Update via Bullet Points

• Motivation still at an all time low. I think I've already begun the taper process.
• No need to worry on doing extra workouts, I can barely get a few in as it is.
• 21 days till the Ironman, holy shit. I haven't been happier that it's around the corner.
• The last month seems by far the hardest month of all of them.
• Woke up this morning at 6am and realized I left my cycling shoes at home. (I stay at Adrian's on the weekends)
• Rushed home to get shoes.
• As I was leaving, in a rush, with car in full reverse, I failed to see a motorcycle parked and knocked it over.
• Motorcycles are very heavy. I couldn't pick it back up.
• Left note, with cell phone and insurance info, but as of 1:30pm, no call yet, I hope someone put it back upright.
• I thought about the poor guy's reaction when he goes outside to see his motorcycle on its side for the entire Dam loop part of my ride today.
• Saw half of a deer on the side of the road, yes, just half.
• Tons of riders on Parmer.
• "Isn't She Lovely" by Stevie Wonder was the song of the day, I hummed it and sang the only part I knew for about an hour on the bike.
• Although, I'm sure it's not safe, I'm able to talk on my iPhone and ride my bike at the same time.
• As comfortable as I am on the bike, I still managed to forget to unclip at the intersection of Parmer/1431 and tipped right over with all cars staring at me. I got 3 people who rolled their window down and gave a ton of thumbs up, even got a "You rock" as a car drove by that was standing still at the red light when I tipped.
• Rode 80 miles by accident, and the last 20 were long and slow.
• I tried to coast as much as possible once I got to Duval.
• I wish I had a sign on my back that said how many miles I had ridden so when people on Jollyville that are on their 3rd mile whiz pass me, they know I'm on mile 70, and I'm really not that big of a slow ass.
• Still completely 100% undecided on what I want to do after this IM. Marathons or triahlons, argh, I have a place in my heart for both now.
• Top Priority for 2010 - Adrian and I are going on a REAL vacation. REAL means, no sporting event to haul bikes to, no stress of a race, just pure fun, relaxation. Maybe a cruise, maybe just going somewhere tropical where we can go on hikes, see waterfalls, go swimming, see colorful fish, and just enjoy each other. Oh, don't forget, eat good food!

I look like I know what I'm doing...

Thanks Gordon!! This was during the Practiceman this past weekend.

Cap Tex 2009 - Race Report (short version)

Training up to Monday has been dull. Motivation has gone to a new low, and my ego is playing wierd little games. I finally have the confidence that I'm going to be ok for IMCDA, but with this confidence has come laziness. It's not that I'm tired, although I am, but it's more that I've lost the drive to make it to all the workouts. I was hoping that Cap Tex would rejuvenate me :)

Saturday: 42 miles of S. Mopac loops followed by 13 miles of hot, long, slow miles.

Sunday: Cap Tex prep, packet pickup, bike check in, errand running.

Monday:

Swim: 26:47, swim pace of 1:47/m

Rank: 320/1327

Woke up at 4:30am, made it to the race with plenty of time. Arranged transition area. Ate Power Bar. Made it to the swim start. Kissed Adrian and got him on his way. My wave was 35 minutes later, so thankfully I had enough time to let Adrian know he was the 3rd out of the water from his wave. Swim went fine for me. I had to calm myself in the beginning because I was just excited and probably swimming too fast. I placed myself up front, because I'd rather get run over than have to swim harder to get around people. I stayed to the far right of the buoy and it worked out perfectly. For some reason, everyone swam too far out, except for one red cap. I felt like I was swimming with this red cap forever, constantly bumping into her, seeing her every 6th stroke, and it was irritating because she kept swimming into me. Finally after the half way point, I kicked it up and got in front of her. My sighting was perfect, I've gotten sooo much better with this. Only mistake that I made was I didn't see the last buoy so I started swimming to shore too early and had to turn late to round the last buoy. Other than that, I had a great swim.

T1: 3:21

Greeted and heard several T3'ers yell for me, which was awesome. I didn't have any trouble getting out of Adrian's wetsuit. We switched for this event. Running with my bike seemed like forever. I wish I knew how to run while holding my bike with just the seat, and I wish I could run faster in cycling shoes.

