of our friends got bit by a dog out there a couple of months ago and is still recovering-scary) Then we saw about 30 riders in a pack going the other way and let them get between us and the dog, who never seemed to see any of us..So got to the casino and H (who is never in a hurry, ever at stops) said Quick let's go-the rain is coming! I gulped down a Red Bull and then by golly I was ready to GO! I had this never-ending hunger the whole ride. I was not tired, my legs never hurt but I ate 3 bars, about 10 powergels, and 4 bottles of Mark Allen drink-and was still hungry from time to time. We shot back to Bernalillo into a headwind-of course..Then came the sprinkles. Nothing too strong, nothing that ever felt uncomfortable so we just kept plugging away. If I was not in such a hurry, I would have taken pictures, it was surreal..Dark clouds all around us and no real rain to speak of..We stopped minimally, just to eat, adjust, etc. By the time we were almost back to the car again-midpoint, the sun was out-yay! So this helped us make the decision that indoor riding for the next 4 hours was definitely out-we were off to head south!! After replenishing drinks, goos and adding arm warmers, extra hoodie, wool socks and warmer gloves I was ready for the next 50 miles at least.

We took off south down the bike trail, where it had apparently rained. The farther south we got, the wetter the road. We were headed toward very dark clouds, hmm, not a good sign..And instinctually, I figured wet leaves are probably slippier so we took it easy over the massive amounts of yellow wet leaves on the trail. It started getting colder..I had no idea what time it was at any point of the ride. I just blindly rode on..We saw at least 2 people fixing flats-not a good sign..One good thing about riding on the bike trail in crappy weather on a Saturday-there were hardly any people-imagine that! We hit the road to take us out to our southern Casino Isleta. I thought I knew a shortcut, which took us about 3 miles out of our way in what appeared to be a not so good area of town. It was an adventure of sorts and we finally found our way out of South Valley industrial land. Still no rain but very dark clouds around us. I felt warm and comfortable though so on we went. Just as we turned the corner to go to the gas station at the turnaround, H says I've got a flat.. Oh sucky bummer! We assessed the situation at the stop and changed the flat, only to have it flat again. Oh shit..after about 4 air cartridges (note to self-do not keep spent air cartridges in Bento Box) and another tube we held our breath and the tube held air-whew! By now it was raining-like real rain...Quickly we took off north on Broadway street that although sounds good in the movies, in these parts is like taking a chance on life..The cars ZOOM by and actually try and scare you as you ride on the not so clean shoulder. I was pretty worried at this point that we may not make it home alive..FINALLY we got back on the trail. It was raining, the sun came out and then I saw it-a rainbow! We were riding toward the end of the rainbow! How cool is that? It was sign-we were going to the end of the rainbow!!! A good omen for sure. Then came the wet leaves again and we gingerly made it through that. I was keenly aware the sun was sure going down fast-still raining...Then it started getting dark..About 4 miles from the car, the rain stopped but so did the light..Finally H said I can't see anything.. Oh-not a good sign. I got in front and tried to guide although I could not see either. About 1.5 miles from the car we turned up the trail, into lights from cars that blinded us. So we walked about a mile until we could see again under the streetlights. As we headed through the parking lot I said We lived to see our car! H looked down and announced 104 miles! We did it! Not the 120 we were suppose to do but with the elements and flats-that was pretty good and we were happy. I could have kept going-that is how good my legs felt. But I was tired and hungry and said I wanted to quit. H said Oh no we are not quitting-we got this far-we are going to finish the workout! This is new for us-I am usually the slave driver. OK, suck it up-I told myself. We gathered our stuff, headed into the gym. I am sure as bedraggled as we looked, we must have looked like hobos or something as we checked in to do our treadmill run. I hopped on the treadmill and to my surprise my legs felt fine. I ran/walked 4 miles in 49 minutes..not so bad.Then H said Look outside..It was POURING RAIN! Wow-we just made it! My legs did start to get tired at the end and man I was HUNGRY!!! There were not enough powergels to ease my hunger..We both looked at each other at the end and at 7:00 PM, we were done!!

Home-quickly rinsed off the oh so dirty bikes, got our stuff inside and I ate and ate and ate dinner. We both felt great-like you do after a race but within 2 hours I crashed..really crashed.I was in bed by 9:15 and OUT! This morning my legs are sore-should have done that ice bath last night but just didn't have the energy after the    day...We are suppose to do a "36 mile recovery ride" which will be done at the gym because it is snowing  outside this AM.

