Let's Keep This Thing Rolling!

Let's see--my last post was on Friday. A lot has happened since then! On Saturday, I ended up running on the treadmill for 2:10 and covered just over 12 miles (so nice, easy pace), and then I walked 6 miles in 1:20. I had fun while I was on the treadmill at my YMCA, and periodically had visitors, so I asked one guy to snap a picture of me:

I think I ate everything in sight once I was home! My legs were sore, but I expected that!

Then on Sunday, I went to Greene Valley so I could do my second long run in the flats and then end by walking up and down the big 1-mile hill. Only I really ended up more or less running up and down the hill! My flatness running time was about 9.5 miles in 1:30 and then I did another about 5 miles up and down the hill in :57. I had a great time on Sunday, too--the weather was great, and I tested out some other equipment that I might use in my 50k this month--I forgot I had the awesome trail hat. It has a skirt, but I didn't need it on Sunday. And I wore the arm coolers--not sure I will need them, but they felt nice on a cool day. And of course the Fuel Belt loaded with Infinit. Here I am all decked out:

The above pic is while I was running in the flats. Here I am at the top of the hill. I ditched the Fuel Belt and just carried a 12-oz. bottle. What a gorgeous day it turned out to be!

So for the weekend, I put in a total of about 32 miles on my feet. Just over 50k! A FANFUCKINGTASTIC RUNNING WEEKEND!

On Monday, my legs were predictably trashed, but I still managed some good training. I swam 2900 yards in the morning, and it felt great. I did 10 minutes of water running when I was done, and that felt great on my legs. After I ate something (it seems I am always eating something!), I decided that actual running was not in the cards, so instead I walked 4.5 miles in just over an hour. I enjoyed it! I was dressed as if I were going to run, and I'm sure it puzzles people to see me just walking dressed that way. Then, just after lunch, I did 30 minutes of strength training. I need to stay on top of that!

On Tuesday, my legs were still a bit rough, but I figured I'd be good running as long as it wasn't the treadmill or pavement. I did 21 minutes of strength training in the early morning, then I did about 1.5 hours of yard work (cutting down perennials and bundling the stems), then I suited up to go running. I headed to Greene Valley again (I LOVE that place!), and parked at the Dog Park and ran from there. The objective was to run for 50 minutes, but I ended up going for 55 minutes because I made a wrong turn at one point, which made me laugh! My legs were a tad sore but nothing bad. I got home, ate something (AGAIN!), and then I headed out to bike on Death Machine for 1:30. I don't think I rode very hard, but I sure was happy to be on a bike again!

Yesterday I was scheduled for a 2900-yard swim, a 1:30 run and an hour of walking. That's a lot for a day, and in retrospect, I should have used Infinit on the run. Keep reading!

Here is the sky in the morning. Beautiful! It portended a great day, and a great day it was!

I did the swim, and it went quite well. Every swim I do I use paddles for at least 1200 yards. It keeps me strong. After I swam, I was really hungry, so I had a Hot Pocket. My body feels very revved up now--I am just moving A LOT! Then I mowed the lawn. Even though it's not what I consider exercise to mow, my body is in the mode that ANY MOVEMENT IS A FUCKING WORKOUT, and in retrospect I should have eaten more before I ran. But I drank a Coke next.

Then I headed to Waterfall Glen. In the back of my mind, I was thinking if I felt good enough I could extend the run to 1:45 which would mean I could run less on this Saturday, but that didn't happen. I did an out and back to Mile 3, and when I was just 2 miles in I felt light-headed. I did a body check--am I sick? NO. Am I dehydrated? NO. Must be lack of calories. At least I knew it. When I got back to my car, I ate a gel, drank half a bottle of water and chugged more Gatorade. Then I headed back out going clockwise (backwards!) and was going to just run 3 more miles, but I got motivated to get some of my walking done during this stretch. So I ran out for about 1.5 miles, then I walked about a mile out, walked about a mile back, and then finished running. Finally, I walked another 2 miles. During the second stretch, it got quite warm out and the sun finally came blazing out! As it was, I got some more suntan, and it felt good! All in all, I covered 9.2 miles running in 1:30 (a nice, easy pace for me) and just over 4 miles walking in 1:01. A good day on the feet!

When I was back at my car the final time, I finished the bottle of water, chugged some more Gatorade and ate a piece of string cheese I had in the cooler. I got my bottle of Endurox R4 out of the cooler for the drive home.

On the way home, I stopped at Brookhaven Market to pick up some salmon caviar that I have become addicted to. When I was on my way in to the store, a man going to his car saw me and I heard him say, "What the hell!" I think he was just reacting to my mirrored sunglasses and the neon green hat that are in the picture above from Sunday's run. It made me laugh. I suppose I looked like some kind of alien being! Either that or I looked like the biggest badass that man had ever seen. Honestly, I think there are times when I DO look like that! I guess I wasn't smiling much at the time because I WAS FUCKING HUNGRY! Never get in my way after I've been working out for hours and I'm hungry.

I finished the Endurox R4 on the way home, then I showered (BEST SHOWER EVER!), ate some caviar and then a Lean Cuisine and had a beer. Then I did some more light yard work after donning compression tights. While I felt overall tired, my legs did not feel too bad! And they don't feel bad at all today! They were a little stiff when I first got out of bed, but there is no quad soreness!

I'M A GODDAMN FUCKING RUNNER AGAIN!

Today I just have a 1:30 ride, and I will probably ride LGL if it's nice outside. If not, then I'll do a Sufferfest video on the trainer. I will do :30-:45 of strength training and get organized for the weekend.

On Saturday, I'm scheduled for a 2 hour run and 1.5 hours of walking, but then I'm driving for hours, so I think I'll walk 45 minutes today so I only have to walk 45 minutes on Saturday. I signed up for this virtual run where the entry benefits bone marrow recipients. I get a bib (below) and a medal! I want to get this done on Saturday, so however long it takes me to run 13.1 miles is what I'm going to do!

I will wear the bib while I'm running whether it ends up being on a treadmill at my YMCA or outside somewhere. If I run outside, I suspect I'll go back to Waterfall Glen so I can get in another dose of hills. I LOVE FUCKING HILLS!!! Well, not really all the time, but I try and alternate flat and hilly. And yesterday had some hills, but I NEED MORE HILLS!!!

I seem to be in a training groove right now--at some level, I can't believe I'm able to do all this--but on another, I've been going at it for years, so I should be able to do this. I won't really know the outcome of any speed improvements until next week when I actually race another 1/2 marathon--that will be interesting! In the meantime, I just need to keep eating constantly to fuel the machine! Time to eat again!

Ironman Chattanooga Training and Spectating Report - Part 2

Saturday, September 24
On this day, my training called for a 1:45 run and 1:00 of walking. Lori needed to do a short brick workout and then check in her bike and her bags. The night before, both Lori and I took a melatonin and an Advil PM, so we slept like dead people with no alarm set. I got 9.5 hours of sleep! It's been months since I slept that long!