Bike: 1:18:42, 18.9 mph

Rank: 699/1327

I only had a goal of having a faster mph than my previous PR, which was 16.5. I had planned to get out of my saddle more, and push harder gears on the downhills. The loops went fast, and nothing too interesting other than I found myself for the first time, looking and watching for people in my age group. I noticed who was passing me, which for me I've never done, cause EVERYONE used to pass me. Not today. Mostly men and women that were younger or in my the age group above me were passing. There were 2 girls that started behind me that passed me in my age group. The last one, fought to not let go. For the 2nd & 3rd lap we'd play cat and mouse, I'd pass, then a few minutes later, she'd pass, and this went on. The last lap, she finally passed long enough that I forgot about her and lost track. I remember telling myself to remember her number so I could look at the results later to see just how bad she beat me. 421. I later found out she gained 25 seconds on the bike.

T2: 2:10

I felt pretty fluid for this stop, and decided not to do socks. I just slipped on my running shoes, grabbed my hat and race belt and was off. Saw Chris G in transition and got a shout out.

Run: 54:02, 8:42/m

Rank: 452/1342

Run felt good, 1st mile was a 9:16. I was stoked about that. It didn't feel hard, and I would for sure break 3 hours if I kept that pace. I was a little worried that I had forgotten my salt tablets in my transistion bag, so I didn't have any electrolytes other than what was in my Gu's and nutrition bottle. 2nd mile was an 8:23, holy moly. 3rd mile was freakishly slow, but it didn't feel like it, 10:19ish. After I got back on Riverside a guy passed me, but he didn't blow by me. I latched onto him and was able to run with him. I stayed with him to Congress. On my way, I asked him, "Do you have any idea what pace you're running?" He said, "No." so I dropped it and just tried to run with him as long as I could. The effort felt increased, but not something I couldn't do, until... he said, "Oh, I did just run the first loop in 22 minutes, so I bet we're doing 7:45's." and I immediately thought, "OH, hell no, I can't run that fast!" I wish he wouldn't have said anything and I probably could have stayed on his heel. I have some mental work to do, cause about 20 seconds later, I let him drop me. Finished the run strong though, the rest of the miles were under 8:30's and finished it out with a nice good stride.

Oh, and I passed 421 within the first two miles of the run :)

Extremely happy with my entire race, stoked about my new course PR.

Final Stats

2:45:06

19th in my age group out of 105 - (insane!)

445 out of 1327 total participants

Cap Tex Results

Race report to follow.

1st Splash n Dash Report

All I can say first is... Wow.

I signed up with this being naive thinking, "Oh, this will be a piece of cake!" 750 meters, and a 3k run. Walk in the park.

Boy oh boy, I got my ass handed to me on a silver platter! A big ole piece of humble pie!

Left work at 4:30, got to Adrian's a little after 5 to change. Put on my T3 top, then took it off, after looking in the mirror and seeing the Pillsbury dough boy, except he was blue. Decided to wear a different less form fitting top. Adrian got home with the boys, and we proceeded to Pure Austin. Checked in, and went to the swim start.

There would be two separate swim starts, men and women. There looked to be alot more women than men, and the final results showed this. Women had the option of swimming with the men since they started first. I thought about it, but then realized the few women that were, were pretty fast.

Swim
I put myself towards the front, most of the women weren't even in the water when the countdown began, and I figured that I'd rather get run over than have to swim through slower swimmers. I also assumed since this was a short swim that I would be able to swim pretty fast, it was mostly my ego too. Not gonna lie. I did get to see Amy and Laura before the swim start, and I was planning on trying to start with her, but by the time we were treading water, I had lost her. The beginning of the swim was pretty brutal, but I feel pretty comfortable in the water, and for every punch, claw or kick, I just tried to swim past it. I got caught up with one girl in a blue cap for quite a long time. She was on my right, and kept swimming into me. I had to deal with her until the first turn buoy. I could have let her by, but I was pretty adamant about seeing how fast I could swim this entire swim and wasn't about to slow down, so I kept putting up my fight. As I rounded the first bouy, I started drafting off someone, all I could see where bubbles and feet. I followed these from the first buoy to the back of the swim course. I think it was Amy because I saw Texas Iron in the water, but wasn't sure. Looking at our swim times, I'm almost positive it was her. I remember touching her feet a few times, and confirmed on the run that this was probably 99% her. Thanks Amy :) I felt pretty comfortable, although out of breath, but on the home stretch, I felt ubber fast. I felt like I was passing people like crazy. My sighting abilities have improved. I never felt like I was off course by too much :) On the last portion, the waters seemed to clear and I looked around and noticed I had skipped the very last buoy. For a split second I thought about swimming back to go around it, but I was already about 50 meters away and said screw it. Finished up the swim.

