Making the Team: 2008

Those of you who have been reading this blog know my commitment to the sport and my involvement in giving back to the endurance community. It’s a part of who I am and how I live. I'm writing this post to request your vote to be selected for Team Evotri. Please help me in this quest.

I am dedicated to the sport. Five days a week my alarm goes off before 4am in order for me to get in my first workout of the day before heading off to work. I treat my workouts seriously and nearly every workout of my plan is followed to the letter. Each year, I try to focus on improving some area of triathlon in hopes of developing consistent overall improvement from year to year.

Because I’ve benefited so much from the sport, I have become very involved in encouraging others to attempt their first triathlon as well as volunteering. I’ve been fortunate enough to volunteer at Ironman Wisconsin where I was able to help the pro women and countless age-groupers through T1!

For the past 5 years, I’ve participated in the Chicago Marathon as either a competitor or as a volunteer.

Additionally, I’ve volunteered for several years as a CARA Marathon pace group leader, a training program dedicated to helping people complete their first marathon or improving on their last one.

For the past 3 years, I’ve been the Team Captain of the Chicago Triathlon Luna Chix. The mission of the team is two-fold: To encourage women to get out and play and become active while raising money for the Breast Cancer Fund. This volunteer group has organized and implemented a variety of events to benefit the endurance community. These events include a weekly bike ride, transition clinic, bike maintenance clinic and brick workouts.

One of my newest volunteer activities is coaching the swim workouts for the south branch of the Multisport Madness Triathlon club. Since January, I’ve been sharing the swim coaching responsibilities of this club and it has been fun and rewarding to watch these triathletes improve their swimming skills.

Triathlon has changed my life and I cannot imagine myself not being involved in the sport. From participating to volunteering, I enjoy being around the types of people that like to push themselves to the limit and achieve new goals. These people know how to work hard and have fun. A tough workout is exhilarating and gives you a sense of accomplishment and empowerment. And doing that workout with the right people makes all the difference! During the group workouts, I’m usually the one talking a lot, making jokes and trying to keep everyone engaged.

The mission of Team EvoTri is to challenge themselves and others to live a healthy and active lifestyle through endurance sports. Without knowing it, I have been fworking that mission. Being selected as a member of EvoTri will help me achieve my goals and be able to pass on what I learn to the ever-growing triathlon community.

Thanks for reading! If you think I should be the next fully-sponsored member of Team Evotri, please write down the URL of this web site and have it ready for voting when you click the EVOTE button below. Thank you!

Solvang Training Camp - Day 4

Oh my gosh...I was in such a hurry to end that last post, I forgot one of the most exciting parts of the trip!!!! So we were at dinner, everyone was eating, chatting amongst themselves. Without a word, Robbie Ventura walks in the conference room with....FLOYD LANDIS! The applause started and grew loud. It continued for about a minute, then people began to stand up and clap louder. Floyd was now standing in front of the room with his back up against the wall and he had this childish grin on his face, looking somewhat embarrassed. The applause lasted for at least 5 minutes. Then Robbie says, "OK, Floyd will have more to say later," and dinner continued. At the end of the dinner, there was a rather uncomfortable Q&A with the campers asking all kinds of questions on the status, if he's riding, etc. Can't believe I forgot to put that in the last post.

Now we're on Day 4. This was the Santa Rosa Road Pack Ride. Listed as a recovery ride, we were going to practice bridging efforts, single and double pacelining and racing tactics. Again, it was cool in the morning and I was layered up. This was getting to be a nice routine. The pace of this ride started out really slow and I didn't mind. We practiced a lot of the pacelining that has been talked about. Even though you hear what you're supposed to do/say when something is going on in a ride, it's a whole other story to actually do or say those things during the ride. I was chastized for giving a signal with the wrong hand. The more you ride with the same people, the more you're able to predict what they're going to do or how they react to a situation (like a pothole).

There was one squirrely rider I didn't particularly enjoy riding behind. He was a strong rider, but not very predictable. I also noticed that he didn't like riding in the group. Most often, he could be found riding 200+ yards ahead of the group. I guess he just liked it that way. I was able to catch a lot of scenery on this ride and really listen to what the coaches had to say in regards to pack riding and technique. I was fortunate to have one of the mechanics, who lives just outside of Solvang, on this ride. He taught me a LOT about descending...this info would have been helpful yesterday is what I was thinking! But it was great info and I was able to practice it a bit during this ride. Though this was a "recovery" ride, there were still some challenging hills scattered throughout the ride.

We were told there was a short race included in this ride. Somewhere during the ride, there was going to be a cone or marker...then it would be a 2K race. Winner accumulates points for their team. I had no idea what to expect. We're all riding along when someone notices a 2K mark on the road. The pack takes off and I pump hard to stay with. I find a very nice draft behind two of the men in the group and I'm quite comfortable. I think to myself, "this is easy, I can sit here and conserve and make a surge at the end!" And my plan would've been perfect had there not been a hill just around the corner! Within the blink of an eye, the road went on an incline and the pack dropped me like a hot potato. The race ended on an uphill, so I never was able to catch up. Guess we know what my weakness is! Though it was short and sweet and I didn't manage to score any points for my team, it was one of my favorite parts of camp. It gave me confidence that I could jump off the line with stronger cyclists and pointed out where my huge downfall is. It was exhilarating.

On the ride back, several of us pushed the pace a little. It was a bit tougher than the "2 of 10" effort level outlined in our plan, but I was having a good time and I was really working on staying with the group on all the uphills. This is difficult to do without getting out of the saddle, but I tried my best. I was also trying to work in the pointers on going downhill and they seemed to make me more relaxed and comfortable on the descents.

We were back at the hotel early today and I had about 15 minutes to change and get ready to go to the pool. Not as many people went for the swim today, but I still had 2 other people in my lane. We did an excellent set of descending 100s and I felt really strong. We were only able to get in about 2500 yards today and then we had to get back for a Functional Training session.

Functional Training, as defined on the Vision Quest website is: Functional training (FT) focuses on the development and maintenance of core body-strength, agility, and flexibility—areas often overlooked by endurance athletes. These workouts are designed to enhance cycling, swimming, and running performance by helping athletes develop the strength they need to maintain proper form and thus maximize efficiency. We had Gardie Jackson lead this session and it was TOUGH! We held the session outdoors in the parking lot and it was beautiful outside. However, within minutes, we were all sweating and struggling to perform the exercises correctly.

I had about 30 minutes before I had to pile in the van for my second and final massage. I would be sure NOT to go to the same lady I did the first day! This massage was great. He worked my hamstring quite a bit and I felt very comfortable when he was finished. Upon arriving back to the hotel, I was just in time for YOGA class. Now it was cool outside, so we held this class on the deck around the indoor pool. It was nice in there...a little humid, helping you to stretch your muscles just that little bit more. Gardie again led this session and the guy can turn himself into a pretzel!

Once again, the day went by with so much activity that there really was no "down" time. The camp is now more than half way over and I haven't even had time to check out any of the tiny downtown Solvang area. A few of us went to a wine bar for about 30 minutes before dinner, but even that felt rushed. We had dinner, an update on team point standings and told stories of the day. The next day was going to be a metric century!

Solvang Training Camp - Day 3

These entries are going to have to get shorter! I just can't find the time to do this!!

OK, let's see - Day 3 - Mount Figueroa. This was slated to be the 2nd toughest day of the camp. We were climbing Mt. Figueroa which touts an 11.5 mile climb at an average 7% grade. What I didn't mention in my last post (because I was running out of time) is that when they were going over the agenda for today's ride, this brutal climb was the talk of the evening. People just kept saying how tough it was and that if you just stay clipped in and just keep moving the pedals, you'll be OK. Once you stop, you'd pretty much be done. For 11 miles?? Are you kidding me?

I woke that morning with a big lump in my throat. I did not want to ride. I was terrified. What if I couldn't make it up this mountain? Some of you may know this, but hills (especially mountains) are not my friends. Yes, yes, I need to make them my friends. This was why I came to camp, right??!?? Now, in Chicago, what we call hills are laughable compared to the hills and MOUNTAINS of California. What kept coming back to my mind was the race I did 2 years ago - Wildflower in San Luis Obispo. This half ironman started out with a terrible climb, but about half way through the ride, there's this climb they affectionately call "Nasty Grade". It was absolutely brutal. It's probably the reason I have no desire to go back and do that race. I remember just chugging up the hill for what seemed like forever (I think it was about 40 minutes), sweat pouring off me and just cranking on those pedals wishing for it to be over.

I shuddered to think of what an 11.5 mile climb was going to feel like. My roommate was also not feeling very confident about the whole ordeal. All the talk about it from the night before had us sick to our stomachs. We ate breakfast and headed out to the bikes. The experienced cyclists were talking, laughing, happy to be getting out for a third day in a row. I very quietly put my bag in the SAG vehicle and prepared my bike for the day's ride. "I don't want to do this, I don't want to do this" just kept running through my head. The morning was again, very chilly, but the SAG vehicles were going to meet us just before the start of the climb so we could take off the arm warmers, leg warmers, cloves, hats, etc. With all that climbing, we were going to get pretty toasty.

