Time Trialled out!

This week was "time trial" week in Ironman Training..

Bike: I went 11 miles in 30 minutes
Swim: I went from 1:52 (500 divided by 5) in June to
1:45 (1000 divided by 10) the other day.
Run: around 3.5 miles in 30 minutes.

Thoughts: I am really proud of my bike TT. I really, really suck on the hills but IMWA is flat, flat, flat and so was my TT. If I could only hold to 22 MPH for 112 miles, well I would be friggin' fast.

Swim: What can I say? I have been swimming 50 years. I remember the lifeguard jumping off the high dive with me when I was around 5 years old. We swam everyday of my childhood it seems. I was on the swim team for at least 10 years-never did so well but had a great time! So just when I thought I would never get faster, I found Coach Eric, a 26 year old swim genius who thinks I can do anything! Who knew? He changed my stroke pretty much completely. I had to learn to "undo" the 'ole "S stroke" I was using for the last 50 years. I learned to pull a whole different way, push back totally strangely..it all feels so awkward. BUT the proof is in the pudding. When they asked what my projected time would be in the swim at IMWA (I think they must have waves), I put 1:12! Seriously? What was I thinking? Now however I think I could actually maybe, maybe do it!

Run: Well, I just suck. It seems no matter what the distance-2 miles or 26.2 miles-it all feels hard. I was thinking as I was running this last TT, Why is this so friggin' hard all the time? It all feels like Ironman to me! I wish for once, I would have that smooth "this is so easy" feeling I have when I swim..OK, so I need some work in this area obviously! I try telling myself I am a runner, I love running, whatever..Nothing seems to work..I am considering doing a walk one minute/run one minute at IMWA though. I do walk pretty fast and doing this I can average 13 minute miles. Psychologically this may be easier for me and I do not think I averaged any faster when I "ran" the whole thing at IMCDA....Will run this by Coach.

We are off to Chama for the next 12 days of glorious training in the mountains. Where I can curse even louder when I run at 8,000 feet!

Time trialing and shopping...equally as fun!

Today was a great training day for me. The "schedule" called for 30 minute time trial on the bike after a warm up. MG met me at the casino,which by the way I was tempted to go in and just stick a dollar in a slot machine and see what happened but my saner, older self did not let me give in. There was a time when my spontaneous nature was way more apparent than it is now. I digress...Despite the ominous clouds surrounding us, we took off from the casino down 313, a very flat road with a pretty good shoulder. A triathlete friend of ours got hit by a car this past week at the very intersection we were headed too. This was a bit eery-I have been super careful about cars since hearing of this accident. She is OK, has a broken hand and leg, very lucky I suppose in some sense but she had qualified for Kona (triathlon Ironman world championship), which is no easy task so I can't even imagine her pain over losing that opportunity this year. We went about 15 minutes and on my GO took off on a 30 minute time trial. With the wind the first part, it was quite easy to maintain 24 MPH and HR of 150. Then we turned around..oh shit.. The headwind was intense but about halfway through seemed to shift again, as it does here in NM often. At the end of 30 minutes I had gone 11 miles or so and my HR was more in the 159 range on the way back. I am very proud of myself! Then, of course between conversing with MG about his life and mine, it started raining just in time to climb the last big hill to our cars. Whew! We made it!

Heidi, Jack and Avery are here for a couple of days so I did what any self-respecting Grandma does..I took her shopping this morning! For clothes. I think How do people with boys do this shopping thing? I mean even at her age she had her favorite shoes and favorite color. Do boys say these things? Maybe I will never know! Avery was a delight to shop with and I have a feeling this is the first of many shopping excursions together. My great Aunt Bernice use to take us clothes shopping at least once a year and some of my favorite memories are "modeling" the clothes afterwards. This was such a treat as I was one of 5 girls in my family and "hand-me-downs" were the norm. I was working at 14 years old to start buying "my own clothes" as the inherited clothes were not really the "cool" thing to have in Junior High!

Today it has rained for two days in a row in ABQ. This is such an unusual occurrences...it totally changes the atmosphere or something..my whole psyche feels energized...

Where the hell have I been?

(I made my blog private for awhile because paranoia was setting in after a bunch of people wanted to be my "friend" on Facebook, some of which I barely remember from HS. So if this is you, sorry-I am limiting my "friends" on FB)..I am over it..

BUT...I decided to take myself off the "do not read" list and make public again..nuff said..

I am in my third week of a 17 week "advanced" Ironman training program from Beginnertriathlete.com. Am I advanced? Well, that remains to be seen. My week last week looked like this:

Swim: 9400 yards

Bike: 108 miles

Run: 16 miles

We are off and running on our Ironman Western Australia adventure. There is some underlying hesitation in my training. We have two elders in our midst who could take a turn for the worst on any given day. First of all, 14 year old Mocha (dog) is still alive and well. And she has a brain or soul or whatever you want to call it because each time we see her faltering and start talking about the final trip to the vet, she rallies. Oh no you don't..I am still here and love to eat and take walks..don't even think about it! Every so often, her back legs just do not work, she falls and can't get up. We think..uh-oh this is it..Then she rallies.. I cannot believe this dog is still alive..We still love her and she seems to want pets once in awhile even still.

Then there is elder mother in law who basically is in the same boat. Just when we think she is down for the count, she too rallies and says Nope, not ready to go yet-got lots of living to do and great grandchildren to see! Honestly I think she is waiting for the two remaining grand-daughters to get married. After all women need husbands you know! God bless her..

You know you are in Ironman training when folks start to tell you that you look like you are losing weight. But the mistake I make is then getting on the scale and realizing I actually gained 2.5 lbs! Damn that scale!! I do realize after riding 52 miles yesterday up and down mountains, taking in gobs of electroylytes and ibuprofen, my kidneys are probably holding water...that's it-water weight! Damn scale..

I am still hesitantly excited for our 2 month vacation which starts in 15 weeks and 3 days. We leave on Thanksgiving day and return on January 31st. Tickets are paid for, hotels reserved for part of the trip, hiking the Milford track in New Zealand reserved...Even our ever so light suitcases are bought..We have friends who have offered to lend us bike cases for the flight..It will get real soon enough I suppose.

In 3 weeks I will be competing in the "Colorado Relay"again with 10 of my buddies. I am the "slow one" here and this year my legs of the trip look easier. Maybe I won't have to be transported off the mountain after vomiting all over the van after suffering from high altitude, dehydration and sleep deprivation. That is my goal...Amazed they wanted me back after that!

November 5th we are off to North Carolina for Beach2Battleship half Ironman triathlon, a prelude to IMWA. ("Eeeemwaaa" is what I am calling the Ironman)..Wilmington, North Carolina is where this race will be held. I am hoping it will be between hurricane season and winter there. 15 of our closest friends will be there and sharing a house and vans. Stay tuned for that adventure unfolding. I am on the planning committee for that one and it sounds like so much fun!!!

Amidst it all, we continue to enjoy retirement, whatever that means. I am so busy and can't get a damn thing done around the house these days although I know not a single person reading this will feel sorry for me!