Transition
After getting out of the water, Adrian was there immediately. It felt like forever, but I had no balance to put my shoes on. Even leaning on him, I was a huge wobble butt. I stumbled a good 4 times before I finally got my shoes on. Made it to the top and started my run.

Run
I started out and was immediately breathing like crazy. People were passing me left and right and that was just pissing me off. Every time someone would pass, I'd try and latch on, but my breathing was beyond labored. They had a water station set up, which I know sounds ridiculous for a 3k run, but as soon as I got there, I stopped to walk. As I was walking, Amy came up and passed me! I thought to myself, PERFECT!!! I latched on. I screamed up ahead that I was pacing off her and we ended up running the rest together. We chatted when we could, but I was really struggling to keep my breathing steady. It was awesome having Adrian there to cheer me on. Brandon Marsh was there too, and a few other friends. Pretty cool to have a little cheering section. 2nd loop seemed a bit easier, but felt super long. I could not get my breathing to slow down, and I really felt like I was running at least 8:00's. I felt like my effort was insanely high. 3rd loop was just about hanging on to Amy. The chit chat was none, and towards the end it was taking everything I had to hang on. She slowly started drifting away, until a girl tried to pass me, and I just couldn't let it happen, especially not in front of Adrian. I kicked it in and didn't let her get by. I almost caught up to Amy, but missed it by 1 second. It would have been nice to keep up with her the whole time, but I was thankful to have her to run with :) A big huge thanks to her for being there whether she wanted to or not :)

Final Statistics, and quite shocking...
Time: 31:51
Swim Rank: 46
Swim pace: 1:51 (Wow, swimming PR!)
Run lap 1: 6:15 (10:25/m pace)
Run lap 2: 6:05 (10:08/m pace)
Run lap 3: 5:40 (9:27/m pace)
Overall finish: 58th out of 185
Gender finish: 15th out of 113 - HOLY SHIT! (Correction, 20th woman, 15th not including the women that placed Top 5)

I can't wait to get my running speed back. When I originally saw my running pace, I was upset. How in the world can I run marathons at a faster pace, but given 1.8 miles, I can't run for shit. Doesn't make sense, but in the few words I had with Amy, there's something different with going from swimming to running. Also talking to Adrian, he said the entire event is made to go all out, and I felt it. I'm extremely disappointed with my 10:00 min average, but it was a great and humbling experience. Looking forward to going back and doing better.

Bulletpoint Updates :)

• Adrian finished 2nd overall, 1st in his age group at Xterra Canyon Lake race. He now has 140 of the 150 points he needs to qualify for Nationals. He was behind the leader by only 1:09.
• Adrian and I were rearended on Saturday and it's tweaked my back!! Mostly sore, but I did have sharp pain down my leg on Sunday afternoon. Argh... just what I need before the Ironman.
• Ironman training is going, not very motivated, and I'm not going to lie. My workouts have been sub par lately.
• I'm excited about the next adventure with Rogue after IM is over.
• Trying to build up to doing as many REAL pushups as I can before July.
• Ironman is 32 days away, and I'm excited!
• A little bummed that I only have 2 more paychecks coming until Ironman, wow, the time flew fast.
• I'm looking forward to the lower budget "running only" budget after IM.
• I cleaned my entire condo this morning before work.
• I'm really looking forward to my first Splash and Dash tonight!!
• Super excited about this weekends workouts... T3's Practiceman and Cap Tex :)