The groups started in a staggered fashion - 5 minutes apart - then we were to all meet at the start of the climb. Robbie Ventura was starting out this ride with us today and he had a way of taking my mind off the challenge at hand. Again, in the first 15 minutes of the ride, I dropped a water bottle. I guess having 2 pairs of gloves on makes it a little difficult to maneuver that bottle back into the cage! Thankfully, no one behind me hit it, so we just moved on. The 15 miles or so out to the start of the mountain was just beautiful. Very little traffic and the pace was easy enough that it actually gave me time to look around. It was easy to see why people would want to live there.

So now we get to the start of the climb. Every one started peeling off layers, but I had a bigger problem. I needed a bathroom break. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of nowhere, so I just had to ride up the road a little bit, get out of sight and go along the side of the road. (this pretty much happened every day of the rest of the camp) When you gotta go, you gotta go. I thought of my friend Bridgitt...she has no problems with this sort of thing.

The other groups started riding up within a couple of minutes of each other and again, organized chaos as cyclists searched for their bags in the appropriate SAG vehicle to put their extra clothes inside and grab whatever nutrition they thought they'd need during the ride. We filled water bottles and Gatorade bottles. Dave Noda was taking videos.

The groups lined up, fastest in the front, slowest in the back. I went to the back. The goal of today was not to do the climb fast, it was just to do the climb. I was extremely nervous about the hamstring because going uphill hurts. I did wrap the hamstring and put on compression shorts under my cycling shorts, just as I did every other day of the camp, but I was still scared about tearing it more or undoing all the progress I've made in the last 2 months. I promised myself I would NOT get out of the saddle. Yes, it sounds crazy, but I knew if I could stay in the saddle, I would save the hamstring. This is not a race...it's just a ride I need to finish.

I lined up with a couple other women who I hoped to try and ride with today...11.5 miles is a long way to ride uphill alone. It was time to go and the fast people were off (Gordo, Gardie, Justin, Matt and several of the VQers). Within seconds, they were out of sight. Also within seconds, I found myself in my lowest gear! Wow, it didn't take too long for the incline to start!! I was now at the very back of the group. I think there was 1 guy behind me (he had a flat)!

I was riding next to Heather, my roommate for the trip, and we started talking. The road was a slow, steady incline, but we soon got into a rhythym and started talking. We talked about her upcoming Ironman, our spouses, our career paths...it made the time pass. We were both pushing each other, but not really racing. Just a smooth, steady climb to the top! I can't even remember how far we were into the ride, but the road became muddy. Not just dirt covered, but MUD! I guess there was quite a bit of rain the week before we arrived and this section of the road had not dried yet. Uphill and mud is not a good combination! If you didn't have the gearing right, you'd start spinning in the mud, losing traction, and go down. YIKES! I started slipping through the first patch of mud. Then I could see Robbie Ventura, standing at the side of the road, on a corner, taking pictures and yelling to us to get to the right. Apparently, the right side of the road at this point was dryer and easier to ride up. I saw some big ruts I'd have to get over, so I stayed on my path. My roommate crossed over easily. Robbie's still yelling at me to get to the right....so I turned my front wheel and tried to ride over the big ruts. Uh oh!!

I lost control of the bike. The ruts were deep enough to turn my wheel for me, about a 90 degree angle to the right...I was headed off the side of the road. I braced myself. I hit a small embankment on the side of the road and flipped over the handlebars landing on my right shoulder. My right side now is pretty much covered in mud, as is the right side of my handlebars. But I was uninjured and I popped up, picked up my bike and started walking it up the hill to find a place without the deep mud so I could try to get started riding again. I watched my roommate ride off up the hill and now I was left to ride alone. Robbie came over to see that I was OK, and I was just fine...he was nice enough not to laugh.

I got to a somewhat flat spot to try and get back on the bike. It was tough, but I did it and tried to clip in. I couldn't do it. Neither one of my feet would clip in. Apparently, I had gotten so much mud all trapped in my cleats, I couldn't get my shoes to clip onto the pedals. One guy behind me saw what was happening. He warned me to get off and fix it now because I'd never be able to make it up the rest of the hill without being clipped in. I think we were still less than half way at this point. Figuring he was probably right, I got off the bike to try and clean off the cleats. Robbie Ventura rides up and asks me what's going on. I explain it to him and he promptly asks for my water bottle and squirts my right cleat to flush it out. I still can't clip in. He does it again...this goes on for about 4 times then he finally gets off his bike, reaches down and forces my right foot onto the pedal. He then looks at me and says, "now DON'T unclip that foot!" No problem, Robbie. At this point, I don't think it WILL come unclipped! Robbie rides off (making it look unbelievably easy) and I'm on my way again. Left foot still won't clip in, but I keep playing with it. I didn't want to waste any more time....everyone had ridden off without me.

Now was the hard part. I could see no one in front of me and no one behind me. I just kept pedaling steadily, though not going very fast. I looked down to check my mph and...UH OH! No Power Tap head. Sh*t! It must've fallen off when I flipped over my bike. I thought about going back to get it...that was about 20-30 minutes ago. I then decided that to ride back to try and find it then go back and continue up the hill would take too long. I hoped that after the ride, someone with a car would drive me back to the spot where I fell so we could go look for it. I just bought this 3 weeks ago and it's not so cheap to replace! Now I was bummed because I just lost all my data for the day's ride. We were entering all our data for this contest based on KJs, winner to be announced the last night. Since I just lost all my information, there was now no way I could win. Well doesn't this just SUCK!

I kept thinking about the lost Power Tap head for the next 20 minutes or so. I would look ahead and see the windy, uphill road carved into the side of the mountain. I kept thinking to myself, "we're riding up THAT??" But by the time I got to the part I was looking at, it didn't feel any harder to ride up than what I was already doing. I could see a biker or two up in the distance and set my sights on trying to catch up. It was perfectly silent out there, the only sound was my heavy breathing to continue uphill. The wind was non-existent. The sun was bright, but not overwhelmingly hot. I was sweating, but I've ridden in much worse. Maybe it was the lack of humidity, but temperature-wise, I was comfortable. Climbing, climbing...ok, passing a guy. I try to make small conversation with him, but we're both breathing much too heavily for anything more than a couple of short words. I keep going and finally get to pass another guy. I think to myself, "Woo hoo, I am not last!" I wonder how long it is until we finish.

Pedaling, pedaling, I now see my roommate up ahead. She seems to be looking very comfortable and strong. One of the coaches, Dan, comes back and rides with me for a few minutes. He graciously gives me some of the water out of his bottle ( I had none left since Robbie cleaned my cleat out with it). I was really, really thirsty. Dan coaches me along, tells me I look strong and gives me a few pointers about climbing. He came at just the right moment when I started to doubt myself and wonder if I was ever going to make it to the top. He has such a positive, friendly attitude and it was contagious. He was only with me a couple of minutes, I explained to him what happened with my Power Tap and he said he'd talk to the SAG guys to see if someone could swing back and look for it. I was hopeful they'd find it.

I kept climbing...caught up to my roommate, we chatted for a bit, and I think we had just 3 miles to go. It was tough, but I had paced myself well. Once again on the streets were painted with the 2K, 1K, 500m and then 200m marks. I just kept on grinding out the pedals and then could hear the voices at the top of the hill. When you're out in the middle of nowhere and it's so quiet, the voices travel. So they always sound much closer than they are! You feel like you're pedaling forever after you start hearing them, but they slowly get louder and louder until you can finally see someone up there, waiting to cheer you in.

I think Dave Noda was up there, taking pictures and videos. It was awesome to reach the top. I was so proud of myself I nearly teared up. I made it. It took FOREVER, but I made it. My roommate then reached the top and I congratulated her. We were so nervous coming into this ride and now we were both exhilarated. I filtered through the bags laid out so I could put on some clothes. I hear the descent is very, very cold. We all gathered for a group picture at the top and then several of us were preparing to ride down. I went to the water bottles and began to work on that left cleat that I never really was able to clip in. Oh - yeah, I also had to unclip my right foot using my hand....it was in there so tight! I drank a ton of water, maybe too much, but I knew I was dehydrated. I filled my water bottles and prepared for the descent.

I won't go into a lot of details, as this post is already too long, but the descent was terrifying. I don't know what was harder, the uphill or downhill. It was scary fast and my hands and fingers ached from keeping pressure on the brakes the entire way. The road was rough and had potholes in spots and shaded. If you hit a pothole while you're flying downhill, you're pretty much toast and I was a nervous wreck. I was definitely one of the last people on the downhill, perhaps too cautious. I did learn later that someone flatted going downhill and took a nasty crash. I was happy to have not heard that before I attempted the descent.

The rest of the ride was nice, but hurt as my legs were wiped out. I got back to the hotel, took a shower and headed out for the "Skills and Drills" instruction. We rode out to a school parking lot where we were challenged with a variety of things - picking a water bottle up from the ground, riding in a small circle several times without putting a foot down, figure 8s, 90 degree turns and turning to look back without veering off the side of the road. All good things to know and they're tougher than they seem.

Dinner was shortly after that...with a recap of the day and the agenda for the following day. I was happy that the next day was scheduled to be a recovery ride!!

