Wednesday, August 13, 2008

An Attempt to Catch Up This Blog

Things have been especially crazy lately, and when it's all I can do to get in the training, the blogging must wait. Yeah, sure, I could sacrifice one of the four or five hours of sleep I've been getting each night, but...nah, you wouldn't want me to do that. My posts wouldn't be very nice, much less motivating.

So, where did we leave off? The Super Duper Staggerwing Duathlon day! Yes - it was a great day. It reminded me to not be a wuss. Because I wanted to just wuss out on that race that day. I didn't want to get beaten, but I still had to get the long stuff in, so it was mentally more of a challenge than physically. I love it when it turns out good like that...'cause it don't always. But it's a good thing that it does every now and then, because I'm pretty sure that's what keeps us coming back for more. Anyways...

I didn't do a damn thing Sunday following the race. I rested and enjoyed it. Monday I swam early (1950 yds) and then ran 4 miles at lunch. Tuesday I got in a great 2hr ride starting at 4:30 a.m. Yes - in the dark - but I have a new light! I ordered the NiteRider MiNewt X2 Dual, and it is awesome. I feel pretty much like I've got vehicle headlights on my bike, minus the bulk and the weight. I probably could have gotten away with the single, instead of the dual, but it was just a few bucks more, and I want all the light I can get if I'm going to be out riding in the dark for very long. Tim and Don joined me, and with the 3 of us there was more than enough light.

Thursday we rode for 1:36 and got 27 miles with Tim, Don, Holly, and Lee. Great ride other than the flat I had. The problem was that somewhere on the ride back from the Staggerwing Duathlon I lost my flat pack, and hadn't been anywhere to replace it. Mistake. I think that's something to do with Murphy's Law. I've been carrying that flat pack around forever, never using it, and the same week that I lose it , I have a flat. Thankfully, I had good company, and I borrowed levers from Holly, a tube from Don, and CO2 from Tim. Lee took charge of changing the flat and, we had 'er fixed up in no time.

Friday, my plan called for a 1:50 hilly run. I sent in a request to our running crew for 12 hilly miles, figuring that with the hills we'd be lucky to get in 12 miles. In attendance, at 4:15 a.m., was Holly J., Rosalind, Tammie, Audra, Katrina, Tim, and myself. Dude, we did some hills. Be careful what you ask for. First, Old Stone Fort, then Mortan's Lake, then we ran the rolling Old Woodbury Hwy and finished by running up Cracker Barrel Hill. We got back to the rec center, and I looked down at my watch to see that it short of 1:50 by a few minutes, so we kept going over to the baseball park and then took the greenway back, for a total of 13 miles in 1:50.

During all this, we had been putting down hardwood floors in our house. That means spending every spare minute moving furniture, painting walls (cause I like for everything to look new), ripping up carpet, etc. Sleep became scarce, until I came crashing down and slept about 12 hours straight, then turned around and took a 2.5 hr nap. It's patient, but it will not be denied. Thank goodness my Mom and Dad were willing to come help, because that hardwood stuff is a job.

Saturday my plan was to ride 90 miles in the mountains, climbing Alto and descending Sherwood until I had 45 miles, and then turn around and come back. Tim was the only taker for this ride, and we headed out at 5 a.m. We made it nearly to the Alabama state line, and then we turned around and headed back up Sherwood Mtn. About 3 miles into the climb, though, I felt the same "thump, thump, thump" from my back tire that I had felt Thursday. Yep, another flat. This time did not work so well, though. We thought we had the tube up in the tire as well as possible, but when I used my one and only CO2, we found out that we had not - it ballooned out of the tire and then blew out. I had used Tim's last CO2 on my last flat, so we were stuck. On Sherwood Mtn, with no cellular reception. Somehow, I got a text message to go through to J.T. and he came and got us. When we got back, Tim finished out 60 miles, and I decided to swim. I was sick of messing with that stupid tire, and I still had a 3000 yd swim to do anyways. I was bummed out about not getting my 90 miler done. We had a really good ride going on, and it was ashame that a stupid flat tire had to ruin it. BUT...at least I can say that if I have a flat at Ironman, I positive that I can change it effectively now. When I finally got around to messing with it, I realized that I should have blown some air into the tube with my mouth first, and that would have kept me from pinching it with the tire. That, and also that I should probably carry more than 1 CO2 with me. Lessons learned...

Sunday I met up with Mary Beth and Kim and we had a nice 5 mile run around the golf course into the evening - Briar even ran 3 miles with us. Monday I got the bike tire situation straightened out and had a good interval session during my lunch break. Monday night, Briar came and asked if he could get up early and run with me the next morning. Of course I jumped at the opportunity, and we got up at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning and ran 1 mile, then did core and weights, and then swam. I ran out of time swimming and only got 2200 yds, when I should have had 3500...ugh....but we sure had a good time. I'd say that I will try and make it up, but then I'd be lying. I'll just make sure I don't let it happen again. I might have to start doing some of these swims in the evening to ensure that I get the correct amount of yardage.

All that brings us to today. I have changed my BT Ironman training plan, because Bigun and I agreed that the other one was not ideal in terms of making sure I that I was ready for the 112 mile bike. I've gone from the intermediate plan to the beginner plan. I know, it sounds like I've gone backwards, but the beginner plan actually has more mileage. Plus, it's got Thursday as a rest day, which I like, because that means I can always use Thursdays to do something easy with the kids. It's also a "2 weeks hard, 1 week easy" plan, which I like better than rotating the long run and long bike each week. I feel more comfortable with a long run and bike each week, even if the long run now falls on Wednesdays. So today I ran 15 miles in 2:13:08. My legs were a little bit heavy from yesterday's weights, and I had to make a bathroom stop, but over all it was a great run. I am really amazed at the fact that I can run 15 miles like that when I have really only been doing 10 milers (except for last Friday's 13 miler) throughout the summer. The body never ceases to amaze me. It's the mind you gotta watch out for.

I'm all fired up and ready to take on whatever the next 11 weeks wants to throw at me.

4 comments:

Lisa said...

Girl, you amaze me. :)

I hope I learn how to change tires correctly & I pray my legs have not forgotten how to run!

kmholt7 said...

Whew! What do you do in your spare time? :)

Anonymous said...

You are doing an amazing job with all the training and waking up early! You are on a roll.

You'll have to post some pictures of your new hardwoods.

Rae said...

Whew! That's a lot of training! You are going to be SO ready for IM!