IMWA here we come!!!

B2B Race Report..

We arrived Wednesday with a couple of our folks, Miguel and Lorraine. Margaret and Corey were already there with our bikes. They graciously drove our bikes in a van across the universe to this new home called North Carolina, where there is so much oxygen you feel like superstar when active. Soon the rest arrived and we settled into our 1970's version of a beach house. Comfortable, but old. The views from the house of the ocean was amazing! So we had Mark and Lorna, DP, Tim, Miguel and Lorraine, Margaret and Corey, Michael and Michi, Mark T. and Naomi, Orlando, H & I.
Athletes=12 Sherpas=3. The sherpas were so amazing, I cannot begin to tell how much of a difference they made! Lorna made us all cookies (twice) and dinner on Friday night. Now that is a sherpa! Corey kept us all organized on race day-he rocked!
On Thursday, we went swimming in the ocean channel for practice. The water was cool, but not impossibly cold. I ran into Vickie from blog land and that was a great surprise! Later, we went to check in and go to the athlete's dinner. Everything was extremely organized in the check in process, I think NAS could learn a lesson or two from the B2B folks in this department. The pre race dinner was great food, OK speaker (something about "recycling our passion"-kinda corny but OK). Loading 15 people into our "passenger van" was quite an art and Mark drove us downtown for the experience in Wilmington. I felt nervous all week about the logistics of getting us all everywhere. But it really did all work out like it was suppose to, despite with my anal retentive barking of orders..Our house on the beach was about 10 miles from downtown. I was really glad we opted for the quiet beach house as opposed to staying downtown with the nervous athletes. It was a good decision..
Friday was rather low key. Some went to the pre-race briefing and filled us in. We found T-1 and dropped off our bikes and "stuff" Again my nerves about ever seeing my "stuff" again were high, as this was a point to point race. The energy at this pre-race was much different than "Ironman" races (official ones). People did not seem as uptight-atmosphere more relaxed. Again Corey, Lorraine and Lorna had "a plan" on how to get us all to the race start and picked up. I was so grateful someone was in charge of this aspect as I had nightmares about not getting to the start on time or not getting us all home in one piece. We took a walk on the beach, had great food, entertainment per MG, who quizzed us all on deep and not so deep subjects post dinner conversation..It was so much fun..we had the best group of people I can ever imagine living under one roof for this experience. The memories of that will stay with me forever..
Sat. AM, the 7 Ironfolks were taken to T-1 at 5:00 AM. There was a "cool front" that had come in making the air temp in the 40s. That actually made for a cool start but perfect race day temp later..Corey came back and got the rest of us and we headed to T-1 way too early but "they" said T-1 would close at 7:00. Which made for a bus trip to the half IM start-there we were 90 minutes before our start time. That kind of sucked but we sat around and laughed and watched the Ironman swimmers ZOOM by with the current. Ahhhh, an easy swim I thought. And I was right. When my wave took off, the current was so strong I could hardly hold the line in the water but BOOM, we were off! I was trying to sight but having difficulty because of the sun. So I followed the two women ahead of me and thought Wow, I think I am third in this wave (new experience). Everytime I turned to breathe, I was acutely aware of the extra oxygen and this just gave me more encouragement. I did not have a watch on at this point so you could have told me I did the swim in 25 or 45 minutes. Come to find out the former was true. I climbed out a the ladder, they pulled off my wetsuit, I found my shoes, ran about 50 yards and crossed the mat.
Swim time: 27:51
The run to T-1 was 400 yards (thus the shoes). Then into transition, where I found my bike and proceeded to dink around trying to figure out whether to wear all the clothes I had brought. I made the quick decision to not put anything extra on, I felt warm. This turned out to be fine..Out of T-1 after what seemed to be a 10 min. transition.