Solvang Training Camp - Day 2

Day 2 - Drum Canyon Time Trial. This ride started out with an easy (well, OK, it wasn't totally easy) ride, maybe 15 miles, to the start of the time trial. It was cold out for the start of the ride, maybe 40 degrees and very cold in the shade. Once I stepped into the sunshine, it wasn't too bad. Each camper was given a bag to put in the SAG (support and gear) vehicles. These bags could include extra clothes, nutrition and whatever else you thought you might need throughout the ride. Since I was wearing nearly every piece of clothing I brought, I put a couple of packages of Luna Moons and a Clif Bar in my bag and proceeded to throw it in my designated van. I felt very awkward when I got on my bike. This is not unusual, since I hadn't been on my bike outdoors since November. I felt a little shaky and riding in a group of people I wasn't used to riding with made me quite uneasy. I dropped a water bottle within the first 15 minutes of the ride. Thankfully, no one in the group hit it and we continued on.

We got to the start of this time trial and I was told it was flat for the first couple of miles and then it was uphill for the last 3 miles. The key (or so I heard) was to not blast out too fast because you'd be dying by the end of it. All the groups met up and the SAG vehicles pulled up. I was quite toasty now and seeing as this was going to be a hard effort, I stripped down to just a jersey and shorts. I even switched to half-finger gloves, so it must've been warming up! I saw one of the more experienced cyclists also putting both his water bottles in his SAG bag. Said he didn't need the extra weight. I didn't think a water bottle was going to make a difference, but I took one out and left one on the bike. The campers were swarmed around the back of the van, stuffing clothes into their bags and bananas and Clif Bars in their mouths. I put my stuff in the bag and threw it in the van as fast as I could. It was organized chaos and I wanted to get away from it as fast as I could.

I got to the start line where one of our support crew stood there with a watch, starting cyclists about every 20 seconds. The rep from Saris was at the front of the line coaching us through resetting our Power Taps so we could accurately record the needed information (average watts, time and kjs). I was happy that I had attended his talk the day before because I knew how to reset my info.

Before I could even get nervous about the ride, it was my turn. I took off but made sure not to overexert myself in the first couple of miles. I can also tell you that it didn't feel all that "flat" to me. I was passed more times than I care to recall, and then the uphill started. I down shifted. Then again...and again...soon I was in my lowest gear and I had brought a 12-27. You've got to be kidding me! I was going so slow! I checked my rear tire several times...I was sure it was flat. Nope. That's just me going slow. Passed again...and again...I stop counting the dudes passing me. The road winds and, in true IMWI fashion, around every curve, it goes uphill even more. I start to wonder if this is longer than 5 miles because it sure is taking me a very long time to ride this! (for the record, everyone went under 30 minutes) This was taking FOREVER! Sweat was pouring down my face and I was so happy I took off all those extra clothes. It was so quiet out there, I could hear myself breathing loudly with each pedal stroke. It was extremely difficult not to get up out of the saddle, but I didn't want to further damage the hamstring.

Finally, there was a mark on the road indicating that I had just 2K left. What felt like a half our later was a 1K mark. Jeez, how much further is 1K? Then I could hear a cow bell and Robbie yelling and cheering people to the finish. Sounded like it was just around the corner. Up, up and yet further up the road was going. There were hairpin turns and I could hear the voices, but come ON ALREADY, where ARE THESE GUYS!?? How much further? Just as the road began to get steeper, I made another turn and I could see Robbie Ventura standing in the middle of the road. He would start yelling the names of the cyclists as they got close to the end.

The finish was rather uneventful because it ended on a slight uphill, so no one came flying through. There was a small collection of cyclists about 200 yards up the road discussing the ride and comparing wattage. I slowly rode past them to begin the descent. We were warned the night before that the descent was fast and dangerous. The road was rough. There were many potholes and lots of shade on the road so, in many cases, you couldn't see the pothole until you were just about to ride through it. They say not to be tense as you ride down, but that was near impossible. My hands were on the brakes almost the entire descent. Any time I took one hand off, just to stop it from cramping, I picked up too much speed, got scared and had to put my hand back on the brakes again. Many of the more experienced cyclists flew right past me, sometimes scaring the crap out of me not just because they were going so fast, but they came a little too close.

My hands ached by the time I got to the bottom. The SAG vehicles were down there waiting for us so I put my extra water bottle back in, grabbed something to eat and went back to my bike and waited for the rest of the group to join us. We were to finish with an easy ride home which I didn't find so easy. The group took several stops along the way to let everyone catch up. It was now pretty warm outside and the scenery was beautiful. All of us were happy to be outside on our bikes!

As soon as we got back to the hotel, I dropped my bike on the designated rack. I had just 10 minutes to go up to my room, put my swimsuit on and jump in the van for the swim workout. It was now 12:45pm. The swim was crazy. There were about 20 of us packed into 3 lanes. I ended up getting into a lane that was a little too fast for me, but it felt nice to try and stretch out after that tough ride. When the swim was over, we weren't even given enough time to shower and we were being hustled back into the van.

Back at the hotel, I got out of one van and into another to be carted over to my massage. (I will write a whole other entry on the massage!!) A group of us got our massages and got back to the hotel. It was now after 4pm - the cut off time for entering all our ride information!! I quickly logged in and uploaded my info from the day.

I then washed all the cycling clothes I had worn that day and took a quick shower. Then it was time for dinner. The day flew by and there was absolutely no down-time. I hoped the rest of the camp wasn't going to be quite as hectic. The dinner was in the same room as the first night, again, buffet style. There was a re-cap of the day, a small presentation and then an overview of the next day's events. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the dinner/meeting. We had a brutal day in store for us and I fell asleep the instant my head hit the pillow.

Solvang Training Camp - Day 1

I went into this camp thinking "we're not riding 100 miles a day, what am I going to do with all my down time?" I couldn't have been more off in my thinking.

I arrived at the Santa Barbara airport with some other campers in the early afternoon on Monday. We had to wait a couple of hours for someone to come and pick us up to drive us to Solvang. The time seemed to fly while we were waiting because the campers got to know each other, some of us were first-time campers, others were returning campers. It also helped that it was in the low 70's so as we stood out on the curb chatting, we were taking in all the fresh air and sunshine.

The drive to our hotel was beautiful and sort of intimidating. The hills in that part of the country are like nothing we can see here in the midwest. Even the IMWI or Horribly Hilly courses do not compare with the hilly and rolling terrain near Solvang. I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into.

As we pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, a group of cyclists was taking off for an unorganized ride. There was nothing planned for a ride this day because most campers were just arriving this day. I hoped I could get into my room, put on some cycling clothes and get out for a ride before it got too cool and dark outside. I went to the hotel lobby to wait in line to check in. I was handed a Camp Guide and a list of all the attending campers. In total, there were about 65 of us, including campers and coaches.

I dragged my overstuffed suitcase up a flight of stairs to my room and I noticed my roommate had already checked in, but was not in the room. She had already staked her claim to one side of the bathroom sink and placed her stuff near one of the beds. The hotel was nice with a faux fireplace and flat screen television in each room. During the whole trip, that television was not turned on one time.

I rummaged through my suitcase to find my bike pedals. I ran downstairs to the mechanics' trailer to ask them to put the pedals back on my bike. I found my bike easily on one of the racks they had set up in the parking lot. I looked it over quickly and it seems to have made the trip to Solvang with no incidents. A couple of VQ coaches had driven the bikes out to Solvang in a large rental van. The very thought of my bike squeezed in there and bouncing around with other bikes was a bit nerve-wracking. I was thankful my bike is titanium...holds up to just about anything.

One of the mechanics put the pedals on and I looked around and there really wasn't anyone else to ride with. The other campers that came in with me talked about a ride, but just listening to them, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up. I was looking for another female camper to head out with, but the women campers were few and far between. I was bummed I took such a late flight, then decided there would be plenty of biking to do this week, so I shouldn't worry about it.

I went to my room and unpacked some of my things and flipped through the Camp Guide to get an idea of what was in store for us. On paper, nothing looked that difficult. The agendas seemed short and I tried to plan out what activities I would attend. I noticed there was a talk on "Intro to PowerTap" happening in just 10 minutes, so I once again rummaged through my big suitcase to find the PowerTap and head down by the mechanics' trailer to educate myself on how to work this device.

Though I was one of the first 2 campers to show up for this talk, other campers wandered over and I think about 10 of us were there for the presentation. There was a representative from Saris who was very knowledgeable and walked us through set up, display, setting intervals and basically answered any question we had. It was extremely helpful for me, because I never even read my PowerTap manual. I went back to my room, where my roommate returned from her ride (oh, was I jealous). We talked a little, and then it was time for dinner.

Dinner was in a large conference center set up in tables of 8 or 10. The food was set up buffet-style just outside the doors of the conference center, outside. It was getting rather cool outside and I wondered how the temperature would be in the morning for our first ride. As the campers and coaches filed in the conference center with their plate of food, the volume of voices steadily increased. The excitement was in the air and people were getting to know each other.

