Tough week

Last weekend was extremely tough!! I had my longest bike ride ever this past Saturday. 88 miles. It was not a pleasant experience. It's almost comical as everything that could go wrong did!

First of all, I was going slow and people that don't generally pass me, passed me, I could not figure it out. Why was I going so slow, why couldn't I keep up?? Well, as it turns out, that lovely sticky Infinit nutrition that I take in my aero bottle that splashes out at every little bump in the road, got on the spring of my brake and locked it up, causing my brake pad to rub against my wheel. Basically every time I used my brakes it would do this for quite a while before it loosened and then as soon as I used my brakes again it would rub again. God, no wonder.... It was a hilly course and I did use my brakes quite a bit. Ever since the bike wreck, I get nervous going fast down hill... Go figure... .. A friend of mine offered to clean my bike for me and he couldn't believe all of the sticky residue covering my bike. he's the one that discovered that my brakes were rubbing against my tire. That makes me a little relieved. It does make me wonder, if it is that sticky what is it doing to my body.... Do I change nutrition? Big question... In order to do the ironman I will need to take in at least 230 calories an hour on the bike. It's much easier to get all that in using liquid than real food. So, do I change my aero bottle, put my Infinit in bottles instead, or switch nutrition? I really don't want to have to switch nutrition, I don't want to put it in bottles instead of an aero bottle, because if I do that, I won't drink as much plus... on this bike, it is hard to stay on coarse and drink from my bottles. I get nervous everytime I have to take out or replace a bottle. I've also been told that I need to be drinking plain water too. I think it would be ideal for me to have one of those dual aero bottles with a lid, to where I can put water on one side, and nutrition on the other. That way they will always be in front of me.

Secondly, while I was on my last three miles of the bike, I got stung by a bee on the tongue. Luckily, I'm not allergic to bees. It took everything in me to do the second loop. We were supposed to do a 50 minute brick after the bike, but since the bee sting happened I wanted to have a medic look at it, and it took me so long to do the damn ride, (thanks sticky brakes) that I didn't want to bother doing the run, as I would've been the last person to leave.

Third incident was that I got food poisoning from the chicken fajitas they served after the ride, therefore I was unable to do my 17 mile run on Sunday. I had to make up for it on Monday night. I managed to get in 14 miles before the sun set. There were at least 11 other people that got the food poisining... and many of them tried to run the next day, I stayed in bed. No way, no how am I gonna even attempt to run with that issue. I've had it happen in the past and it is a miserable experience.

I wore a long sleeve white shirt and that worked out great in terms of protecting me from the sun. I think I'm going to do this from now on, I've ordered a Craft cool max white long sleeve shirt and a coverlet as well. I did get a sunburn on my wrist where the shirt rode up on my arm. I think it is important for me to wear long sleeves, as no matter how much sunblock I slather on, I will get burnt. They say there are people there to put sunblock on you in transition, but honestly, I'll be all wet and sweaty. I just don't trust that it will stick. I have a 100 mile run to do this weekend and a 20 mile run. It's gonna be another tough one. Luckily there is a century ride in Salado that will have aide stations. That is probably the only thing that will get me through it. After riding 88 miles, I dread riding 100. I dread it more than running 20. The thing that makes running somewhat bearable is that I kind of turn into a robot. After a certain point, you just keep going and going. However, on the bike, it's easy to bonk. It's easy to want to cry, It's easy to want to say "What the hell am I doing this for". There's no rescue on the bike. You can't just stop and walk back to your car, whereas in running, you can at least walk. What terrifies me, is that due to my injuries, and last week's debacle, I haven't done one brick workout yet. Ironman trianing would have been ideal had I not had the herniated disk, had I not had the bike wreck, had I been able to get my ass out of bed at 5 in the morning to make morning swims so that I can do evening workouts as well. Alas, it was not to be. I am getting in all my hours. I am only running once during the week and spinning once during the week and swimming twice during the week... it would be ideal if I could run and spin twice during the week in addition to the long runs and bikes on the weekend. Oh well, I'd rather have a job and not be able to train as much than to not have a job I guess. Yes, it would be great if I didn't have to work, and could devote my time to training.