Since it was going to be FUCKING HOT again, I didn't want to use my Fuel Belt, so I dump the Gatorade out of a 12-oz. bottle and filled that with Infinit. That would last me for about an hour or so of running and walking.

After some breakfast (of course, I was STARVING when I woke up!), Lori set up her transition area and got her bike ready, and I was all suited up to run:

Lori left, then I left. I headed approximately northeast from Karen's house. I knew it would be hilly. It actually wasn't that hot when I started running at around 8:45. It was beautiful where I was running, but I had to run on the road which I almost never do, and it was cambered, and so I had to try and switch sides of the road otherwise my legs and feet would be fucked up. I ran out for about 30' then walked up this switchback that was VERY steep! It went up onto the mountain thing, and I stopped when I was standing on about a 25% grade. I could barely walk back down! But it was beautiful. On the way back, Lori drove by on her way to check in her bike. She remarked that that was about as fast as she'd be running (I was on a hill again!) on race day. I ran back and reloaded another 12-oz. bottle of Infinit. The first part of my run was 1:00.50 running and 14:17 of walking.

For the second part of my run, I went the other way from Karen's house, as it should be more flat, although as it turns out it was an uphill grade all the way out. On either side of the road were these very steep hills and at some point I decided I needed to go up one of them just to change things up. It was fun, as at the top, I was barely running, but it was still great!

For the second part of my run, I ran 46:27 and walked 45:55. I alternated running and walking on the second part since I was on asphalt again. I knew my legs would be sore from this, but oh well! Of course, during the second part of the run it was FUCKING HOT! I think I achieved a whole new level of suntan, too!

Back at the ranch, I showered, Lori came back, and she and I went into town and decided we'd get lunch and get carry out for our dinner later so she could have all her food in early, as is customary when you wake up around 3AM the next day for an Ironman. We went to a Mediterranean restaurant, Taziki's, where of course, I ate twice as much as Lori (I had dolmades appetizer and then a sandwich with rice on the side and she had only hummus):

Lori got a salad for later and I got another sandwich (it seems I eat a lot of sandwiches on these junkets). Lori needed to get some yellow ribbon that she wanted to wear in honor of her dear son, Patrick, who sadly passed away this summer, so we headed to Walmart. When we got to the mall where it was, Lori asked me if we had time for a mani/pedi. Hey--it's HER race, we can do whatever she wants! So we parked and decided she'd get the pedi and me the mani. When we got in there, I asked if we could have a beer while we were prettied up and they said YES. So I walked next door to a Mexican restaurant, and they said they wouldn't let me take it out, so I walked some more (did I mention it was FUCKING HOT again?), then ended up walking to the Walmart where I picked up a 6-pack of Sam Adams Cherry Wheat (one of my favorite beers), and I also got the yellow ribbon that Lori needed. On the way out, I spotted one of the lifeguards from the Y and he recognized me! That made me smile (as do most things, except for certain things that don't). I gave Lori a beer and I picked the colors for our nails (neon green with green sparkles!), and we got fixed up:

We returned to the ranch where Lori had to get her final bag preparation done and I needed to get my shit together for race day! Did I mention my legs were already sore? Oh well, too fucking bad--I'm training for a 50k and that is going to be happening a lot! Here is Lori doing her final prep:

And that was all she wrote for Saturday.

Sunday, September 25
Holy shit! I swear that the way I do it when I'm in training that spectating and supporting at an Ironman is just as hard as the race! It takes much coordination, costume changes and leaves little time for food. I awoke at maybe 2:30 before my alarm that was set for 3:15. My first job was to have coffee ready for when Lori awoke. First I made mine, then prepped my own breakfast, and when Lori got up I had her coffee all ready to go. I needed to be ready to get down to the swim start with Lori, and then I would come back and run, then I would go back with my bike for the marathon.

We managed to leave on time at 4:15 and first stopped at transition so Lori could put stuff on her bike. Meanwhile, Karen went and retrieved a friend of hers to take her to the swim start. Then Karen (bless her soul she was such a workhorse for us!) came back to get Lori and me and drive us to the swim start. The race had buses for the athletes, but we were on the EXTRA AWESOME VIP SERVICE PLAN, so we got dropped off! It was so cool for me to be able to stand in line with the athletes. I made a trip for Lori to calculate about how many people were in front of her, and I guessed about 130, so she was pretty much up front. I absolutely love this picture of Lori and me in line:

Lori is wearing a pair of my earrings, and I am wearing her Ironman necklace and a tie that she gave me to wear in honor of Patrick, who was a rabid Star Wars fan. I had made a yellow ribbon thing and pinned it to the tie. Both Lori and I were sporting some temporary tattoos. Lori has some actual ones, too, but I have got her in the habit of adding a few for race day. I have a huge stash of them!

Most people in line thought I was racing, but no! I was actually a little chilly so early in the morning, but nothing I couldn't handle, as I knew it would be FUCKING HOT before long!

Time passed and soon enough, it was time for Lori to get suited up to start her day. Here she is all ready to go!

I wished her luck, sent her off, then I began making my way to the start area. I would walk down the point to point swim course, try and catch Lori in transition and maybe a few other peeps, then hook back up with Karen to take me home so I could do my run from there. Usually, I like doing my run on race day on the actual run course, but since I would be walking first and didn't yet have my bike, I needed to go back home anyway, so I thought I'd run there. Besides, the marathon course for IMCHAT is FUCKING HILLY! I didn't really need to run more hills.

The walk along the swim course was more like 3 miles, as the path alongside the river was quite winding. Here is one sample of people in the river:

The athletes, due to the time trial start, were basically spread across the entire length of the swim course! I was worried I might miss Lori in transition, so I hustled on my sore legs to get to the cramped area where people were trying to catch their athlete in transition. I finally spotted Lori but didn't get a picture of her coming in as it happened so fast, but I did catch her running to her bike because my aerohelmet is easy to spot:

You can see her kind of center with the red and white stripes on the back of her head. I was happy I saw her, and hung out a little more, but then knew I had to go run while she was on the bike and then shower and eat and show back up on my own bike!

Phew, I'm exhausted just writing this!

Karen retrieved me, and by now it was FUCKING HOT. The expected high for the day was like 95. I felt so bad for the athletes--I would have melted in those conditions, as I did in 2005 when I DNF'ed Ironman Wisconsin, that had a real high of 110 that day!

I repeated the allegedly flat part of running from Karen's house and got in my planned additional walking as well. Holy fuck was I getting time on my feet or what? But that's what happens at an Ironman. It was FUCKING HOT and I showered and got my bike onto Karen's rack and she drove me back down. By this point, I am already an exercising machine, and I am the fucking Energizer Bunny. I have to be in order to do this!