20 Very Random Thoughts

1. I hate it that I just burned my 100 calorie pack of popcorn and having to sort through the burned pieces is slowing the rate at which I can consume my lunch.
2. I'm grateful for the opportunity to train and complete my first IM. Despite all the whining I feel like I've been doing lately, I really am excited.
3. I'm looking forward to this weekend, not because of the training, but because I'll be able to support Adrian in a race. I love running around tracking where he is and cheering for him, I'm extremely proud to be his girlfriend.
4. My cats give me geniune happiness during the week. I woke up this morning to a big black furry face staring at me wondering when it was time to wake up.
5. Putting the cat box outside on my back patio was the best idea ever!! Now I just need to figure out what to do when it rains this weekend.
6. Helen from the Biggest Loser only weighing 117 has prompted me to take my nutrition seriously.. yes yet again. If she can do it, I can do it. Can you imagine how fast I could run if I weighed 117 pounds.
7. Friends change, but friends will always be friends :)
8. I miss my BFDee. I miss running with that fart fool that can't ever do a run without getting US lost. I miss the giggles about random things we see. I drove down to Manchaca on Mother's day and thought about the one run we did, where I knew we were going the wrong way, but was too afraid to tell her, so we ran to Manchaca :)
9. I catch myself calling random people FOOL, that don't understand and I have to apologize.
10. I enjoy swimming more than I ever thought I would.
11. I wish I were rich enough and had enough time to train with both Rogue and T3 simultaneously.
12. I'm glad I went to the doctor about my knee, looks like I'm weak on my right side.
13. I'm looking forward to Grey's Anatomy and The Office tonight, and my day OFF to try and regroup my sanity.
14. I'm oddly scared of crossing the finish line in CdA. I'm afraid I'll love the moment too much to want to do this again.
15. I can't wait to make the bike cutoff and run a marathon on June 21st.
16. I can't wait to call Adrian after the race and let him know I'm an Ironman.
17. I wish I could buy the house next door to Adrian. That would be the bestest thing ever. I could have my own place, my own space, and we could still be together without the inconvenience of having two places 10 miles away from each other, and I wouldnt' have to stress about my kitties.
18. I genuinely respect the people on my team that have done more than 1 Ironman. It seems unreal to have to do this again knowing how difficult it is.
19. I wish I had bigger boobs.
20. I wish I had more of a butt.

Updates, updates, updates...

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of running with my Dee. Surprised her at Rogue at 6am (Eek, forgot what it was like to wake up that early!!) We ran 10 miles and had a blast! Tons of farting, tons of "Fool!", and tons of giggles. I miss just running.

The rest of the week....
Sunday: I rested. Adrian finished 4th overal at the Xterra Ruston :) So I decided to celebrate with him and do NOTHING :) Slept in, ate a good breakfast and rested and relaxed.
Monday: Swim class, rocked it. Got to lead the swim lane for half the class.
Tuesday: OFF
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday: OFF
Friday: 4,000 meter swim. No wetsuit again.

Splits:

1. 4:26
2. 4:37
3. 4:43
4. 4:32
5. 4:43
6. 4:32
7. 4:38
8. 4:29
9. 4:35
10. 4:23
11. 4:42
12. 4:31
13. 4:44
14. 9:16 - whoops! this is for 400
15. 4:38
16. 4:48
17. 4:35
18. 4:47
19. 4:19
20. Total 1:32:07 (Yay!!)

Saturday: I rode my first century. 104.5 miles. Included the Dam loop, then out Parmer to the end, then back to the intersection and back out again, then back to town. Did Jollyville out and back to make sure I hit 100, then home to Adrian's :) Average 14.7 mph riding time :) 7 hours and 10 minutes, riding time :) I am feeling more secure now about not getting kicked off the course :) :) :) :)

Sunday: Met Steve and ran 20 :) Good stuff. Ran the whole time, except for water stops, felt amazingly well, until the last mile.

One more hard week and we're smooth sailing :)

Cute Animation

I got this off the T3 forum, thanks Jim!

Check it out, too cute!

http://www.onwards.tv/

After IM...

