Less drama this week...

The weather man lied. The wind blew about 15 MPH for the last 2 hours of the ride. Mostly headwind. We got through a total of 100 miles including 2 pretty big hills, a couple of flat tires. The first one was H's. I am faster in tire changing Dept. and he is better cooking. So it all evens out at the end..as I was putting on the spare tube, my finger ran along the inside of the tire and OW! I sliced my finger on a piece of glass stuck in the tube. I could be really dramatic here and say how I bled like a stuck pig and had to have intense pressure on it to stop the bleeding before I pulled out my trusty band aid, which I now carry on all my rides...oh that is exactly what happened. Here i am in the middle of that episode:





MG thought it was Facebook worthy. That is blood on my mouth and tongue. I look like I just got done eating a wild animal or something...



We carried on without any more real excitement. At one point with the wind in our faces, I was bitching and Michi said At least it is not hailing! That made me laugh because now all our rides will be base lined against the ride from hell last weekend, which makes all other bike rides seem like child's play..

MG wanted to go up another hill at the end and there was mutiny in the troops and we decided to do the last 40 miles flat-thank god!!!

Total miles: 100
Time: 6:42
How I felt: Like dog doo-doo the first half, pretty decent the 2nd half.

Followed by a 30 minute brick with MG and Michi...

After a call from Mark and Lorna, who thought we may be hungry..Oh no not at all, we are just about to wolf down anything we can get our hands on..we met them for a great pasta dinner and now.....I am wiped out..

On to a 3 hour run tomorrow..

Riding tomorrow AND...

This is the forecast for tomorrow:

Sunny
High73°FPrecip0%
Wind:
W 9 mph
Max. Humidity:
36%
UV Index:
6 High

nuff said...

Less is more..

I am crying uncle!! When I feel like I am over training, I start to get diminishing returns on my biking, running and swimming. Today we took off for a 3 hour bike and about halfway through I felt so lousy and could barely push myself up the hills. So I cried UNCLE! and said I needed to go home. That was that, I was done... Not to mention there is still friggin' wind here and I was freezing when we started into a headwind. I am having PTSD from Saturday's ride I guess. My back hurts, I am exhausted -so I am bagging the run I was suppose to do today. I am in my pajamas and it is mid-afternoon. I am laying on the couch and feel like I may not move for a week.

Such is life in Ironman training world. It consumes everything. Very selfish unbalanced sport really when I think about it..That is why no more "just 2 IMs" in a year. The half Iron distance seems to be just enough to not completely take over. The full IM training just feels like too much. Even though I am not working it still is overwhelming training right now. The thing that makes it tolerable is training with H and looking forward to seeing him finish. I love the long rides with my crazy IM Outlaw friends, even if they are torture like Saturday's ride...

We are hiring a swim coach. I know a little late in the game. We found this fellow who appears to swim like a fish and that is what I want! I want to be 25 years old and swim like a fish! OK, well maybe not the 25 year old part is possible but I really think I could PR this whole IMAZ thing if the stars are aligned right and I have the race of my life. Anything is possible...Swimming better will help.

I looked (unfortunately) and out of the 60 or so women in my AG at IMAZ, I am 2nd to the oldest! That kinda sucks for me...So if I happen to get a PR, it will have to be among the youngin's in my AG. Damn!! There goes my Kona slot. Ha!

I survived...

OK, there is really something wrong with people who see this:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 916 IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS: BERNALILLO COUNTY, ETC..

and this:

... FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 400 PM MDT FOR NORTHEASTERN BERNALILLO... SOUTHEASTERN SANDOVAL AND WEST CENTRAL SANTA FE COUNTIES...

and this:

SOUTHWEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS TO ABOUT 50 MPH WILL CONTINUE INTO EARLY THIS EVENING.

and STILL go out for an 80 mile ride! I woke up this AM at 4:30 AM..I can't seem to sleep in these days..probably something to do with training..who knows? H told me last night about the weather report. Then this AM I saw the above warnings and immediately texted Mark and said are we still on for the ride? Of course he was not up that early so we carried on thinking There is no way we are riding in this. No-one will show up, etc..We got at our Sat meeting place and not only were there 7 NM Outlaws there who are training for IMAZ, but then there were 3 or 4 other folks there just to come along with the crazies..So as we discussed in total denial what route to take for our long ride, the wind was blowing a bit and it was partly cloudy so hey the weatherman is wrong all the time, right? Off we went on our merry way and man were we FAST the first 40 miles. I must have averaged 18 MPH going out to San Isidro, our turn around point..Me being one of the last ones in, never has enough time at the stops. I want to relax, take a nap, drink my energy drink. But after everyone has been waiting 20 min, well time is limited. And we knew we would have wind coming back.