Karen dropped me off and I found a place for a brew and some lunch:

It was the Brewhaus, and it was on the marathon course. They asked if I wanted to make a sign for my people, and I declined, since I'd be biking all over the fuck place and wouldn't be holding up any signs! Lunch was delicious, especially since I knew that was basically IT for me eating until after Lori was finished! You just don't have time to stop and get and eat food because you are afraid you will miss your athlete or others!

So now I started riding my bike. It was FUCKING HOT, but I was only wearing a swimsuit (as planned) so my peeps could spot me. Plus I was wearing the Star Wars tie. I'm sure I looked like a fucking goof, but as you know I COULD NOT GIVE A FUCK.  I managed to get to the first part of the run course and camp out around Mile 5. I was pretty sure I'd see Ryan first (he being the fastest of the bunch of my peeps), and I got a nice spot in some shade with a volunteer. It was amazing I didn't vomit it was so FUCKING HOT. Finally, I saw Ryan come cruising up:

I think he was happy to see me, and why not? He looked great, and FAST! Then I had to begin the process of waiting for Lori, who I expected next. It took much longer than I expected to see her, and I didn't even get any pictures of her at this spot, because next she started telling me what to do and when (which I fully anticipated so no worries!), and I said I'd do my best, even though it was already becoming difficult to navigate around this marathon course due to the bridges and roads and paths and such. But it was my job so I had to do it, right?

At this point, it would take me 2 months to write every detail, but let's just say I managed to see my friend, Rich, and I shepherded him at a point when he thought he was going to be chasing the cutoff, but he made it, and I saw Ryan again with just a few miles left to go in his race (he did AWESOME!), then I relocated Lori and rode near her for her last few miles all the way into the finish line, and I was SO HAPPY for everyone who managed to finish this race on a bitch of a day!

After Lori finished, it wasn't too long before Rich came out of transition and I was so happy to see he'd finished and he'd done SO WELL! Karen picked up Lori and me, and we went back to the ranch. I let Lori shower first, as she is the athlete. Meanwhile, I checked my bike computer and it turns out I'd ridden 25 miles! Who knows how much I walked and ran, too? All I know is I was tired and low on calories. After Lori showered, I did, and then we cracked open the bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne that I brought with me to celebrate:

Karen looked up a lot of results and there were a whole shitload of DNFs. So sad, but honestly, I expected it.

I will end here on a good note: I am SO PROUD of Lori, Ryan and Rich for finishing on such a tough day, and I am so honored I got to be out there for them. I think it was sometime during the marathon that I figured out another reason I love Ironman so much--not just doing it, but being there at a race--because I get SO MUCH ENERGY from it. These people give ME energy. It is the diametric opposite of people who SUCK your energy from you. That is why no matter how much training I am doing while I'm at one of these things, I feel great!

On that note, I hope you enjoyed reading this, and guess what? I'm going to do it again in 2 weeks at Ironman Louisville! However, that is not so far from home, so I will drive to Indianapolis on Saturday to meet Shelley, and then we will drive down and stay for Sunday. So I won't need to pack all my triathlon shit. I will still do a long run on Sunday, this time probably on the course, and I will be on LGL for the marathon. I am looking forward to it and I'm already tired in advance!

Ironman Chattanooga Training and Spectating Report Part 1

I decided months ago to attend this race in support of my 2nd BFF (or as we now like to say, my younger sister!) Lori, as she was racing and needed the support after one of her sons, Patrick, passed away this summer. I've supported Lori at Ironman Wisconsin twice, and she knows that I have pretty great Sherpa skills, and we would drive down together, so the trip was all set up.

A whole shitload of pictures have been posted to Facebook, so I'm not going to include them all in this post!

Wednesday, September 21
Lori flew from Denver (she now lives in Boulder) to Chicago and picked up a rental car. She stayed with her son, Jon, and planned to pick me up the next morning to drive down to Chattanooga.

I had moved my own workouts for the week around knowing that I wouldn't be doing anything on Thursday, so on Wednesday I ended up swimming, biking and running. I also needed to mow my lawn on Wednesday. Normally I would swim first thing in the morning, and I got ready to do that, but decided to go to Home Depot first to see if they could help me with a project. While cleaning out my garage in advance of Garbage Amnesty Day (you pay for 4 cans of garbage and then you can throw out unlimited amounts of crap), I found a long length of copper pipe. I decided I wanted to make it into a cube. My neighbor, Chuck, cut the pipe into 9" lengths for me, and so I need corners to connect the pieces. He delivered them to me all nice and bundled up!

I loaded my swim bag into my car and got to Home Depot around 6:15. I had fun chatting with 2 of the employees about how to do what I want to do. Bottom line was they don't have the parts I need. What I really want is a 3-way COPPER corner, but that doesn't exist, so I'm going to improvise with red PVC once I talk to a company who makes that about how I could join the two.

Anyway, I leave Home Depot and the sky is beautiful with the sun coming up, and I'm excited to get to swimming. I walk out to my car, get in and look north, and am like what the fuck is coming here? The sky was nearly black, so I check my phone and there is an ugly looking storm front coming down and we are going to get rain SOON. So I rush home so I can mow at least my back yard before it rains, because if I don't, I won't be able to do it and will need to ask my neighbor to do it. He would, but I didn't want to impose. So I get home, leaving my swim bag in my car, and I get to mowing all while looking at the approaching black clouds. For some reason, though, I wasn't scared. I would have taken pictures, but I didn't have time to stop! There was a shelf cloud, and then some mammatus clouds, and those things usually mean bad weather! But I managed to get my back lawn done (it took about 20 minutes) just as the raindrops began to fall, and then it started raining really good, and I was like PHEW! My front lawn would survive not being mowed since it had been really dry and it gets a lot of shade and never grows as much as the back.

So now I was like, OK when can I swim? I'd missed the morning lap time, but could resume again at 9:30 and basically had until 11:30. I decided I'd run first indoors since it was still raining, and then swim, and I would bike later. So I packed up run gear and headed to the Y. I ended up running 10' on the treadmill and then the rest on the indoor track. I got in a nice quickie of a track workout! I was actually running much faster than I've seen in MONTHS!  Yay for fucking me!!! After the track workout, I headed to the pool and swam my 2800 yard workout.

Then, I was scheduled for 1:30 of biking, but knew I'd end up biking during the marathon at IMCHAT, and I was now running out of time to be all packed for Thursday, so I cut the bike short to 1 hour and did it on the trainer to avoid spending extra time making a bottle and all that. Besides, the roads were now all wet and full of crap. I finished biking at about 1:30. Then I got to my almost final packing. I had all the food crap and gear crap organized. I also like my house to be relatively clean when I go away, so I worked on that.