About half way through dinner, Robbie Ventura got up and put an agenda, projected from a computer, up on a screen (well, it was a wall, but what's the difference?) He welcomed us and gave us a quick over view of the camp. We were assigned to pre-arranged teams, which would compete for points throughout the camp. Another coach came up and discussed safety protocol. Another one came up to talk about logistics and other basic frequently asked questions. Our teams then broke out to other areas to create a team name and practice pacelining. I've never practiced pacelining on foot, but I didn't have a whole lot of pacelining experience, so I was trying to learn what was to be expected when we got out on our bikes the next day.

Cyclists are very particular about the way they ride and if you don't follow the rules, you are opening yourself up to be yelled and screamed at. Most of the time, those yells and screams aren't meant the way they come out, but it makes you feel like crap when it happens. Cyclists also have a very distinct "we" vs. "they" mentality. Know who the "they" are? Triathletes. According to many cyclists, triathletes are terrible bikers and we have no idea what we're doing.

And in this very first breakout, one of the cyclists spoke up and said, "OK, who here are the triathletes?" Many of us raised our hands. He then proceeded to say, "Alright, all you guys stay in the back and try not to screw up our ride." I rolled my eyes. This guy hasn't seen a single one of us ride, but he's already got us "screwing" up "his" ride. Unbelievable. I wonder if he realizes how much of an a-hole he sounds like. Probably not.

We went back in the conference center where the teams introduced their names. Robbie then got up and went over how the points would be distributed. Most of that was run through so quickly, it was confusing and we were all looking at each other like, "What did he just say?" But it wasn't a big deal because we were all just excited to be out there to ride for the week. Two of the four teams had the option to sign up for massages the next day. I had to quickly review the agenda to make sure I didn't schedule the massage over one of the activities I wanted to partake in. Then I just had to hope that time slot was available by the time I got to the sign-up sheet!

Each day, we were to upload ride information into the web portal. You can check out the portal by clicking on the "badge" here on the right-hand side of my blog. Or you can go to www.vqsolvang.ning.com. This site was put up to house all our reports, ride data, pictures, videos and messages regarding the camp. We were to log on to this site every day to keep abreast of new information and just stay connected to the other campers. Very cool site.
Some of the information we were to upload each day included time rode, miles, KJs, average watts, max watts, rider of the day, quote of the day and a few other things that I can't remember at the moment. This information needed to be completed each day by 4pm. All this information was then collected and points distributed via some formula. There were 2 competitions - the team competition and the individual camper competition. Again, not sure how all this was computed, but we were told that it evened things out, so one of the weakest cyclists could still compete with the best cyclist in the camp.

By the end of all this, we were quite exhausted. It was about 10pm CA time, which is midnight Chicago time and I had gotten up at 5am that morning. I was anxious to get to bed and get some sleep. The first day was the time trial (most of it uphill) which would determine what groups we'd ride in. Once back in the room, I set my alarm and fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow.

Return from Solvang

Got back into town very late last night from Solvang. I took my laptop to camp thinking that I'd be able to update you all each day on the happenings in camp, but that obviously didn't happen. There was pretty much no down time for me during the entire week. I do plan to write about a lot of the things that we did at camp, but that will have to wait for a bit.

I have never pushed myself so hard as I did at this camp. It was an awesome experience and I learned so much about cycling as well as myself. I experienced very high moments as well as very low moments, met lots of great people, had lots of laughs and was happy to be OUTDOORS on my bike.

More later...

Packing for Solvang

Well, I just finished packing my bags for my trip to Solvang for a Vision Quest Cycling Camp. This is the first (of I hope, many) cycling camp I've ever gone to. I've been fielding a lot of questions about the camp, but I really have no idea what we're going to do. Just 2 days ago, I got a sheet that approximated the mileage of the rides. Until I received that sheet, I thought we might be riding 100+ miles every day! I'm thankful that this is not the case. Oh, and guess who will be there...GORDO!

Solvang, CA is really hilly. I went last year with BC and met CL up there to do the Solvang Century ride. It's a HUGE ride...I think there were 5000 participants. It's very different in CA, much more bike friendly than here in the midwest. These people were telling me they get to ride outside EVERY DAY of the year. Can you imagine that?

You might have noticed the "badge" here on my blog to the right, listing my participation in the Solvang Camp. Click on that link if you want to find out what's going on with me and the rest of the campers. I've never had the opportunity to be a part of this sort of web portal, but it was put into place for the campers to communicate, upload the power files from our daily rides, etc. and download photos and videos. It's a really cool site! Hopefully it will give you a little taste of what attending a cycling camp is like. I've charged up my camera (it wasn't working for a while, which is why you haven't seen any pictures on my blog lately) and I'm hoping to get some good pictures to put here.

I'm nervous about going with the bum hamstring. In fact, I considered bailing on the trip all together. The last thing I want to do is ruin all the progress I've been making while straining up some stupid hill. I'm taking all the precautions I can and will be following specific instructions from my physical therapist. My rides not be the best they can in the hills right now, but getting out on open roads beats the CompuTrainer any day! I'm looking foward to the fresh air, sunshine and camaraderie of the other campers.

Slow Progress

Well, this week will be week number 5 of physical therapy. I went in to one of my sessions last week feeling a bit depressed about the lack of progress I feel I've made. While I think my physical therapist is excellent - extremely knowledgeable, I have just felt that my body is not responding to the work we've been doing. However, we went back to one of the exercises we did on my very first day there...one I could not do without pain. Interestingly enough, I could do the exercise very well and with no pain at all. Does this mean I'm healed? Absolutely not! However, it does give me the encouragement and the positive feedback I need to continue with the regular therapy.

The hard part now is deciding if I should do some of my upcoming races. No, I don't have anything for a while, but this process is taking a lot longer than I had hoped. So even if I decide to continue to race, my early season races are not going to be stellar. And I'll still need to back off at the first hint of pain, which is pretty tough to do in a race situation. I know I'm doing the right thing by taking time off the run and doing everything easy, but it's not as fun when you can go out and challenge yourself and give that 100% effort. All I can hope is that when I can recover, I will be stronger.

Never Say Never!

As I was swimming this morning, I realized that today was Super Bowl Sunday. I have very little interest in today's game because I don't really care for either of the teams, even though I know I will watch it. I started to think about the Super Bowl two years ago.

See, two years ago, on Super Bowl Sunday, I ran a marathon with the Saint and BC. It was the Pacific Shoreline Marathon in Huntington Beach, CA. It was the Saint's first marathon. The weather conditions were quite perfect for a marathon that day. The first 8-9 miles of this race was up and down along the ocean. Though I expected it to be a beautiful thing to see and something that would take my mind off the running for close to the first half of the race, it really didn't happen quite like that.

It was foggy that morning. I'm told it's foggy every morning! So, though we were running along the ocean, we couldn't really see it. However, you could smell it! It smelled like dead fish! Not at all what I was expecting!! They hyped up this race as being awesome to run along the shoreline...eh, I could have done without it. I do have to say, though, it was a great race. I had strict instructions for that race to stay in Zone 3...I did, and still had a really good race time.

Unfortunately, BC had to take off soon after the race. The Saint and I were able to go back to the hotel room, take a short nap and get dressed to walk down to a local bar to watch the Super Bowl. I remember people looking at us and asking, "Ah, how was the marathon?" Apparently, we were limping enough for people to be able to tell! The best part was that the bar we went to was really open and the fresh air was just flowing in during the whole game. Not like I'll ever be able to watch a Super Bowl outside in warm weather in Chicago!

It made me think that it has been almost a year since I did a marathon (not including IMFL). Then I started to think how I wished I could train for and run a marathon right now. A few years ago, I never thought I'd say I "miss" the marathon. Never say never...

Torn

First, I want to thank all of you for your concern. I've been bombarded with emails the last week or two with questions about the hamstring. I appreciate the outpouring of suppor!!

Unfortunately, it is not good news. The hamstring is torn. I've been making it worse and worse with each run I've done probably over the last 18+ months. It's not going to require surgery or anything, but it is going to seriously set back my run training for this year. I'm still not sure it's totally sunk in with me. When Dr. Nicola was telling me how long I was to take off from running, in my mind, I had my fingers in my ears and was saying "La la la la la la la" as if not hearing him would mean that I could still run. He kept talking, explaining to me how and where it's torn, how the bone is swollen, but everything was just a blur. I wasn't listening. I couldn't wait to get out of there. This is not the news I wanted to hear. I'm not sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn't this. I mean, if it was torn, wouldn't it hurt like hell?

I went back to physical therapy and handed her the new slip that Dr. Nicola scribbled all over. I asked her to tell me what it meant. She took the slip out of my hand and the expression on her face said it all. I asked, "It's bad, isn't it?" She nodded slowly. Then she said we had to back down from the exercises we had been doing as they were too aggressive.

We started doing some exercises and I asked why, if it was torn, why it didn't hurt more. She then pushed on a part of the hamstring and I about jumped off the table. Holy crap, what are you doing???!? She then did the same thing to my right leg...and it was barely more than a firm push onto the muscle. Apparently, it hurts more than I thought.

If there's anything I can tell you, it's that you should NOT run through pain!! So much easier to say it than do it, but I'm paying for it now. If I would've taken care of this when it first started, I'd be a lot better off. I have a long, uphill battle in front of me.

