MIDWEEK RANDOMNESS AND PICS

So for the first time since June 12th I had an ok run yesterday morning.  It wasn't spectacular or effortless mind you but I didn't feel like I was hyperventilating the whole time or my heart was going to explode or that my legs had the strengh of overcooked spaghetti.  I started at 4:15AM and got in 9 miles before work.  This morning I was on the trainer at 4:15 AM and put in a 90 min ride that featured 40 mins non-stop at a high power level.  Yes that hurt BUT it wasn't unbearable and I was actually able to get to the correct power which I have been struggling to do lately.  When I uploaded these workouts I wrote a comment to Jeff that I finally feel like I am getting some pep back in my legs.  He sent me this chart and told me my Training Stress Balance reached an all-time low on Sunday.

 What does that mean???  It means I was flat out tired, exhausted and my muscles had given up.  My training load was too much for my rest periods.  There is little to no hope of having good workouts at that point.  However apparently that is exactly where I was supposed to be.  Yes I did training camp with my body in that hugely negative

...flat out tired box!!!!!!  This gives me more hope that race day really will be easier and faster.  Check out some random training camp pics.  Thanks to Coach Tom for taking them.



Can we please start?????





We are going downhill that's why it looks easy



I'm hot Kerry..can we stop now???

 



                                                                        





OMG Deanne you are so jacked I can't get this zippered!!!



Kerry and I are the two on the right totally rethinking this swim thing.





Really??  Does this lake have to be so big? That's a long way.





                        Very important cheerleading component of race day.  More cowbell!!!                        

















































LAKE PLACID TRAINING CAMP

I went into this training camp at an all-time low physically and mentally.  I was tired and wasn't recovering from workouts like I usually do and the two days prior to camp we had temps in the mid to high 90's which forced me to cut some workouts short.  Still I was looking forward to getting out there on the course and seeing just what I was in for come race day.  Kerry and I hit the road at 5:15am Friday morning with her car packed to maximum capacity. We arrived around 11:15 and got some lunch.  We set out to find the places where we were staying race week but it began to rain a bit.  Since my bike was on the roof I wanted to get it somewhere undercover as soon as possible.  We headed to the condos where we were staying and luckily enough they were ready early so I got my bike in and we unpacked the car. Of the 20 people attending the training camp only 4 of us were women.  We headed back into town for a bit since we didn't have to be ready to run until 3.  The weather was actually pretty good as it was cloudy and overcast in the low 70's.  We were ready to run at 3 but no one else was apparently so we finally got started at 3:45 just as the clouds cleared, the sun came out and the temp shot up to the eighties.  I liked the run course overall.  There is a pretty long hill back into town at the end of each loop but I will be walking that thing anyhow.  Unfortunately my run started much the same as the past 4 runs have gone for me.......craptastic!!  It got a bit better in the middle but around mile 9 I had pretty much had it.  I resorted to the walk/run method to get through.  As always Kerry stuck with me and was my cheerleader.  Somehow I did it. 13.5 miles done.  Scenery like this helped

Olympic Ski Jump

After quick showers we headed to my coach's condo for dinner with the team and a talk about the bike course.  This is what we were waiting for.  The bike course is well-known for being very challenging.  In fact of 25 IM bike courses it is ranked the 6th most difficult.  They weren't kidding.  Beautiful...yep...scary...yep...quad-burning...yep
but most importantly...manageable. Unfortunately I had gearing problems about 20 mins into the ride which hampered my whole ride and really didn't allow me to bike like I wanted.  I pulled up my big girl bike shorts and dealt with it.  The first big challenge for us was the infamous Keene descent which is about 8 miles of downhill.  While there were some insane bikers out there bombing down the thing in aero going 50+ MPH there were times when I was sitting upright wishing my body would turn into a parachute and slow me down.  By the time we got to the bottom my hands were cramping from the deathgrip on the handlebars and I think my brakes might have been smoking.  I was so very

I wonder if I could borrow his jacket on race day?

happy to be at the bottom of that hill and so very unhappy I had to do it again on the next loop.  The next section of the bike course was great and passed fairly quickly and then we headed back toward Lake Placid in what are undoubtably the hardest but most beautiful 18 + miles I have ever ridden.  This section is just hill after hill after hill. 

Minus the snow this was some of the scenery.