Thursday, September 22
I woke up probably 2:30AM after sleeping for 6.5 hours. Yes, that is how I have been sleeping for almost 2 months now. I had my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) retested, and as I suspected, it's out of whack. My thyroid is UNDERperforming again. Seems odd, right? You'd think that since I'm sleeping less it would mean I was becoming hyPERthyroid, but I know my body, and what's happening is that since I've been training super hard, my poor thyroid is trying valiantly to keep up with me and failing. Anyway, in a few weeks as I increase my Synthroid dose, the sleeping issue should take care of itself.

But I needed the time on Thursday morning to choose my training and regular clothes and get it all organized, as Lori would be picking me up around 6:30AM. I got it all done and she arrived, and she'd rented a mid-size car, so all my crap fit in there. I had clothes to run in 3 times, La Gazza Ladra, which I'd ride during the IMCHAT marathon, my wetsuit in case I decided to swim in the river, a bag of fluids (Gatorade, water, Infinint, Endurox R4), a bag of bottles (bike bottles, Infinit mixing bottles and a Fuel Belt), a bag of car snacks, a bag of dry foods (including wine and champagne, crackers, bananas, English muffins), my regular clothes and a cooler containing cheese, Coke, water, hard boiled eggs (Lori and I love those for breakfast), sandwiches for the road, and some string cheese. I also brought my skull aerohelmet that Lori planned to wear unless she found a new one at the expo. All that crap fit into the car nicely!

The rest of the day was driving. It was about a 10-hour drive, and then we lost an hour moving into the EST timezone, to get to Hixson, TN. Lori's friend, Karen, graciously volunteered to put us up for the trip. We arrived, unpacked our stuff, and then Karen, Lori and I went into town and ate dinner right next to the transition area.

On our way back to the car, who should flag me down but one of my former coaches, Rich Strauss? It was nice to see him! He was there training for Kona and supporting his athletes. We chatted briefly, got a picture and were on our way:

I ended up staying up later than I should have, but it was worth it to spend time talking with Karen about some mutual bad life shit we have experienced. I then slept really well.

Friday, September 23
On this day, my training called for a 5k swim workout and a 40' run. I was aware of the athlete-organized river swim, but decided I'd rather be away from that for the day and instead go swim at the YMCA. At 5PM, I'd agreed to meet my friend, Rich, who I met on a bike ride in July and was doing his very first Ironman at IMCHAT, at the Underpants Run, so there would be about 2 miles of running in that. Lori needed to retrieve her bike and ensure it was in working order and check herself in.

Karen dropped me off at the Y at about 7:30 or so. I had swim stuff and run stuff. I figured I'd swim first and then run about 2 miles inside, since it was FUCKING HOT and I would be running more later. The downtown Chattanooga YMCA is an awesome facility, and the people are really nice. I had to fill out a waiver form, but with my YMCA pass, I got in for free. They have a dedicated lap pool, so I didn't have to worry about when lap time was available.

I chatted with some women in the locker room and then decided to check in on someone else who was racing--Ryan--because we were maybe going to meet up in the afternoon. It turned out he would be driving in from Memphis leaving around noon, so we agreed to just meet up for dinner. I ended up wasting some time and not getting in the pool right away, and didn't start swimming until 8:20. Here is the evil Ironman-style workout I did:

WU: 800 your choice
1200 at race pace, 1' RI
3x600 30" RI at race pace and last 50 of each a sprint
1200 pull w/paddles race pace or faster
CD: 200

So it's 5200 yards total. I'm doing this workout through October and then I will begin adding yardage to my Friday swims to prepare for a 10k swim on New Year's Eve or Day. I ended up PR'ing the time it took me to do the workout! This made me happy! I got out and spent a few minutes in the hot tub, then headed to the locker room to shower and change into running clothes. I made the transition then headed to a treadmill. After I ran for maybe 10 minutes, I had to go potty, so I left my stuff on the treadmill, then came back and some guy was on my machine! I was like WTF wasn't it obvious *I* was using it? I didn't say anything and just grabbed my Gatorade and cup of coffee (YES THEY HAD FREE COFFEE IN THE LOCKER ROOM!) and moved to a different machine and finished up.

I hadn't really sweated all that much, and I knew it was FUCKING HOT outside, and that I'd be sweating like a pig, so I just left my running clothes on. I drank my Endurox R4, left the YMCA, and walked to the expo. I let Karen know I was finished and to let me know when Lori would be done with her massage and then they would both be at the expo.

I walked into the expo and what should I see but a BEER BOOTH! I was like FUCK YEAH THIS IRONMAN IS AWESOME! It was Sierra Nevada to boot! $5 for a beer! YES PLEASE! I'd already had the Oktoberfest, so I opted for an IPA that was DELICIOSO! Walking around an Ironman expo with a beer? DOES NOT SUCK! Of course, everyone was looking at me and figured I was racing, because people tell me I look like one of those people who does those Ironman things. Karen called and let me know they were on their way, and so I meandered around with my beer. I was able to get a Little Debbie bike bottle (they were happy to give them to anyone!) that I will cherish. I wandered around and saw a girl at the Zoot booth wearing MY RUNNING SHORTS, so I went up to her, and turns out it's someone I met years ago that still stalks my blog! It was hilarious! This is Kate:

We were laughing our asses off about life and where we've been and what we are doing now. I didn't remember Kate at first, but was really glad to catch up with her! As you can tell, we had a giant laugh fest!

I got a call that Lori was arriving, so I had to leave Kate and meet Lori and Karen at the bike tech area. I was out of beer, so I picked up another one. I know from all the times I've sherpaed in the past that I need to grab any form of calories whenever I can because I am going to be running low no matter how often I manage to stuff my pie hole. Besides, did I mention it was FUCKING HOT???

Yum--beer.  Bike tech couldn't fix Lori's brake issue, so we got out of there and I don't remember what happened for lunch, but we ended up visiting 2 bike shops and got Lori's bike all squared away, I bought a new pair of sunglasses ( I NEED TO BE FASHIONABLE AT ALL TIMES), and then we headed back to Karen's house to reconnoiter, and I needed to get ready for the Underpants Run. I made a plate of cheese and crackers for Lori and me, and we cracked open a bottle of wine I'd brought with me. Yum! I showered (see I told you I was going to be all sweaty again) and changed into my UPR clothes with some real clothes over them, we ate and drank a little, and headed back to town.