Top 25 stealing from Jim

Top 25 things I've learned while training for an Ironman

25. Goo is really hard to get out of car carpet
24. This sport is Godly expensive
23. No one wants to see a worn out bathing suit
22. Massages are good for you... ahhh massage....
21. You will have no social life
20. No matter how hard you try it is almost impossible to not miss a training hour here or there
19. Tri bikes really do make all the difference in the world
18. No matter how thin I am, I will always look fat in a wetsuit
17. You can never eat enough
16. Liquid nutrition is soooooooo much easier to deal with
15. Liquid nutrition is sticky as hell and will get all over your bike and body leading to chaffing
14. Body glide, your new best friend
13. Triathlon is a sport with lots of beautiful people
12. Peeing in public will happen at some point
11. Not caring about peeing in public
10.You will have to buy a new wardrobe due to weight loss
9. There is actually a petite size 0 in the fashion world and you will be able to wear it
8. Petite size 2 and under clothing is impossible to find
7. You will have an injury at some point
6. Foam rollers hurt like hell
5. Bike grease is almost impossible to get off
4. You'll have to hire someone to spend time with your dog
3. Sleeping in is a luxury
2. Riding computrainers is actually harder than riding for real
1. It's not a matter of if you crash on the bike, it's when you crash

Things seem to be getting better

I've been remiss in writing on my blog. A lot of it has to do with the whole brouhaha that erupted from one of my posts. I'm still amazed at the immature behavior that was exhibited by some of my fellow triathletes. If you don't like something someone says, the nice thing to do is to privately tell that person something like "hey, what you wrote bothered me", or "wow Laurie, I'm sorry you feel that way, is there anything I can do to help?" That's what I usually do, or I just respect that person's opinion and don't say anything. I don't go and post snide comments for the world to see on facebook targeted at that person, and I certainly don't start spreading nasty lies and enciting others to act out negatively towards that person. Anyways, what is done is done, and hopefully we can all move on.

In terms of training, I think things are going well. I ran my first ever 15 mile distance yesterday, and the weather was absolutely perfect for it. :)
I ran slowly and didn't worry about my speed or pace. I'm running a comfortable 10 minute mile pace, at least for the first 10 to 13 miles. That makes me feel good. I've scheduled a ton of sessions on the computrainer to do the actual CDA course and I'm a little concerned that the hills are going to make this a difficult ride for me. I was hoping to be able to do the ride in 7 hours, but after doing some of it on the computrainer, I'm starting to realize that that may not be possible. It's hard being slow. I'm not doing an ironman to get an amazing time, and I'm certainly not trying to qualify for Hawaii. My body just wasn't built to be fast. It's hard to train with so many really fast people. Believe it or not, being slow seems to be in the minority of this group. The coaches had an info session today where they talked a lot about nutrition and race pace, and they were saying things like you may not run a 7 minute mile, that it is more realistic to try and run an 8 minute mile. Er.... gee, I'll be lucky if I can sustain a 10 minute mile for the whole marathon. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to do that. Kind of embarrasing huh. People ask me why I'm doing an ironman if I"m so slow...

To T3 Friends

I would like to apologize for offending anyone with my blog posting. I was not intending to viciously attack anyone. I was venting my frustration with what I and some others I have spoken to perceive is a problem. I was not trying to disparage T3, as I love T3 and T3 members, but to disparage the particular bad habits that we as humans tend to portray in any social environment. I like the majority of T3 members and would like for us to all get along. I know in all social environments that there are people we will like and people we won’t like and I would like to see us work together as a team to resolve any and all problems, as until we acknowledge them and agree to work on them, the problem is still there. I hope this message sheds a little more light onto what I was thinking and trying to convey.

I would like to Thank....

Yes, I would like to thank the person, who read my blog, and then went and called all her friends and griped about it and told them to read it. It proves the exact point that I was trying to make. None of these people that you called were the ones I was talking about, none of these people that you called read my blog, but now, due to your actions you have caused a few people to be very upset. I do not understand people like you. People who start gossip just to hurt other people, people that thrive on hurting others. People who broadcast their snide comments to the whole world. Does it make you feel better about yourself?