Bike: It was suppose to be "pancake flat" Not so sure about that. There were about 4 little bridges to go over although I will say for the most part it was flat. There was suppose to be an aid station at mile 25. I had drunk all my water and when I did not see one I was pissed. The aid station ended up being at mile 30 but I suppose that was OK because I hauled ass to get to it. I stoppped, took off the plastice bags I had put on my aerobottle, which I had forgotten to take off, readjusted everything and it all felt like a new race. My Garmin HR monitor was not working, I do not know if this was the salt water or what but my HR either said 52 or 182. So I decided just to go at a pretty hard pace until it worked. It never did. At the turn around back to town we encountered the wind, of course but hey..we train in wind all the time..I told myself..About 6 miles from the end, a woman in my AG passed me. Oh no you're not! I thought and passed her..I knew I had probably PRd the swim, was PRing the bike and was going to walk/run the half marathon. I knew she would probably be a runner but damn if I was going to let her get me on the bike! We crossed over a bridge into transition (ow!). I crossed the mat and saw the Battleship. It was impressive all big and in the water..Didn't have much time to enjoy..
Bike time: 3:13 (this includes T-1 because the timing chips were screwed up or something) I think my real bike split was 3:04.
In this transition they guided me to my stuff-there it was! Magically had made it across town over the harbor into a new transition area-magic! I dumped it all out, sorted what I wanted and boom, was off on the run.
T-2: 3:40
Run: Now I had to got the the BR-bad! So I waited until the first aid station and had a nice little break, ate, drank, etc..even though my feet were kind of numb as the blood rushed to them, I felt great! Woman from bike in my age group passed me early on the run and I never saw her again-as expected..I planned my run, ran my plan. Run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute. My running was pretty fast for me, between 9 and 10 min miles. I loved doing it this way. My feet became un-numb. I was able to mentally stay focused and just chugged along. I met up with a few Outlaws going the other way. Caught up to Orlando and we walk/ran together for awhile. Two more pit stops and I felt so good. At the turn around I was so GLAD I was only doing the half. I knew I had it in me to finish the half, but to run a whole marathon like this, after pushing the bike, I knew would be tough. (Note to self: do NOT push the bike that hard in IMWA). The last hill was brutal before the last mile of the race. Now I started to see some of our Iron folks out on the run-that was really AWESOME! I knew we were all having good races. Being in kind of a race fog, I could not for the life of me figure out what my time was. I had fiddled with my Garmin at the beginning at the run (note to self: read the instructions) and finally got it to work in run mode but still could not get what the hell my time was..
At last I crossed the finish line and the clock said 6:50. So I was thinking, OK, I need to add 20 minutes to that since I started in a later wave. No that was not right, I had to subtract the 20 minutes..Duh!
Run time: 2:46
Final race time: 6:31-PR by 14 minutes!!
Wow! I was really happy about that. There were our sherpas and sweet Courtney at the finish line..It was a party! Pizza, doughnuts, lots of PRs. H finished not too long after me for his own PR. I heard in the background they were doing awards but didn't think much of it at first. Then Michi found out she WON her age group and I thought well maybe there is a chance? I had not seen anyone else on the race course except the one woman. There were 7 women signed up in my AG. Could I have placed? After some time they finally gave out the awards for my age group. When I saw bike woman go up for first place, H & I looked at each other and whooped! I got SECOND place..oh yes I did!! I do not think I have ever been so excited before in my life..I have not gotten an award in so long..this was surely a surprise! The award plaque is a piece of the original deck of the Battleship we were standing next to. And some dude in a military uniform gave me my award.. how cool is that..
Wow..very long story short, we managed to get back to the car eventually (the logistics of this is a nightmare Mr. Race Director)..Somehow got back and gathered all the Ironman folks, who many had a PR, finished there first and Miguel even won his age group! We made it "home" by 10:30. I was so exhausted but happy. All of us were abuzz with the day's events. It was a very well run race (except the post race wait to get on a trolley to the car)..Everyone had their stories, it was hard to go to bed!
After a slight meltdown when I realized there was no coffee the next morning at the house ( I went and got some) we were off for the long trip home...
As I sit here today, I am pooped, sore and happy. Next stop-Australia!! We leave in 17 days!!