MRI Monday

Tomorrow is the day. I go in for my MRI on the ol' hamstring. With any luck, whatever damage has been done will not take too long to repair. I go in for the results of the MRI on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to getting all this taken care of because it's time consuming to be visiting doctors and going to physical therapy practically every day of the week!

I don't think I can remember what it's like to run without feeling the pull in the hamstring...

Physical Therapy - Session I

Hold on people, relax!! I don't have to stop running forever! I've been given orders to stop running just until we can review the results of my upcoming MRI. That will be next week. In the meantime, I've already been to a physical therapist so I can put the wheels of recovery in motion.

Within 5 minutes, I decided the woman I met with was impressive. I could tell she knew what she was doing. One of the first things she made me do was balance on each leg. Immediately, she tells me that my left side is weak. Apparently, it drops and turns in to compensate for some weak muscles. I have noticed when I try to do one legged squats, I have a harder time balancing...

Right after the ultrasound, she gave me a short list of exercises to do daily. We did the full round of them in her office and almost immediately, I could feel the burn. One of the exercises is as simple as just standing on one leg while keeping the hips, pelvis and knee in alignment. Seems simple, right? Not for me. For years, I've joked about my poor balance. This definitely plays a part in why I struggle with balance.

So, I'm not hanging up my running shoes...at least not forever. I'm merely taking precautionary steps to prevent what could have been a serious injury down the line. I'm anxious to get the MRI done to ensure nothing is torn, but either way, I'm already on my way to recovery.

Here We Go Again!

For the past 18 months to 2 years, I've been having some soreness in my hamstrings. Most of this is when I run, but sometimes I can feel it during other things, like biking uphill. This has never really caused me to quit a run, but I have felt the need to dial back the pace in order to not pull the hamstring or try to avoid whatever is going on back there.

Seeing as we're in the midst of the off-season, I decided to have the hamstring checked out. (AGAIN with the checked out...you know, Costanza has the slight discoloration). Anyway, I digress. I decided to go see Dr. Terry Nicola who is well-known and respected within the Chicago running and athletic community. I want to figure out what's going on and I want it to go away. Even the lay off from the last injury didn't help this hamstring issue as I have still been feeling the hamstring in my last couple of runs.

Dr. Nicola's office is hidden away in one of the Athletic buildings at UIC. A nice student had to point me in the right diretion. Surprisingly, my wait in the office was only about 10 minutes before I was taken to one of the examining rooms. I was asked a ton of questions and then we did some range of motion exercises as well as strength exercises. Suffice it to say I was told I have some serious issues going on. (No kidding, that's why I went to see a doctor.) My jaw about hit the floor when he said, "You have to stop running." My first reaction was, "You're kidding. How about just slow, easy runs in zone 1? How about no hills?" Um, no. Now my heart was sinking to the bottom of my stomach when I thought about how long I've already been off from running. This cannot be happening.

I dejectedly walked out of his office and scheduled an MRI. I tried to remind myself that I was doing this as a precautionary measure because, although I was able to run fast and even qualify for Boston with the hamstring bothering me, at some point, I know something is going to give. But this just feels like the shin splint/stress fracture all over again. I feel like this MRI thing and "no running" sentence is just overkill, but how can I argue with this guy? He's the best there is. And he wouldn't tell me do to this if he didn't think it was absolutely necessary......would he?

I got home and looked at the weather forcast for today (-2) and then decided I was happy I couldn't run. Guess I just have to focus on other things for now. Here we go again!

Trainer is bad for my wallet!

This week kicked off some mild base training. With that kick off, I've had to spend some time on the trainer. I'm not a big fan of the trainer. It's pretty boring, but when you live in the midwest, road rides this time of year are hard to come by.

I fill up my water bottles, get some clean towels and load up the DVD player with some inspiring material - an Ironman race. I'm on the bike now, intently watching IM Florida 2003. I'm caught up in the race and time is flying by. I watch as athlete after athlete crosses the finish line, smiling, pumping their fists in the air, happy to have achieved their goal. Then the DVD is over. This lasted about 17 minutes! Crap, now what? Looking out the window at the empty backyard certainly isn't going to keep me entertained. So I turn off the DVD player and start flipping through the cable channels.

Oh wait, look at this. Some non-stick cookware. Ooooh - look, he can pop out homemade bread easily. He puts a bunch of cinnamon rolls in a bundt pan and I imagine how good that smells while it's cooking. He bakes a sheet of chocolate chip cookies and they slide right off this mat thing he invented. WAIT - get the phone, if I order now, I'll get the extra baking pan PLUS a lid!
Flipping the channel, I find QVC. Well look at those beautiful sterling necklaces. Oh, and then there's the sparkly, matching bracelet. The prices are so cheap, what's to think about? Next come the earrings! Wow, those are all so great. I think I must have them. What's the item number? Wait, no. I don't even wear jewelry. What am I going to do with this stuff? Maybe I'll give it away as gifts. Maybe I'll just remember the item number and order at another time....

I grab the remote to get away from the jewelry and now I see the bowflex. Of course the male model has a 6-pack and is beautifully tan. And the woman also has a tremendous body. All it takes is bowflex and 6 weeks for you to look like that, you know. I start wondering where I can put this in my home. I could really use a bowflex. Look how cool that is. You can target all muscle groups. And it's only how much? Hey, that's what credit cards are for!

The next station has this putty that you can pretty much use for everything. You can use it to replace a chain link, coffee cup handle, and if you're really in a jam, you can use it to hold two big metal pieces together, each attached to a chain and you can haul a big truck! Oh yeah, that could come in handy. What's the phone number for that one?

Frustrated, I turn off the television. My ride is just about over, but I think I need to figure out something else to watch while on the trainer. It might be time to start bringing out some of the old movie collection. But even that doesn't sound all that appealing. I just can't wait for it to get warmer out again...

Happy New Year!

Just like the last 4 years, my tradition has been to get out first thing in the morning for a New Year's Day run. We had less people at today's run than last year, but that was probably due to the challenging weather here in Chicago this morning. The snow from the night before had piled up and I didn't really see many plow trucks out this morning on my way to the run.

The snow was driving directly into our faces as we headed west. Other than that, the temperature wasn't really bad. It was the built up snow on the streets that made this a tough workout. Another runner commented that it was like running in sand. Yep, very difficult to get traction.

After I came back home, took a shower and put some nice, warm clothes on, I looked out the window and wondered what the heck I was doing out there running in the first place. It's COLD and nasty out there! But there was little that could've stopped me from getting out there this morning. It just feels like the right way to start out the new year.

Happy New Year!

Resolution Run 2007

Well, I don't have much time for this entry, but I just got back from the Resolution Run and wanted to quickly get my thoughts down.

This was just a 5K. Though there was really no pressure to perform, I wanted to try and run a good race. "Good" for me, at this time, is an unknown. I haven't been training, just getting in a few workouts here and there. I thought it would be interesting to see what I could do.

It was cold - I think the temperature read 20 degrees when I woke up this morning. The good thing was that there was no wind and it became sunny out (I forgot sunglasses). The biggest obstacle was all the ice on the trail. I'm a bit nervous about ice because I have a horrible sense of balance, so most of my run was on the side just along the path.

I was pretty much out of breath right at the start and my heart rate was much too high. I was getting tired and losing steam fast...then I hit mile 1! OUCH! I had to slow down. The air was cold enough and I was breathing hard enough that it hurt. I spent the next mile jumping off and on the trail because it did feel easier when I could run on dry pavement vs. the somewhat packed snow on the sides of the trail. The last mile was pitiful. I felt like I was reduced to a jog, but I kept trying to remind myself this was just a baseline. On a positive note, I felt no pain in the shin!

I think this was my 2nd slowest ever 5K. (The slowest 5K I've ever done was over 30 minutes...my first one, with no training at all). I knew not to expect much, however, I did expect to go faster than the close 28 minutes I put on the board today. Seeing as it was called the "Resolution Run" I thought about what Resolutions I would make before the new year. Then I decided I was working too hard to think about such things! Besides, I already have my resolutions all written out.

Today's time disappointed me, but in looking at my lack of run training for the last 6 months, I'm not really sure what I expected. But I am coming away with 2 positive things from today: 1 - no shin pain! WOO HOO! 2 - it will be fun to watch as I make improvements on today's race time.

New Bikes

My TT bike is close to 4 years old now. Which, to me, doesn't seem very old. However, I've recently been told I should get rid of the bike after 5 years. I look around and yeah, most everyone I know has bought a new bike since I got this one. I have a tendency to think that many type A, competetive, obsessive-compulsive, psycho triathletes simply buy new bikes because they're better, not because there is anything wrong with their current bike. Manufacturers make small improvements and advancements each year and if you don't keep current and keep buying new bikes, well, then you must be at a disadvantage!