The plan was: Stick together and stay on the wheel of the stronger riders. That worked for awhile. The wind was stronger now, alot stronger. I think around 25 MPH with gusts higher.

S. Baboo was telling me stories of how IMAZ 3 years ago was twice as windy..Are you kidding me? I decided right then and there I would not have survived that race..

In the midst of riding back to town, I saw in the road, the biggest friggin' tarantula I have ever seen! I don't think I have ever even seen a tarantula outside the zoo. I tried to yell above the wind to Mark, who did not see it. I wanted to go back and take a picture for Facebook but there was no way in hell I was going to turn around and get dropped at this point. As I went up that hill (above), I was really struggling. I was peddling as fast as I could, in the headwind and felt like I was standing still. By now I think the wind had picked up, if that were possible. Oh, these must be the 50 MPH gusts they were talking about..I thought..Then it started to rain-pour actually. Then it stopped.. As we went down the hill the wind was so strong it was blowing my bike around. I was still able to control it but damn-it was hard!! Dust abound..poor Pirate kept stopping because dust was obliterating her vision..Two folks got flats-that sucks, glad it is not me! I am so compassionate when it comes to pain of others..Our next stop, we were a little more flustered, S. Baboo sticking to his IMAZ story..we talked briefly about calling someone to bail us out but we are OUTLAWS!! We must endure! Well, we headed south, now directly into the head wind, which by now was consistently 30-40 MPH I think. Then the lightening started..Uh-oh...this is not good..Wind, dust, rain continued. Then at one point it really started to pour..I am talking about the "flood advisory rain" Then the hail came. H & I were basically with just each other at this point. I knew the next gas station stop was about 3 miles away. This seems like an eternity in a torrential downpour...I was one of the lucky ones to have a jacket. Many didn't . Two people bailed by now and called for a ride-I don't blame them....Others had loved ones calling to make sure they were OK. I can't talk right now-I am trying to survive a hurricane right now..I think I heard them say. The next time we regrouped we were all cold, more complaints other than just me. I think I bitched the whole ride. At least under my breath, Oh my god this is so bad, geez the wind is incredible..oh shit did you see that? Now I was hearing the really strong IM peeps getting a little freaked out too. One more called for a ride. Now there were 5 of us, riding the last 5 miles. We had a chance to catch a ride but H wanted to do the last of it..I gave in..It was beautiful for about 10 minutes! No rain, no wind, etc..Then came another storm. VERY windy, cold-we were just speeding back to the car to beat the rain. Just as we got in the parking lot, very large rain drops were coming. We raced to get the bikes on, attached to the bike rack on the Pre-Ass and boom slammed the doors just in time for the worst rain of the day with large hail and flooding conditions. Whew! At least we didn't have to ride in this!! Now that is just sick thinking that is all there is to that...I survived the wind, rain, dust, a tarantula today...

Total Miles: 78.6
Time: 5:17
Ave. MPH: 15.1

Oh H just told me they issued a friggin' TORNADO WARNING (no joke) in Albuquerque!!!

OMG is this Ironman ever going to get here?

I am grumpy, tired and sore...OK so that means the training is spot on! We did 7 miles on the treadmill this AM, then 40 mile bike ride..After consulting with our chiropractor (that just sounds like something an old couple would say), we are to stick to the "dreadmill" or soft surfaces for all our running until IMAZ. Has anyone ever run 3 hours on a treadmill? It is like torture..I am sure..

H has a pulled or inflamed tendon in his lower leg, I have back pain..from long standing arthritis in my back and all the training..no doubt..The chiro can't seem to "crack" me out of the pain so plan B is to go to a pain doctor and look into an injection in my back. I know this is risky but just once before the race-I don't think will hurt me..I just need to get back to "normal" training and I'll bet the pain will be gone..

Hunger..now when you go to bed and lay there and think I am so hungry! then you know you are doing some hard training...Large tablespoons of peanut butter are helpful at this hour..better than candy or doughnuts I guess...Still have the extra weight I did not have before IMCDA. Oh well, just have to deal with it..Is frustrating to do all this working out and still be gaining-actually really pisses me off but what the hell-I am still in good shape..

The economy is going to hell in a hand basket and I continue to be in my little Ironman world.I guess it keeps me from becoming actually worried..It did motivate me to go to Blue Cross yesterday and discuss my benefits with this really nice woman who explained everything to me. Basically if I use "out of Network" doctors, it sounds nice that it will be "covered" but in actuality they are not....long story short, I have been scammed for the past 2 years, paying for this benefit..Time to switch to HMO. The good news is I found out I have some retirement left over from my nursing career 15 years ago..I may get to collect as early as next year. For some reason, this makes me feel good-all those years of working as a nurse and I do get some payoff in the end..

I feel like I am rambling but this is my life..