Quick update from the Ironhouse..

OK, these will be bullet points. My brain is heavily into Ironman Crazies. Some may call it "Bipolar Ironcrazy" but really it is only the extreme tiredness and fatigue that accompanies Ironman training. H & I woke up the other morning and promised each other that next year NO IM training!!! We must stick to this as partners..otherwise one of us will get weak and pull the other in. That is how the madness starts..

1. I am tired. Oh, I think I mentioned this already.
2. I have no idea what my goal for Ironman Western Australia is. Sometimes I think it is just to finish, sometimes I think it is to have a PR. I can't decide.
3. I will run over 100 miles the month of October. First time ever over the century mark!
4. My house looks like hell. Not only is is dirty..there is laundry piling up everywhere.
5. I got to see my five year old granddaughter go to Kindergarten when I visited Long Beach a few weeks ago. That and dance class. I still remember her mom at dance classes for goodness sakes. What happened to to all that time in between?
6. Fall is officially in New Mexico. The Balloon Fiesta is over, the leaves are turning, the heat is on and the damn chamisas are blooming. I know because I can see them and feel them everyday!!!
7. My ankle is so much better. I do feel twinges of the previous sprain but usually after I bike. Weird...
8. One reason my foot is probably not bothering me is because we are getting into a groove of running 2 minutes, walking 1 minutes. We average 13 min miles, which some may say is not really running as a recent NY Times article alludes to. Shame on you NY Times!! I could actually plan on doing this at IMWA and be fine with it.
9. After said running training, I ran the whole Long Beach half marathon, only walking at the aid stations. I did NOT have a PR but felt great. Sea level is a wonderful thing.
10. I have done 2 century rides in the past month. The first, the Acoma Century Ride was a wonderfully supported ride with plenty of aid stations, bike support and happy volunteers. The next one was yesterday the Day of the Tread, which was basically a suckfest. Now part of this just might have been the 4500 yard swim and 14 mile run we did the day before. I am not discounting that. Part of it could have been the 20 MPH headwind we had for a good 30 miles of it. The wind was suppose to be 5-9 MPH. WTF??? So I was not prepared to be blown all over a road that has traffic whizzing by at 80 MPH like a highway..It was miserable. The good news is on the way back on said road we were flying at 25-27 MPH! Still, the support on this ride was miserable. There was one aid station during one 40 mile stretch-not what I would consider "support". There were no bike support vehicle in sight the whole ride. We barely even saw anyone riding the 100, only 2 pretty fast groups that passed us early on... Now on our part, we should have started earlier looking back. The start time was 8:45, we started at 8:30. Nevertheless, when we got to the "finish line" there were only workers putting away the food and drinks and not one race volunteer in site. I know we were late and added on 4 miles to make the full 100 miles but 7:45 for a century with stops is not THAT late! I am very disappointed in this local ride and they heard from me this AM. They could take a few lessons from our Acoma friends to the West.
10. We are heading out to North Carolina next week for Beach to Battleship half IM with several of our NM Outlaw buddies. This should be a nice reprieve from IM training. Logistically, it looks like a bit of a nightmare but I will try and not worry too much about this as this is not really my "A" race. Many of our friends are doing the full IM. Can't wait to cheer them in!
11. I am heavily into "list making" for our trip to Australia. I feel stress about getting ready and if I ponder the lists too much, I get crazy. One thing at a time....I need to remind myself.
12. We leave for Australia one month from today. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! OK, settle down..Once I get there I will be fine, the preparation makes me nuts..
13. I need to stop watching crime solving shows. I think the negative energy is affecting me..
14. It is suppose to snow in ABQ this week. Oh dear..not ready for indoor training!
15. Did I mention I was tired? Time for rest....

Surprise myself..no go ahead..

H and I were discussing the word "envy" yesterday. I have a good life, no I have a great life! I do what I want, pretty much when I want to do it and am not responsible for many things..We train, sleep in, eat what we want, travel where we want to. There is not much in my life I want. So who do I envy when life is so wonderful?
This woman:

http://epaper.abqjournal.com/Olive/ODE/AJEDITIONS/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=SkQvMjAwOS8xMC8wMw..&pageno=MjY.&entity=QXIwMjYwMA..&view=ZW50aXR5


This woman "decided to do an Ironman" and went about 3 hours below her expected time and qualified for Kona. Her marathon time was her PR for a marathon and could have qualified her for Boston. Are you kidding me? She also felt really strong the last 10k of the IM marathon. Seriously? Oh and she does not have a coach or really a training plan...No way!


I, for once would like to surprise the hell out of myself and just do great things in a race. Just by surprise..Oh my gosh I felt so good, I SMOKED that marathon and just surprised myself by coming in 2 hours below my goal time! Who does that??


I hear of these folks and this is where my envy kicks in. While the rest of us are busting our asses training for triathlon, most of us are lucky to just get a PR. Just barely...I wanna be one of those people who just comes in at 13 hours and Gosh I had no idea I was going that fast!


Probably will never happen. Because I am not a freak of nature and have huge lungs, great resolve, physical denial or whatever it takes to accomplish this..


Good luck to this woman although there is a part of me that wishes she were just mortal like the rest of us!