I remember when I was picking out my bike, I showed a picture of it to a co-worker. He laughed and said, "You're going to spend all that money on a bike and it doesn't even come with pedals?" Right. Now my brother is buying a new, top of the line bike which should be arriving any day! This is his first road bike and he still hasn't picked out pedals yet. I helped a friend of his pick out some things to get him for Christmas (all for the new bike, of course). Basically, it's a lot of stuff he needs but doesn't know he needs it yet! These things are bottle cages, a bag for the bike, spare tubes, patch kit, levers, etc. He has no idea what the levers are for. I cannot wait to go out riding and show him what all this stuff is for and why he needs to carry all this stuff. The rides he's been going out on - on a mountain bike - have been 20+ miles. He's been doing this WITHOUT a spare! Yikes!

Particular About My Socks!

I've recently been able to start running again, albeit slowly. Last weekend, I bundled up for a short little run in the frigid December air. I have a considerable problem trying to keep my hands and feet warm in any temperature under 60 degrees. So last weekend's 19 degrees made me break out some of the warmest outdoor clothing I have.

I'm one of the few runners that will double up on socks in the winter. In fact, I have a separate pair of running shoes I use in winter. Those shoes are laced up much more loosely to give me the extra room needed to fit the warm, thick, woolly socks I use in temperatures under 32 degrees. These socks go up way past the ankle. No way any cold air is sneaking in anywhere!

Underneath those thick, woolly socks are usually my favorite Asics multicolored socks. These socks have different padding at the bottom in different parts based on where your feet hit the ground the hardest. As an added bonus, these socks also have a little "L" and "R" on the top to make sure you get them on the right feet. I also need the socks that have the quarter cut. Those low rise, short ones that are not visible over the shoes are just too little. And my ankle gets cold! If I use socks that are much thinner than these, I end up getting blisters.

Then we have cycling socks. Cycling socks are much, much thinner. In fact, I got a pair of socks when I was picking up my race packet for Ironman Florida and had a chance to wear those. There's almost nothing to them! Oh, and they were the really short kind that leave the ankle exposed. Even though any cycling I'm doing these days is indoor, I don't know I have a thing about the ankle and I think that socks need to cover the ankles! The cool thing about those socks, though, is that they have the little m-dot logo on them. Guess it doesn't matter, I doubt these socks will be getting much use.

Don't know why, but the Asics socks are my favorite, even for cycling. Even after 6 months, the socks hold their shape and still offer enough cushioning to make the run comfortable. They might not have cool colors or designs, but they work. Gotta stick with what works!

Luna Chix 2007

As the close of 2007 nears, part of my responsibility of being the team leader of the Chicago Triathlon Luna Chix includes both reviewing our performance in 2007 and look forward to how we can improve on 2008. Team Luna Chix is a VOLUNTEER opportunity for women to encourage and help other women get out and get active while raising money for the Breast Cancer Fund. Though I thought I was fortunate to have a solid, active team in 2007, as the months passed, I realized the women on the team weren't quite as dedicated as I had hoped.

As with any volunteer program, 2 things ring true: 1)you can't force a volunteer to contribute and 2)you only get out of the program what you put in. For a few of us, the rewards are priceless. For others, I seem to think they felt the responsibility was a burden. I thought bringing in more women would help lessen the workload. It did not. I read in some business book that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. How true!

I have been soliciting applicants for the 2008 team and I am excited by the number of people interested and by the enthusiasm they will bring to the team. Women who want to join the team for the right reasons! Women who want to help and want to make a difference! Is being a part of the team easy? Sometimes, no. However, I truly love helping newbies get acquainted to the sport, no matter what their level. It's so exciting to watch someone go through their first triathlon. I remember all the questions and worries I had as I prepared for my first triathlon and I had wished I had such a supportive group to work through those with me.

As I look back on the 2007 Luna Chix, I think we had a good team. It had all the makings and potential for a group to make a huge impact. Our first meeting was excellent and the energy in that room was phenomenal. Somewhere along the line, though, that energy fizzled and as the year moved on, many women did not fulfill even the minimal requirements of being a team member.

In 2008, I plan to have a better, stronger, more dedicated Luna Chix team. Again, as volunteers, no one can be forced to participate. However, by making sure the right people are in place, I think the Luna Chix team can make a big difference in the lives of many women. I'm looking forward to what the new year will bring!

30 Minutes

Well, it's been a while since I've posted. Because this blog is dedicated to my racing and training, and I haven't really been doing those, well, I guess there's really not much to write about. But I've gotten a few nasty email messages telling me that it was getting boring reading about the 100x100 workout, I figure I'd just write something quickly here to provide an update.

Most of my time has been spent sleeping lately. Work, sleep, maybe head on over to the pool. Not much. Researching a couple of races to do next year, not really ready to make any decisions, I'm just in a funk right now. I've never taken this much down time between seasons. Last year at this time, I had just finished running a marathon. I took a few weeks off and went right into training in January for the Boston Marathon in April. I kept myself busy.

I'm hoping all this "rest and recovery" will do me good. I've read that one of the biggest mistakes us age groupers make is not taking enough recovery time. But how much is enough? If I stop training for much longer, I might never go back. I'm starting to get used to plopping myself on the couch where my ass has now made a permanent indentation in the cushions. What am I watching on television? Mostly crap - you've got all those goofy reality shows (except Survivor, still love that one), a slew of crime-police investigation shows, and then some funny ones and I guess there's some drama. I don't know, I don't care. Unfortunately, I tend to stick with what I know, Seinfeld and King of Queens reruns.

OK, back to the workouts. I've run a couple of times since IMFL. I'm up to 30 minutes. 30 very slow minutes. In fact, after about 11-12 minutes, I'm wondering if it would be OK to stop. The good news is that there has been no pain. The bad news is that I'm so uninspired these days, I feel like a different person. Even knowing I have a brand new pair of Asics sitting in the closet waiting to be worn, I just don't feel like getting out there to run. Any time before my injury, I would've been up before dawn running out the door to try out the new shoes. I question whether or not I'll be able to get back to where I was before I got hurt. I wonder if I'll want to be putting in all the hard work I was putting in when I was able to run.

I always said I'd quit the sport of triathlon when it stopped being fun. It's not fun right now. The swimming is still fun...especially with friends...but the rest, eh, guess I need more down time.

50 x 100 x 100

For the sixth year in a row, I've been fortunate enough to be able to participate in the traditional 100 x 100 x 100 swim. (That's doing 100 yards every 100 seconds 100 times.) This is the first year in all that time that I actually DID NOT do the whole thing. It was recommended that I not do this workout today. It's not the first time I've heard this. I've been told by several people that they feel this workout provides no benefit.

So I sorta wrote this workout off. I put it out of my mind. But as it got closer and I started talking to some of the other people that planned to participate, I couldn't help myself! I decided to have the best of both worlds...do HALF of the workout. It's hard to pass this workout by, but I can't quite figure out what draws me to it. Tradition? I've done it once a year since I got back into swimming. And for the last 3 years, it's been an actual "event" at Lincoln Way with many of the same swimmers returning year after year. Maybe it's Pride? There aren't many people who choose the 100s option. (Swimmers can opt for 75s or 50s on that same 100 second interval). It's cool to be able to say I can do it....well, I guess not this year! Or maybe it's just a nice way to get in a good, solid workout on Thanksgiving weekend.

Surprisingly, these 50 100s went by really, really fast. It can seem overwhelming to think about the yardage in front of you at the start of this event. The key is to break it down into "tolerable" distances. For me, that means sets of 10 100s. It just seems easier to think, "OK, you have to do 5 sets of 10 100s" than...just go do 50 100s. It also helps to have friends there swimming with you that you can chat with between 100s. These people were kinda quiet, BC and Rich were really the only ones I was talking with.

The last 10 100s went by in the blink of an eye. And then my portion was done. I was almost sad as I got up out of the pool and headed to the showers. There was a part of me that thought...WAIT...there are still 50 more to go! And though I know I could do it, I decided to heed the advice of my coach who told me not to overdo it. I really didn't FEEL like I was overdoing it, but I already know that when I tell him I did 5000 yards at this pace...well, I'm not sure he'll be jumping up and down about it. But I'm not tired, nor do I feel I worked too hard. I definitely had a lot more to give, which I suppose is the point. This is supposed to be "down" time...recover, rest, yadda, yadda, yadda. Easier said than done. I'll be back next year!

Ironman North America Scam

Since I haven't been working out and I have no races planned, I sorta figured there was nothing to write about. But who am I kidding? I have endless opinions on just as many topics, so I tried to think about what really has me irked these days. It didn't really take me much time to figure out what's been on my mind lately. It's the Ironman North America Scam!

Let me back up a minute and give a brief overview. There are 6 Ironman North America full races: Arizona, Canada, Coeur d'Alene, Florida, Lake Placid and Wisconsin. Typically, registration for these races for the next year opens the day after the current year's race. I've only been doing Ironman races for 3 years, but I remember the first race I signed up for closed registration within 4 hours. These races are not cheap, I believe the 2008 rate is now close to $500 per race. (and you must tack on the $18.00+ "processing" fee for online registration).

Fast forward to 2007 where, if you are participating in this year's race, you have the option of signing up for next year's race EARLY - the day before this year's race! Now, the day AFTER the race, entry opens to everyone who is ON SITE at the race. When I drove by the line this year after Florida, it was an obnoxiously long line, probably 3+ hours of waiting. OK, now the online registration used to open at 10am for the next year's race. This year, they've delayed the online registration so they could take all the entries from the people who are on site first. So the online registration opens hours past the announced time...then fills EXTREMELY fast...I think IMFL 2008 filled in 15 minutes or something.