As we were finishing up this loop I heard some thunder in the distance.  I should have known what was ahead but I was in denial.  I stopped at the condo on the way to do the 2nd loop of the course to fill my bottles and get more food.  Kerry came about 10 mins later so I waited for her to head out.  Off we went.  On the first climb out of town I dropped my chain.  Kerry held the bike and I got it back on quickly and off we went.  The roads were now wet as we headed into the long descent but at least it wasn't raining.  We made it down safely again and were about 2 miles into the next section when it started raining.  Surprised?????  Yeah ..me neither.  The rain progressed to torrential I can't see two feet in front of me to thunder to lightening.  The roads were flooding in parts.  Kerry and I were separated again at this point but I just knew we were both thinking the same thing.  The rain stopped at one point and the roads begin

to dry up.  Things were looking up!!! I made the turn to head back into town again up all the hills and now the only thing looking up was me......up the hills as the next downpour started.  A few minutes later I was wondering why the rain was bouncing off my arm and I kept hearing a pinging on my helmet.  Ohh wait I know why...it is freakin hailing!!!  Really Mother Nature????  I must have really pissed her off at some

BITCH!!!!!

point in my life.  I just kept on riding and riding and riding and swearing and laughing and shaking my head till I got back to the condo. 7.5 hrs, 113 miles, 8 bottles of sports drink, 6 gels, 2 bonk breaker bars, 3 thunderstorms and 1 hailstorm later I was done with the new entry in my bike ride from hell file.  As a point of reference during my last 100 mile ride the elevation gain was 1500 ft.  For this ride it was 5000 ft.  Now I am supposed to run 6 miles.  Really???  How????  I couldn't run yesterday and I just spent the day on my bike.  As I was talking myself out of it Kerry got back and told me I was running.  We will go slow..you can do it..just see how you feel.  OK Kerry.  Off we went.  We shuffled along for 2 miles and I said I was going to turn around and be happy with 4.  When I got to 4 I looked down and my legs were still attached and moving so I ran back to find Kerry and finished up the hour with her.  I got 5.6 miles which was good enough for me.  For the umpteenth time the past few weeks it was Kerry that got me through a run.  I think she gets the following award.

I wouldn't want to do this without her.  Thank you so much Kerry.  We finished our run around 4:30.  We started the bike at 7:15 that morning.  We were wiped.  We hit the shower and went to dinner with the team.  We then walked into town for a bit of shopping and a photo-op.  We managed to stay awake till 10 that night and were up at

It was very difficult getting out of this thing after an 8 hour workout

6 Sunday morning for our 7am swim.  We walked down to the lake as a team and did a 1.5 mile swim in Mirror Lake.  It was great because there weren't 3000 people there and I could just sight off the underwater cable.  That won't happen on race day.  I was of course the last one out of the water and everyone else was already out of their wetsuits and had dry hair by then.  Whatever.  I hate to swim!!!  We headed home at 10 am.  In a span of under 42 hours we trained for 12.5 hours.  Can you say exhausted?
I am taking Jeff's words about this weekend to heart because I need to for my confidence.  He said on race day everything will be easier and you will be faster. You entered the biggest training weekend of your life running on empty.  On race day you will be well-rested. I am counting on it Jeff.  I do feel much better prepared and have a whole new respect for the difficulty of what I attempting to do.  While I have had ideas of what I thought my finishing time could be I will now be truly happy and satisfied to finish under the 17 hr cutoff.  One more brutal week of training and then the tapering and recovery process begins.  I am hanging by a thread right now and I hope it holds for one more week.  Sorry so long peeps but I had a lot say.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

That is what I said when I looked at my training schedule for this week.  Actually what I really said was

It's crunch time people.  Peak training weeks.  It's getting ugly.  Highlights for the week were a total of 41 miles of running and a 100 mile ride on Saturday.  I said highlights so you know there was oh so much more.  SO here I sit on Sunday afternoon with enough ibuprofen running through my veins to put down a thoroughbred.

Amateur!!!

I racked up 20 hours of training this week.  Compare that to my first blog post about training when I did 18 hours over a 2 week period.  I guess it should come as no big surprise that I am flat-out exhausted.  It hit me Thursday like a ton of bricks. I had a 8 mile run in the AM which went fine.  I headed off to work and that is when it started.  I fought all day just to stay awake.  I had difficulty even staying awake to drive home and I only live 7 miles from work.  I simply could not imagine how I was going to go home and run another 8 miles because that is what I was supposed to do.  I even considered taking a nap when I got home and running later on but that doesn't really work for me SO  I put on my big girl panties (and my compression shorts) and got it done.  It wasn't pretty at the end but I got my 8 miles in.  I have had to put my big girl panties on so many times this week that I need to get a shirt that says