We parked near Rich's hotel, got out, and then met him and we began walking to where the UPR started. It was at least a mile. I felt bad for Lori (who wasn't running) that we were making her walk, but I was cool with it, and we had a million laughs on the way. Rich is a real character! We got to the running store where the run started, and Rich paid my $10 and I dropped off my canned goods donation, and we disrobed and Lori held our clothes. I think Rich and I were styling for the run:

I made that bra. It's funny that I rarely wear a bra (I have nice pecs but not what I'd call boobs), but it looks like I have proportional boobs to my frame, I guess. Of course, even at 5:30PM, it was FUCKING HOT. All the racers were laughing and we looked around at everyone and then it was time to go. We ran from the store up to the Pedestrian Bridge

and over it and then we stopped for calisthenics (jumping jacks basically), and then the leader did a thing where he asked how many were first-time Ironmen/women. Then he asked who had done at least 5, then he kept upping the number, and you left your arm up if you'd done that many. It came down to me and one guy, and I guess the leader couldn't believe I kept my hand up. Anyway, my current count is 18 and there were no women there even close--although IMCHAT would be Lori's 17th! Then there was a guy there who has done 30! Lots of people came up to me and said I was awesome and a few young women said they want to look like me! How very flattering! I try...

Then we ran back to the running store where we each got a glass of beer and a beer glass!

Wow, so the day wasn't yet over--we walked back to our car and left Rich at his hotel, and Lori and I headed back to Karen's so I could shower (AGAIN, BECAUSE IT WAS FUCKING HOT) and change for dinner.

Karen drove Lori and I to Bi-Bas's Italian restaurant, and Ryan met us there. We had a great time, and the food was great!

Just before we left, Xavier arrived with his friend, Billy. Unfortunately, we had to go, but it was nice running into them! Xavier had stayed at my house a few weeks ago when he was here to do the Big Shoulders 5k swim in Lake Michigan. He will also be doing the Double Ironman next year in Portland when I do it as a team with my friend, Brad.

Well, so that was one helluva day, right? Did I mention it was FUCKING HOT???

OK so this post is getting long, so I am going to split into 2 parts. END OF PART 1!!!

Crazy Train

Above is what my training has been since the beginning of June. The number that's crazy/scary is the average number of hours/week. As of the end of last week, I'm at 16.77. That is, honestly, fucking insane. However, I intentionally did this to myself to see, along the way, if I felt like I was really prepared to do Ironman-level training again, and possibly even Ultraman. I think I can do it!

Starting yesterday, I'm on an actual training plan written by ME, the CEO of Crackhead Enterprises, LLC. This week's training calls for only 13.75 hours, and that is what I will do. So I will actually begin resting, relatively. From yesterday through October 30, I will only be biking twice a week. This makes me sad, as I am just getting into riding with the fast people in my bike club. But, I know I can resume kicking serious ass with them starting in the spring! And I am certain my coach will want me to ride with them at least once a week. That's how I get faster! And while I am in pretty decent cycling shape right now, it can never hurt to be faster, and I really don't think I've achieved my maximum bike fitness yet! Isn't that fucking exciting? At the ripe age of (almost) 60! 

Starting next week (I have a 1/2 marathon this Sunday), I will be doing double long runs on the weekends, and I will be doing hiking after them. The hiking time is not included in my projected training hours, so it will look like I'm not scheduled for much, but then it will come out in the actuals looking like a lot.

If I take my cumulative hours as of the end of last week, and add in my projected hours through the end of the year, not including the hiking time, I will be at 829 hours for 2016, which will result in an average of 15.94 hours per week. That is close to my heaviest years of training ever, in 2009 and 2010. 2010 is when I did Ultraman Canada. So I think I have proven to myself that I can still train at a very high (elite) level. But, I need to train faster in order to meet my goals of Boston and Kona qualification. I am sure my coach will take care of that in good time. He takes the reins beginning November 1, and I am really looking forward to it! I am positive he will bring the pain, but that's how I get faster.

I have a couple of concerns about myself right now:

1. I have not been sleeping enough. I am accustomed to sleeping a bit less when I am in an Ironman build period, but lately I'm sleeping way too little. Since I know my body and know that I sometimes have the opposite reaction to thyroid dysfunction, I have scheduled a thyroid test in a few weeks. It's likely I will need my Synthroid dosage changed. You might think that sleeping less means I've become borderline hyperthyroid, but, I know from the last few years that sometimes when I feel hyper, my thyroid is actually seriously overworked and trying to keep up with my demands on it and failing. So I may need to slightly increase my Synthroid dose. Starting yesterday, I have recommitted to tracking my sleep, because this will help remind me when I'm doing well at it or not which can signal that I need a thyroid function test.
2. It dawned on me a few days ago that I have FIVE marathon+ races scheduled over the course of 12 months! WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!!! That can be dangerous territory. But that's why I have a coach. I will need to recover properly from each event so that I don't become injured and can keep training.

Really, that's it. I already know where I stand on my current paces for the 3 sports--swimming I don't expect or need to get much faster; running I am 2 VDOT points from where I need to be for the BQ, and I've been there before and know that is entirely achievable in under 6 months, and biking I need to ride more hills, and it's my intent to train on the Ironman Wisconsin course twice a month from May through August. To get the KQ at Wisconsin, I need to be brutally strong on the hills, so strong that I can run my good marathon afterwards. The Wisconsin course is brutal--both the bike and run--and it's funny that I never thought I would do that race again, yet that is the race where I want to win my AG and get the Kona slot! Hey--I know I'm fucking nuts, but you know what? I'm fucking proud of what I've achieved to date and that I have the chutzpah to openly broadcast my very ambitious goals.

How do I feel right now as I write this blog post?

HOLY FUCKING CRAP WHAT HAVE I DONE???

But I am excited as hell, and now every single day is important--how I eat, how I sleep, how I train, how I feel mentally, that I'm doing all the right self-care things, and that I prioritize those things above all else. All the other things in my life are important, too, especially my friends, because they will support me in this--but how clean my house is, how perfectly maintained my yard is--that bullshit doesn't matter in the least. And while I have time to attempt to run everything perfectly, I'm stating for the record that I'm just not going to even try. Things are going to go wrong, and they will be things I probably can't control so I officially surrender to the unknowns. But I'm looking forward to one fucking Cracktacular ride on the CRAZY TRAIN!

Revolution Number Eight, or Cream City Century Ride Report aka the Ride Where Everything Goes Wrong

Huh. In writing this, I thought I'd done 9 centuries this year, but sadly it's only 8. I'd wanted to title this post "Revolution Number 9" for obvious reasons, but I couldn't. Still, that's 850 (2 of them were 200k rides all or partly on the trainer!) miles of happy biking goodness! My first century this year was on June 5, and since then I've also done 3 triathlons (and won 2 of them!). So that's a lot of happiness packed into 3 months! I don't write up all century rides in such elaborate detail as what follows, but it was my last one of the year, and I really savored the day, and so grab a coffee or beer or 3 and enjoy!

Yesterday was my last century ride for 2016--the Cream City Century out of Waterford, Wisconsin. This ride was recommended to me by Tim of my bike club. In case I haven't said it a million times already, I am SO glad I joined the Downers Grove Bike Club. So many good riders belong and of course, are all wonderful people to know! I love biking and I love people who love biking! It's like I'm in a big love fest every time I ride with them!