There's been lots of talk regarding what everyone is doing after the Ironman. I've gone back and forth in my mind about what I want to do. At first, I thought I wanted to continue on with this tri stuff, after having such a great race in Galveston. Now that more time has gone by, I've been thinking I don't want to do anything. I don't want to be a part of any training group, just relax and be normal. I miss playing poker, I miss running with my Dee, and I miss being able to work late, or just go home, or have a weekday evening where I don't have to be somewhere. I just want to be. Then because of a certain someone's comments in a past thread, I got to reminiscing. Oh my gosh... the fun I had with Rogue.

I've grown to love T3 and all the teammates, but there's just something different about running. The stories, the adventures and the camraderie that Rogue gave me was priceless. I can't remember a long run where Dee and I didn't get lost. Where we didn't fart so much that our stomach's hurt from all the laughter. The giggles we had from running aimlessly, and most importantly the pure joy and genuine love we had. We not only shared laughs, giggles, and farts, but that crazy fool got me through some hard times in my life at the time. I've come to miss these crazy runs with her.

I'll always be a T3'er now and they have a special place in my heart, but I think I want to get back to running. After seeing so many friends have such awesome races in Boston, that's my next goal. I want to make it to Boston. Reading Dionn's race report brought me to tears. Reading Mike's race report brought me to tears, and I can only daydream about how freaking awesome it would be there myself. Then I thought, why daydream, let's make this happen.

So that's my next goal. Maybe not immediately after CdA, but definitely in 2010, that's my mission. I want to go to Boston. I know I can do it. 3:40 seems crazy right now, but I know I can do it, I know it. Now let's just make it happen.

But for now... I need to stay in IM mode. Michelle posted on the forum, "CdA is next month." Holy shit, she's right. June 21st will be here before I know it. I'm excited and ready. I'm a little nervous about the bike and I'm super nervous about the emotion that will go through me at the finish, but I'm ready to get to the start line. It's gonna be amazing...

(PS, Mike, you're gonna have to wait for more FOOL shout outs till after June 21st, be patient... FOOL!)

2 out of 3

Tonight was a big night :) I went to Barton Springs and went into the swim on a mission. Last Friday, I heard the script was to swim 4000 meters. It just sounded ridiculous hearing it last weekend. The thought of swimming FARTHER than 2.4 miles seemed insane. I took Tuesday off and ended up taking Thursday off too, because of work, and just laziness.

I got to Barton Springs, and opted to swim without a wetsuit. For 1, I didn't have it with me, and 2, I wanted to see if I could do it without. Before I got into the water, I made it a point to commit to swimming 10 laps without stopping. I warmed up pretty fast and got into a rhythm. Around the 6th, 7th, and 8th laps, I was getting tired, but still trucking along. I noticed my times were slowing and was ok with it, until a girl not wearing a wetsuit passed me! I tried to kick it into gear and draft off her, but she was overall faster. I reminded myself I was 8 laps into a swim and for all I knew she had just started fresh. I later realized that kicking a little harder didn't take that much energy and it was ok to keep the pace up.

Here are my splits :)

1. 4:18
2. 4:21
3. 4:31
4. 4:32
5. 4:39
6. 4:29
7. 4:35
8. 4:33
9. 4:51
10. 4:43
11. 4:48
12. 4:37
13. 4:46
14. 4:39
15. 4:53
16. 4:30
17. 4:40
18. 4:29
19. 4:39
20. 4:27

Total time: 1:32:09

I'm figuring with the wetsuit, it will make me faster. The fact that I swam a tad bit OVER the 2.4 will bank me some time, but I know the congestion will take away. So if I can swim the 2.4 in 1:30, I'd be ecstatic!! This would buy me 50 additional minutes that I much need on that damn bike.

I think if I keep with my swim workouts, and keep with my long swims, I'm 100% sure I've got it in me to do the swim.

If and when I make it to the run, I'm 100% positive I've got the marathon in the bag. I don't know my time, and I've got high expectations to run a decent marathon, but even if I have to walk the whole damn thing, I know I can do it.

Now if I could just get the confidence on the bike, I'd be golden. Still have a few more weeks to build. Looking forward to a down weekend :) 75 miles and 9 miles running, piece of cake :)