This is ridiculous. All this points to is that if you are not on the race site the day after the race, it's highly unlikely you will get in. So, if I want to get into Lake Placid for 2009, I'd have to go to Lake Placid in 2008 just to stand in line and HOPEFULLY (there is no guarantee) get a spot. Are you kidding me? Who has the time and the funds to do that? Well, I guess some people do, but I just don't think it's fair. I believe Canada has worked this way for years. As much as I'd like to do Ironman Canada, I don't think I should have to take a trip up there the year before just so I can maybe get a spot.

I can complain about it until the cows come home, but there will still be those die-hard Ironman fanatics who will jump through whatever hoops necessary to get in their race of choice. Same goes for the astronomical rising cost of these races that far exceeds the rate of inflation. I get that - you can charge what the market will bear. If people do it and you're still able to sell out your races in record time, you must be doing something right.

I've now had the opportunity to participate in an iron-distance race that was NOT Ironman North America. I've gotta say, there is a big difference. I can only hope that these smaller, no-name iron-distance races grow in number, locations and participation. Most other sports, you can sign up the DAY OF the race, no problem. Try that with an Ironman! It would be great if we didn't have to commit an entire year out (and fight for that entry, nonetheless) and didn't have to be ON THE RACE SITE to get that entry. Oh yeah, if something happens to you in that year that you signed up, like an injury, the most you could get back would be $150 and that needs to be requested a full 6+ weeks out.

So I'm all in support of the up and coming Iron-distance events (you can't use the word Ironman, they have it trademarked, WTF?). Yes, it will take time and practice to get it right, but it will give the athletes more options. There are many of us who do this simply as a hobby - it's not our entire existence! - and we just shouldn't have to make a trip to a race just to sign up for the following year.

I can't complain about the IMNA races. They're well organized, plenty of volunteers, great venues and courses, blah, blah, blah...but there has to be a better way to have registration.

Time For A Little Rest and Relaxation

As I type this, I'm thinking to myself how far away IMFL really seems. It's difficult for me to believe this race was just over a week ago. See, this is how the sport manipulates you. I remember feeling so much pain during the last 10K of that run. If I think back to try and remember details, I remember telling everyone in the days following IMFL that my legs had never hurt so bad before. I remember being asked by an 80 year old woman on the plane during my return trip if I needed help getting off the plane. She said I didn't look so good. I can remember an extreme amount of chafing...chafing that turned into scabs a few days after the race. I remember feeling like I wanted to sleep a lot.

But all of that seems like an eternity ago. For the last few weeks as I prepared for IMFL, I remember thinking I couldn't wait for it to be over so I could take some much needed time off. And here we are, just 10 days later and I'm trying to think of what I can do next. All that work that lasted for months and months doesn't seem so bad (now that it's over).

The Saint and I have been sick ever since we came back from FL. It has been over 5 years since I had a cold, but this one struck hard. The last several days, I haven't even been able to talk. I started to believe I had strep throat and I was very close to heading into one of those walk-in care centers to get some antibiotics or something. Finally today, it's starting to turn around for me and for the first time since IMFL, I was able to get into the pool and swim for a while. I've been advised to do nothing strenuous, nothing long, just get in and swim while remaining very relaxed. It felt good. Actually, it felt great.

I know my body is still recovering from the strain of Ironman and know not to push it. But I have to be thankful of the cold because THAT is what has forced me to stick to the plan. It's tough to take the prescribed time off, but everyone will tell you it's all for the best in the long run. And maybe that has been part of my problem. In the last 4 years, I don't think I've EVER taken this much time off from training. It's part of that type A, addictive personality that just pushes me out the door for each workout, whether it's in my best interest or not.

In fact, I went to a 10K this weekend - just as a spectator - and it was just plain weird. I saw so many familiar faces and they were all in shock when I said I wasn't racing, I was just there to watch. It was UNHEARD OF! "What do you mean, you're NOT racing??!?!?" It was kinda funny. It did make me wish I was racing....well, sort of. Guess it's just not like me to stand on the sidelines and just cheer everyone on. But, it was great! I saw so many friends run by, it was fun to cheer them on and the time flew by! I tell ya, being a spectator can be hard work!

So, I'd like to say I'm back to training, but it's not really training. I'm doing stuff, but nothing "structured." And as much as I'd like to hit a tough workout, I know that's just not the right thing to do. I also know that if I wait long enough, it will be time to hit the hard workouts again soon. And I thought I'd never say this, but I miss running. I can't wait to run again, even if it's really, really slow....

Ironman Florida Race Report

I could go in to all the details and events leading up to the race, but I'm quite sure that would make this post entirely too long. Suffice it to say that everything leading up to the race went well. The training sessions went smoothly, registration was easy, I ate, drank and slept well, and I was relatively calm leading up to the big day.


I set the alarm for 4am, though I was up before then. I got out of bed and quietly went to the kitchen in the condo to start eating. As usual, I'm never hungry when I immediately wake up, so forcing down the necessary calories wasn't easy. Ironman NA is different from most races in that you MUST check in your bike, T1 and T2 things the day before. It does make it easier to pack up on race morning because most of your stuff is already where it needs to be. All I had to bring was my 2 Special Needs bags (these are bags that you can put whatever you want or think you might need half way through the bike and run sections of the course). I put some things in each, not really expecting to use anything except the long-sleeved shirt for the run. Once the sun goes down, it can get pretty chilly.


The walk down to the transition area was quick. We were able to drop off the Special Needs bags on the way down to transition. Then it was just a matter of putting all our nutrition on the bikes, adding last-minute items to the transition bags, pumping up the tires on the bikes, get body marked, then we were off to the beach! Even though we left the condo around 5:10am, time passed very quickly and before I knew it, we would be starting in just 15 minutes.


I stood with BC while we listened to the National Anthem and we moved closer to the water. I thanked him for his support, wished him good luck and I had to walk away. I'm not sure why, but my eyes welled up with tears then and I wondered why I was about to do this again. My plan was to start very, very wide. I just did not want to be in the mix of the washing machine of arms, elbows, legs and bodies of all those other swimmers. I walked down the beach, away from the buoys and the groups of swimmers seemed endless. But I had been thinking about this plan ever since I did my last Ironman swim 16 months ago, I would not put myself in the center of this mess. I got to a place where there were about 8-10 swimmers on my right. We needed to swim out (and considerably left) to get to the buoys. I didn't care that I would be swimming a bit longer, the energy and frustration I save would be well worth it in my eyes. I also decided the people I lined up with were much less aggressive and serious about this race. We were cracking jokes up until 30 seconds before the start.


The cannon went off and I did a couple of dolphin dives to get started. Those are so exhausting! I swam about 100 yards and started smiling. I was not hit at all. I made the right decision. This was awesome! I started veering left to try and catch a little draft. But I didn't want to get too close in there. I found what I thought to be a woman who was about my speed. I backed off and swam a little bit out, toward the right, to get on her feet. Aaaaahhhhh. Nice. She swam crooked every now and then, but when I tried to break away from her, I noticed I wasn't gaining ground. She sighted enough that she never went off course very far. We only had 2 turns before we had to get out to start the second loop, and I followed her through both turns very easily. It was a bit strange....I know I'm toward the front of the pack, but where IS everyone?? Oh well, who cares, I'm swimming effortlessly and breathing as normal as I would just sitting in front of the television.


I got out of the water and looked at the clock...then realized I needed to take off 10 minutes (because the clock showed the professionals' time and they started 10 minutes before us). I was happy to see 29 minutes and some change. This was great! (In the pic above, I'm the one running past the lady with the blonde hair holding a cup of water). I hopped back in, but unfortunately lost the woman I was drafting off of. I saw tons of people swimming INSIDE the buoys and wondered what they were doing. If you swim a course counter clockwise, the buoys should be on your left side. I kept on my way and found another set of feet to draft off of. I was bummed when I thought about the fact that the swim was nearing the end...I was having fun! We made the first of the 2 turns on the second loop and there was only one other swimmer actually going around the right side of the furthest buoy. Unbelievable. I think a few fast swimmers cut the course and majority of the pack followed suit. It made my swim really easy, I felt like there were only about 6 of us out there.


I got out of the water and saw 1:00 on the clock. Sweet...right as expected..maybe even a couple minutes faster! The wetsuit strippers I went to struggled a bit to get my wetsuit off. I grabbed the wetsuit and started running toward the showers they had set up for us to rinse the salt water off a little. To my surprise, I ran into BC headed toward the showers!! It was a nice surprise and I was glad to see he had a very strong swim also. Unfortunately, no one was there to hand me my transition bag, so I went to get it myself. Once inside the transition tent, I was a little out of breath, but calm as I quickly changed into biking clothes. I felt quick as I ran out of the tent only to find that no one was there to hand me my bike. I ran over to my rack to get my own bike and headed out toward the bike course. One of the greatest things about being a strong female swimmer is that I was in the transition tent with just a couple of women and there weren't even many men heading out on the course yet. I got to the Mount Line, got on the bike and pedaled away.