The weather for yesterday was predicted to be awesome--low 80's with light winds 5-10mph, and the weather delivered! You can't really get better than that, although mid- to upper 70's is wonderful, too. But this late in August, low 80's don't really feel that bad.

Initially, the plan was to ride with Tim, and have him pace me to my fastest century of the year. However, Tim came down with a cold, and also his primary bike was in the shop. I told him he needs more bikes if he can't ride because ONE is in the shop!

I posted to the bike club Google group in case anyone else was planning on going, but had no takers as of Friday. I didn't mind, because I always find people to ride with when I show up to these things.

I woke up at 3AM yesterday (alarm was set for 3:30) so I'd have plenty of time to eat, down the Ultra Violence (Twinlab Ultra Fuel) and drive the 88 miles to Waterford.

I've been using Ultra Fuel for 16 years, thanks to my first coach, Mike Arenberg (he's in the book Becoming an Ironman, and his first triathlon ever was an Ironman!). It's basically 100% carbohydrates that you mix with water and drink to load up before long events. It was formulated for bodybuilders, but I use it whenever I'm working out 4 or more hours. One of my friends used to sip hers over the course of an hour, but I just down the entire thing (I mix it with about 16 oz. of water), and then proceed to go into an insulin coma.

I ate my usual breakfast, coffee plus a hard boiled egg on a toasted whole wheat English muffin (how English can it be if it's whole wheat?) with a little jam, had one more soft boiled egg, drank 300 calories of Ultra Fuel, and then I drank a Coke on the drive up. I cook 8 eggs at once so I have 7 for a week, and the 8th one is on top of the others and comes out soft-boiled and I eat it immediately! I love eggs, and they are good for me, and my cholesterol is just fine, thank you very much! I also drank about 16 oz. of water after breakfast.

So, I had a bit over 800 calories in the tank before I started riding. I know from all the years I've been doing this endurance stuff (and great coaches) that you want to be loaded up before anything long. One of the effects is that you really don't feel like going fast right away, because you are still working off a significant calorie load. But the main reason to do this is that you will never replace the calories you are burning, and you probably won't be eating lunch during your session, so you can still bonk without sufficient calories in the tank beforehand, even if you are ingesting enough while you are exercising. I've ridden with so many people who fail to fuel up properly beforehand, and then they wonder why I am still so strong at the end of century rides. Sigh...they should listen to me.

In my cooler were (2) 3-hour bottles of Infinit (my super electrolyte/caffeine loaded custom mix called Money Shot delivering 244 calories/hour), 2 bottles of water, a bike bottle of Gatorade for the drive home in case I wanted it, a bike bottle of just water (Skull Kingdom's frame is so small I can only put a 20-oz. bottle into the cage on the down tube, and when I use concentrated Infinit that bottle holds pure water), 1 Bass Ale for post-ride, 2 pieces of string cheese for post-ride, 1 frozen water-filled bottle of Coke (that's my trusty cooler ice!) and a frozen bottle of Endurox R4 for my recovery drink. Freezing the Endurox R4 lets it act as ice for the other cooler contents, and then it comes down to still being cold after a century ride! 

I left my house about 5:00. I had thought I'd leave earlier, but it's funny how things to do expand when I'm getting ready for these things, and besides I wasn't planning on doing anything else for the day!

I pulled out of my driveway and figured I'd start in on the Coke at 5:30. I listened to Diamonds and Pearls by Prince on the way up. Such a good album! I didn't speed too much, and didn't drive in the left lane much except to pass. I decided to stop at the Lake Forest Oasis (that's what we call the over-the-highway things in Illinois) to pee. All that coffee, water, Ultra Fuel and Coke necessitated the stop. I walk in to the building, and who do I see? Dennis, a guy from my bike club, that I'd ridden with 3 weeks ago, only I didn't remember his name. But we hugged (and I got French kisses on both cheeks!), and he introduced Scott, whom I'd met at bike club meetings but didn't remember his name, either. I assumed they were going to the same ride and they were, and I asked if I could ride with them, and they said sure. Scott hadn't ridden a century this year, and thus started the sandbagging. It's a tradition with these things, although I didn't trot out any of my own yesterday. Sure, I'm probably training a whole lot more than either of them, but I have no excuse not to ride a decent pace.

I left the Oasis a couple of minutes before the guys, only because I only had to pee and they were eating breakfast. I pulled out back onto I94, and not too long after, here comes a white SUV hauling ass. I decide to keep pace with it and it turns out it's Dennis with Scott driving! Well they keep going ahead of me, and before you know it we are going 100mph. I've never gone that fast in this car (it's only 2 years old), and I don't make a habit of going much over 85 on the interstates. I catch up to them and make some hand signals while smiling like WTF how fast are we going to drive? Scott dialed it back down to 90-95, and I (wrongly) assumed he had a radar detector and so would pick up any threats along the way. From the Oasis, it was about 34 miles to our exit, 333 (US 20).

Well holy fuck, that was some fun driving! Turns out I like driving my car fast! I didn't realize that we were supposed to race on the way to a century. Everyone knows that any century ride is a race even if you don't say it out loud. We get to Waterford High School, where the ride begins, and we park side by side. We get out and I immediately note that I have a bladder the size of a teacup and so I need to hustle in to pick up my T-shirt and cue sheet (which they spelled QUE at the table with the sheets on it which I thought was funny). I was pre-registered, so it was a snap to get my crap, but Dennis and Scott needed to register. Back at the Oasis, I'd asked why they didn't post to the Google group that they were doing the ride, and Scott said it was because they only decided at 4PM on Saturday!

At the registration table, I was standing next to Dennis, and I looked at his well-muscled legs, and commented, "My legs are bigger than yours!" Judge for yourself:

I'm shorter than Dennis but my legs are bigger. Does that mean I'm fat?

To which the guy manning the table, who by the way, was wearing a fucking awesome Spider Man kit, remarked, "But yours are much nicer to look at!" I probably blushed and thanked him. Then it was off to get our bikes out of the cars and get set to ride. I showed the boys the bottle of beer I had stashed for later. In retrospect, I should have brought more, but how would I know I'd be meeting up with people I know?

We took off, and initially, it was misting. There was a good deal of fog on the drive up, and after we'd turned off I94 it was pretty thick. It reminded me of when I was driving from the Albany airport to Lake Placid in 2007 and I was freaking out because the fog was pea soup and I could barely see the road. Great memories!

The mist felt fine on me, It was so light it didn't make a difference. I was a teeny bit chilly, as the temperature wasn't yet 70 as we started. Still, right off the bat, the 3 of us are passing people with aplomb. As we started to hit some hills, I lagged behind, because my hill skills suck right now--I haven't really ridden much hills since 2012, so it's natural I suck at it currently. But we'll fix that next year. Anyway, about 10 miles in, I'm not far behind the boys and I think my front brake is rubbing, and I stop and I was right. I fix that, and hope I might catch back up, but then I hit what felt like a pothole and shortly after that, I'm on a downhill and things don't feel right and I am thinking, "Please don't be a flat, please don't be a flat!" But I knew it was a flat. Fuck. My first flat this year.

I pull over and begin the process, only it's hard for me to get the tire off the rim because I sliced the tip of my right index finger (I'm right-handed) off Saturday night while slicing celery on the mandoline, and while I had it well-bandaged up, it still hurt to put pressure on it. So a guy stopped and asked if I needed help, and I explained my finger issue, and he started to help.He seemed nervous, though, I think because he'd never worked on a deep-dish wheel. Still, he got the tire off the rim, I inspected the tire and it looked fine, and I figure the pothole did it. Something got in there and jacked the tube. Oh well.

So we have the tube in there and the tire back on the rim and we use the CO2 and presto we're good. Only we're not. Either Craig didn't fully get the tire back on the rim or the CO2 blew it partly off. Now I'm fucked because the valve stem is (at least I thought) too far down the extender to get to to deflate the tube so I can put the tire back on the rim. Nobody, not Craig, not any passing cyclist, not me, has a long enough, thin enough tool to get at it. I'm fucked. I call for SAG and get voicemail. I try not to panic, and I didn't panic, but I really wanted to get in 100 miles! SAG never called me back and finally I unscrew the valve extender and fuck me there's the valve tip! So I deflate the thing and along come Tom and Suzanne, and Tom put the tire back on the rim and he had a regular pump and we got enough air into it to get me to the first rest stop at 25 miles in. What a clusterfuck! Well, lesson learned.

That was the first time I had a flat on the HED wheels.I know that I will continue to pay the extra $ for the tubes with the ultra long stems so that I know I can get to the damn thing without the valve extender!

Crisis averted, I thought it was the nice thing to do to ride with Tom and Suzanne for a bit. Tom was on a road bike and Suzanne on a cruiser, but boy they weren't slow! Turns out they'd ridden a century the day before and were obviously avid cyclists! What nice people! See this is what I love about biking! Suzanne asked where I was from, and she'd known someone who lived quite near to me! She asked what "I do" there, and I said, "What do you mean?" She said, "Job." And I told her I was done. I asked them both the same. Tom still works in IT for a small bank, and Suzanne said she is, "finding herself." She had done economic development work overseas, and said it was hard to get those jobs in safe (i.e., non-war zones) areas now, so she was testing out other options.

I rode with them for maybe 5-6 miles, and then I just needed to go faster, so I just rode off. I knew they wouldn't mind. Friends and other cyclists let friends and other cyclists go fast!

I got to the first rest stop at 25 miles and was relieved to get there, and asked for a pump and we loaded my front tire up. Of course, I got all sorts of comments on Skull Kingdom, and one of the bike club volunteers wanted a picture of me with her, so I obliged, and he took one for me:

His name was Ken, and I told him I wouldn't hate him just because he has the same name as my ex-husband. He even told me how to pose when taking the picture. I'm sporting my brand new POC aero helmet. Another first for this ride. Frankly, I don't think it's faster than my traditional aero helmets, but maybe that's because of how small I am. Still, it's a plenty comfortable helmet, and one of the things I really like about it is that it really keeps the sun out of my eyes.

Shortly before I arrived at 25 miles, I heard something fall off my bike. It was a little baggie of valve extenders and tools. Turns out I'd failed to zip my seat bag back up and it had fallen out. In the process, I lost an EpiPen that was in there, so I hoped I didn't get stung. Oh well, life goes on. 

I left the rest stop and now I had to ride the 25-mile loop that was only for the century, and since I'd lost time with the flat, I was out there all by myself. It was boring and lonely, and the roads sucked. But the scenery was beautiful and the weather was awesome, so I really couldn't complain. About 6 miles before the next aid station at 50 miles (we returned to the first one for a second visit), I see a guy riding up ahead and figure I can catch him. He was wearing a hot pink jersey. I ride up to him and ask if he's on the century ride, and he says no, is there a century today? Yes. Well, obviously I'm faster than him, but as I pass, he speeds up and rides alongside me. So I say, "So you don't like it when a woman passes you?" He lied a little and said, "No, I just like the company." Well I'm thinking obviously you've been slacking if you can ride this pace but you weren't. Turns out he was doing his last long ride before Ironman Wisconsin. I asked him how many Ironmans he's done and this was going to be #3. He never did ask me the same question, but that's fine, I'm not out there to impress anyone but myself. He said he was just finishing an 80-mile ride and then running 6, and I said that's perfect and then you taper! I apologized that I wouldn't be up there this year to cheer, and wished him good luck, and then he turned off and I continued on to the rest stop.

This time at the rest stop, I had a half turkey/cheese sandwich. It was SO FUCKING GOOD! Even though I carry enough calories for normal circumstances, when I ride centuries during heavy training, extra calories are always welcome, and I do enjoy a hit of protein. I adjusted my Infinit bottles and headed out onto the next section.

Somewhere in this stretch, I either launched one of my Infinit bottles or else I left it at the rest stop. Another first. Fuck. Oh well, I still have 3 and can buy another one. I like them because they have lines drawn on them already. I'm not going to do that to any of my precious Ironman bottles!

There were 2 guys that I passed on this stretch, but then I thought maybe I'd like to pee and so I turned off on a little side road just before a big climb. Turns out I didn't need to pee, so 1 mile later, I'm climbing this big hill and there are other riders and I didn't do too badly on the climb, but some dumbasses (including my 2 NOT friends that I'd passed earlier) were riding side by side! Stupid fucking people! Then the road got really curvy and still the dumb shits are riding side by side while cars are trying to get around in a NO PASSING ZONE. Idiots.

Anyway, I caught back up to my 2 NOT friends, as I am faster than them, and I almost cussed them out for riding side by side, but I chose not to because who needs the anger?

We get to the next rest stop and it was just a thing off the side of the road across the street from what appeared to be a combination bike shop/bar. Only in Wisconsin! They had a rack to put our bikes on, and immediately one of the volunteers commented on how fast my bike looks, and said I must ride fast. I said, well I try, and that I won't even ride this bike if I don't feel like I'm fast enough for it. He said that was odd, and then I told him about a friend of mine, Dino, who has a really cool Trek with a flame paint job and that he puts tape around the frame and only starts taking it off as he gets closer to his target fitness/speed!