Immediately, I thought something wasn't right. My back wheel, with the disc, didn't sound right. It didn't feel right. Is this all in my head? At that moment, I was riding over some brick paver, so I figured it would sound normal as soon as I got on some smooth pavement. Unfortunately, no...I got on the blacktop and something still wasn't right. I looked down at my back tire and it was flat. NO!!!!! I pulled over and stopped my watch. I didn't want to know how much time this was going to cost me because I knew it would make me push harder to make up the time...NOT a smart thing to do. I ran back a few steps, pulling the bike, to lean it up against a trailer that was lined up on the side of the road. There was a nice older woman there who said, "I know I'm not supposed to help you, but is there anything I can do?" Oddly enough, I smiled and said, if you could just hold my bike for a second, that would be great! I think she was excited about getting the chance to help an athlete in distress. I asked some young boy to go to transition and ask them to send support. For a brief moment, I considered calling it a day. This is not supposed to happen!


I took some deep breaths and tried to calm down. I moved the chain to the smallest gears and took the wheel off. I then took the spare off the back of my seat where it was taped on. I unwrapped the razor blade BC had luckily given to me just yesterday. I then cringed as I sliced the tire off the wheel. This was a tire that only had a couple hundred miles on it at most, but I couldn't risk taking the time to pump it up only to realize that there was a hole in it. I ripped the tire off, unwrapped the spare and I think I surprised myself when I was able to get the tire on pretty quickly. One of the spectators asked, "Have you done this before?" I said, "Ironman, yes...change a tubular flat...no!" I tried using my CO2, but for some reason, I couldn't get it to engage. The bikers were flying by me out of transition and it was stressful. I yanked off the hand pump I always keep on the bike and tried pumping it up that way. It was taking air, but I knew I couldn't get enough pressure in there with this little pump. I kept looking for the support crew, but no one was coming. Just then, the boy I sent to get help came back to me and said if I wanted help, I had to go back to transition. WHAT??!?!? Crap. Well, I thought...I could just ride on, tire not completely full, or I could take the extra couple of minutes to go back into transition to make sure the tire was on right and get the right amount of air in it. Had this been a shorter race, I might've made a different decision, but I chose to run back into transition.


It was a nightmare. All these bikers were coming out and I was running all the way back in. I was almost run over several times by people who mounted their bikes and were still looking down at their feet as they rode off...they wouldn't even look up until I yelled to them. It was not only embarrassing, it was frustrating. Any lead I had built up on that fabulous swim was now gone....and then some. As I was about to run back into transition I was stopped by a volunteer. She told me I couldn't go back in. I told her I needed a pump and I was directed to come back into transition! COME ON, WOMAN, I'M TRYING TO RACE HERE!!! She asked if I had a timing chip on. Of course!!!! Then she said, well, then you can't go back over the timing mat. Are you kidding me? She then became distracted, so I headed into transition and tried to cross over a part past where the mat had ended. At this point, I don't care if my transition time is all messed up, the extra time is either going to be tacked on to my transition or my bike split. I dodged tons of athletes all in a hurry to get out on the bike course. I saw some men standing under a tent and I asked them for a pump. They pointed across one of the aisles and I saw about 6 bike technicians standing there with a bunch of pumps. I called to them, but then one of the men I was standing by chastized me and said I need to go over there if I want to use a pump. I was like, "Dude, it's much easier to carry a pump across the aisle with all these athletes going by than it is for me to wheel my bike across the aisle!" He was pretty mean about it and told me I needed to wait for it to be clear. Uh huh, I'd be standing there for another hour if I waited for that! And just like Frogger, I maneuvered my way across the streaming flow of athletes and shoved my back wheel towards the technicians. The technicians were awesome. One tried to calm me down while the other immediately pumped my tire. I asked if it would hold, due to the fact the glue on the spare was kinda old. One guy says to me, "Sure, just don't go fast." HUH??? Another one tells me to take it easy on the turns, but it should hold no problem.


I struggle to turn the bike around in the small space and try not to block other athletes. I now run out with this huge crowd of bikers. It was a zoo. I would later find out that no less than 700 athletes passed me during the time it took me to take care of this flat. Depressing. I got back to the Mount Line, got on the bike and started riding. NOW it feels right! Whew! I took more deep breaths and congratulated myself for not freaking out. Alright, now focus. Just stick to the plan and try to forget about how much time you just lost.


I settled in to my rhythym and tried to enjoy the ride. It was not a hard pace, in fact, many times, I purposely made myself ride slower. This would be a long day. Even with all the lost time with the flat, bikers whizzed by me. I tried not to think about it, just trying to ride my own ride. But it's hard. Especially when you're not working so hard and you know you can keep up with/go faster than whoever is passing you at the moment. STICK TO THE PLAN! I drank regularly and my nutrition was spot on. I took water at all but one aid station and grabbed a couple of bananas when I could. I passed by the special needs bags and decided I didn't need anything. There was no one there to hand me my bag anyway. The miles went by - 60, 70, 80...and I waited for that, "OMIGOD, is it over yet?" feeling. More miles 90, 100...hey, I still feel pretty good! Packs of bikers would go by, drafting. I did see some penalties given. I thought about drafting because it seemed like so many people were doing it, but that would make me ride the pace of the group, not my own pace. And I was really excited to see what I could do on my own. No matter how fast my bike split is, I could never place in a race like this, so I just wanted to stick to my plan and see how I could do. I was quite confident it would be better than last time!!


The wind had picked up in the later miles of the race. As people continued to pass me, I couldn't help but think that this wouldn't be happening had I not had that stupid flat!! ENOUGH! I had to stop thinking negatively about it. I was, though, still pretty cautious around the turns. I kept thinking my poorly glued spare was going to roll right off the rim. Fortunately, there weren't a whole lot of turns on this course and no real downhill to worry about! I got off the bike feeling very good, and the spare held up the entire ride!


I was lucky to have someone take my bike when I rode in, but once again, had to find my own transition bag. I ran over to the tent, slowly, as I fumbled with my Garmin to change it to run mode. I got into the transition tent and did a full wardrobe change. The volunteer helping me was kinda rude, barking at me and I wished she would go away. Just stop moving my stuff, I can do it! But she's only trying to help, so I just dealt with it. I was bummed there was no water in the tent, but I expected there would be some right outside the tent before we got on the run course. I was yelled at to turn my number to the front as I left transition, and I carried my visor as I started running.


Right out of the transition, there was the Saint, yelling to me, said he saw the flat, but that I still managed to put up a pretty good bike split. The way I calculated it, I lost about 15-20 minutes on that fiasco, but I couldn't be sure. Again, I tried not to think about it...can't change it now, anyway. What's done is done. I was running at a pretty good pace and felt great. A deer darted across the course while I was in Andrews Park. Little guy looked all confused with all these runners crowding his territory! I tried to remember to focus on nutrition and to take regular walk breaks. I got through the first 10 miles pretty easily, but then I started to slow down. A woman on the side of the road called out..."MJ...Is that MJ?? HEY - it's Jen Harrison!" And I smiled and said hi back. It was really cool that she was out there cheering people on and even cooler that she recognized me! It gave me a quick boost and I tried to keep on running. By the time I got to the half way point, the Saint was there again, standing outside our condo with the spouses of KK, JQ and sometimes BC.

He said I looked good, but I wasn't feeling good. My quads were starting to ache, no doubt due to the lack of running. Interestingly enough, I didn't feel any shin pain whatsoever.


I continued on my run/walk plan, chose to pass by the special needs bag and hoped I wouldn't freeze on the second loop of the run. I was in a good place mentally, I just hoped my quads wouldn't get worse. Not sure who did it, but someone typed in a message at the motivation checkpoint...THANK YOU to whoever put that message in there. It lifted my spirits as the sun set and I was handed a glow necklace. And though I felt like I was slowing, my pace stayed amazingly consistent until about mile 22. My legs felt heavy and the sound of my feet shuffling on the pavement irritated me. I just didn't have the strength to pick them up high enough to not make that noise any more. I counted down the miles and kept thinking what 4 miles left of Waterfall Glen feels like...then 3 miles, then 2 miles. With 1 mile left to go, I vowed to run the whole mile in. The pain in my legs was worse than any pain I've had before, but not injury pain. This is what you get when you only train up to 12 miles, then attempt to go out and run 26. I can do it...just 1 mile.


I could hear the announcer calling finisher names and saying, "YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!" I didn't hear them announce my name at either of my other 2 Ironman races, so I hoped I'd be able to hear it today. Down the finishing chute, the specators are lined up on both sides, cheering athletes in. As sore and tired as I was, that rush of coming in...finishing an Ironman race...feels great! There were a couple of guys close in front of me and I thought about slowing a little so I could have a good finish photo, but then I decided I just wanted it to be over. I'm not slowing down for a picture that I'm probably not going to purchase anyway. And the volunteers at the finish could barely get the finishing ribbon back across the finish fast enough as I ran in right behind another guy. I lifted my arms and tried to smile. As I crossed, I finally heard, "MJ, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!"