At this rest stop, I had another first--I ate a dill pickle! It was tasty, and I hoped it wouldn't upset my stomach. I was now out of Infinit, and figured I'd need the salt. I filled a bottle with the Gatorade they had, which was way, way too weak for my liking, but I had no choice. I took off and immediately began having trouble clipping in my left shoe. It had been truculent all day, but now I just couldn't get it in. Tough to ride fast like that. A guy named Dave stopped and clamped the shoe on there for me, and I thanked him and asked if I could ride with him. He said yeah, and we weren't going extremely fast, but a few miles later, we saw a pair of riders up ahead, and I said, "Let's go catch them." And Sandbagger Dave flies ahead like he has another entire gear! I work hard to catch up and I do, and we fly by these youngsters. Dave was hilarious and kept making stupid jokes like he hoped he'd finish the century before sundown! I enjoyed riding with him, and he said his quads were getting twitchy and it worried him because the last leg of the ride had a lot of FUCKING HILLS! Finally someone else throwing F-bombs! I commented that I throw them probably way too much, and then I said, "So they're not just hills--they're FUCKING HILLS?" We both had a good laugh, and then he remarked that the hills were going to wear him out, to which I said, "That's what hills are for!" And then I said, "Don't hate the hill--hate the rider!"

Dave and I made it to the 85 or so mile rest stop, and as soon as I parked Skull Kingdom, one of the volunteers shouted, "YOUR WHEELS ARE ON FIRE!" Of course, I smiled broadly at this, and everyone had a good laugh and a few riders went over to Skull Kingdom to take a look at her. Here's Dave and me:

And here's just me and Skull Kingdom, because as usual, the volunteers wanted a picture of her and I asked them to take one of me:

Guess who was reclining in lawn chairs here? DENNIS AND SCOTT! I was like WTF are you doing here, and it was partly due to Scott not having ridden a century this year. I was glad to see them, told them I'd had a flat, but all in all, I couldn't have been riding too shabby, right? I ate a small handful of Cheetos they had there (YUM!), and said let's go. Dave took off by himself, so now it was me, Dennis and Scott.

Dave had warned of the hills and he wasn't kidding. Now they came one after the next, and my legs were well fried by now, but I had to press on. I went up front, and I always worry that I'm not riding fast enough when I'm with guys, but then I think I'm usually wrong. Anyway, with about 5 miles to go, who should be stopped by the side of the road but Dave? He really was hurting. I waved as I went by and now thought I JUST WANT TO BE FUCKING DONE. And when I hit 100 miles, I was like HOW MANY FUCKING MILES IS THIS RIDE??? Those are typical thoughts during a century, because while they are advertised as 100 miles, YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY. Plus I know I added at least a mile on my little detour.

One again, my 2 NOT friends were still riding side by side, the assholes, and once again, I passed them soundly. I bit my tongue and this time asked the guy on the Bianchi which race he'd done. Earlier I was sort of an asshole when I saw the number on his helmet and asked, "What race are you doing RIGHT NOW because there's a number on your helmet?" I dislike it when people leave numbers on their helmets or bikes after a race. I know for newbies, it's a badge of honor, and I excuse them (if they are on let's say a hybrid or MTB), but decent cyclists I wonder what's wrong with them. Anyway, Bianchi dude tells me he did a 1/2 Ironman in Door County. Beautiful place. He said the race was really nice. I congratulated him and went on.

I got to my car just a few minutes before Dennis and Scott pulled in. I immediately grabbed a piece of the string cheese to wolf down because I felt an impending bonk coming on. I had already put on my Reef flip flops with the bottle openers in the soles, and I took out my cooler and said, "Watch this!" I took out the bottle of Bass Ale and opened it with my shoe! It foamed over a bit, and Dennis asked if it was warm, and I said, "No. I'm a professional. I know how to keep things cool in the cooler for a century!" I sucked that thing down so fast--it was just what the doctor ordered! I asked if anyone needed dirty clothes bags (the high school had the showers open for us!), and both guys said yes, I loaded bike into car, grabbed my bag of clothes, towel and toiletries, and went in.

I immediately took out my contact lenses, which felt SO GOOD! Then I took the BEST SHOWER EVER! Someone had left a bar of soap in there, but I brought my own shampoo and conditioner. I toweled off and got dressed and was ready for FOOD!

They had lunch (or whatever it was--due to delay of game it was already 3:30) set up in the school cafeteria. A small salad, spaghetti and meatballs, bread slathered with butter and a bottle of water, and I think I shoveled it all in in record time! Dennis and Scott were just a bit behind me, yakking with other people including Tom and Suzanne! Dennis has a business where he makes custom jerseys and shorts and stuff, so if you need that sort of thing, let me know and I'll hook you up.

I sat across from the boys and was probably yammering at high speed which is what happens when you are all endorphined up and had a shit ton of caffeine to boot. Turns out Scott is the chief radiologist at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, which is where I have had many radiology things run on me. As I described my physician as "she," Scott knew who she was, and then he made a dry joke (I guess radiologists have a dry sense of humor) that he'd seen me before. Well now I finally understood what his vanity plate meant--BCUN U SOON. Earlier I'd thought it was just a "see you soon" thing, but I was wrong. I really enjoyed talking to Scott. He wasn't aware of just how much I train, and he understood the physiological challenges I encounter being hypothyroid and all. I described a little of my "journey" with that and how I was eminently aware of its impact on carbohydrate metabolism and sodium processing, and that sometimes I've been told I'm crazy, but he knows I'm not. He asked if I told my doctor just how much training I do, and I have, but really, it's hard for some people to understand. He told me to try telling them how many calories I am pumping through my body, and that that would help them understand why it's critical I be regulated on Synthroid properly.

We finished up and I told Scott I wouldn't be driving 100mph on the way home, and that I'd need to stop for gas about 10 miles out. We said our goodbyes, but here's me with Scott, and that's Tom and Suzanne in the background:

and here are Dennis and Scott:

I told them both I planned on winning the dessert competition at the annual bike club picnic in 3 weeks. I'm making individual Margarita Pies and chocolate chip bacon cookies.

I gassed up (cheap gas in Wisconsin!) and proceeded to drive home, mostly in the left lane, but no more than 85mph. Everyone was going fast, so I wasn't standing out. I drank the Endurox R4 (still cold!) on the drive back. When I got home, I drank another beer, wolfed down a small deli container of seafood salad, and then later I had a huge bowl of the sausage/tomato pasta I'd made on Saturday. I was well and truly shelled! That was a 21-hour training week last week, including one brick workout, one duathlon workout, one century ride, 33.5 miles of running, 175 miles of biking, 11,000 yards of swimming, 1.5 hours of strength training and lots of food! I lamented the fact that I am still without candy! My friend Brad will come through, though, soon enough, and all will be well.

I had such a wonderful day yesterday, despite things going wrong and riding slower than I'd wanted to. All in all, it was 104.6 miles in 6:18, which is slow for me, but it reminded me of all the hill riding I will need to do next year, especially since Ironman Wisconsin will be on the table, and that is where I will earn my Kona slot!

Hope you enjoyed this little novella--I enjoy writing it down!