Saturday's bike ride went well considering I had to sit my ass on a tiny little bike seat for over 6 hours.  I had Kerry for company for almost four of them till we had to part company because she only had to ride 5.5 hrs.  I was a much better biking partner this week and didn't lose her. When I finished I had to run 1 mile.  That was 1 ugly mile my friends as my legs couldn't quite figure out how to run after turning in circles for so long.  Today I had a measly 2 hour ride.  Crazy how anything less than 5 hrs on a bike seems short these days.  My ass and girly parts however were not amused that I was getting back on a bike again so soon and let me know it.  Despite the pain I knocked

out another 35+ miles on the bike today. While I don't feel tired while actually training the second I am done I feel the exhaustion again.  I napped yesterday and took 2 naps today!!!  So onward and upward to next week which BTW is even uglier than this one.  If my arms, legs and ass don't fall off by next week I will end up putting in 23 hours of training.  Friday Kerry and I are headed to Lake Placid for training camp.  This is a huge weekend for us.  We will run, bike and swim on the race course.  It will give us a good idea of what we are up against come race day.  I have no idea what the week after that holds but if it is anything more than next week this will be my new mode of transportation and Quinn will need to be my driver.

Speaking of Quinn she informed me that more of my blog should be about her since she has to put up with me all the time.  Here is what I get from Quinn when I complain.....suck it up little camper.  Here is what she calls me.......peanuthead(apparently she thinks I have a small head). I mean really.... how hard can it be to live with me? I am out of the house by 4am most days and not home until 5:30ish at night.  Ok so I pretty much leave my crap wherever it may fall and the sink is constantly filled with water bottles and I get very cranky when I am tired or hungry (all the time these days) but other that that I am perfectly lovely!!!!!  OK my back is killling me so I have to go lay on the heating pad now.  Check back next week for the training camp details!!!

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

Just for the record Ironman training and family heartache do not play well together.  I have been on auto-pilot as far as workouts go.  After getting the call about David last Weds I cancelled a personal training session and a swim lesson for that evening.  I knew I would be busy making travel arrangements and frankly had no interest in doing anything but crying anyhow.  Knowing I had a 90 mile bike ride looming on Saturday, I made the decision to not fly home until late afternoon on Saturday.  From Thurs until then I felt like a robot.  Must wake up...must go swim...must go to work...must go for a run...must ride bike...and so on and so on.  All I really wanted to do was be home. I left work early on Thursday because I was a basket case.  When I got home I really didn't know what to do with myself so I figured I would get my 8 mile run in and think about something else for a bit.  I checked out the weather forecast for the afternoon and it said sunny and 70ish well into the evening.  Off I went.  With 3 miles left to go the wind picked up and the sky turned black.  You're kidding right...it really isn't going to rain on me again is it...no...it won't rain...it's not supposed to...WTF...it is raining...oh no it is torrential downpouring now...really God this isn't funny...cut me a break here...I just dried out from the weekend rain debacle...oh crap what is that...thunder...fabulous...oh look lightening too...excellent...I am running on a tree lined dirt path 3 freakin miles from home in a violent thunderstorm.  All I need now is a damn golf club to hold up in the air.  I had no choice but to keep running.  There really was nowhere to take shelter until I got home. What to do..what to do?  YELL.  Yep that's what I did.  It went something like this...Really God? Really? You are NOT going to let me get struck by lightening and take another member of the family off this earth are you?  No I don't think so.  I am going to keep on running till I get home and hope the odds are in my favor.  I made it home and the second I stepped foot in the house the rain stopped and the sun came out.  Unbelieveable.  Thankfully it did not rain Saturday and at 4:50AM Kerry and I were off on the bikes.  I was a bad biking partner to Kerry. I just wanted to be done and I rode angry which means faster than I should and somewhere within the 2nd hour of the ride I lost her and we never crossed paths again.  5.5 hrs later my 90 miles were done.  I put my bike in the house and took off for my 1 mile run..er shuffle. Back home in the shower and then off to the airport. Since I had no time to stretch I put on my compression socks hoping they would help my legs feel better.  They did BUT it was about a hundred degrees on the plane so I was pretty sure my calves were going to spontaneously combust any minute.  I told Tracie this several times but she did not share my concern.  She has no idea how close I came to this

Now that is gonna leave a mark!!!

Despite the fact that there were stupid people at the airport and on our plane the flight was uneventful.  We picked up the rental car and headed out.  Thanks to a stupid Pirates game we got stuck in major traffic going through Pittsburgh but finally got to Aunt Lorrie's around 7:30.  We walked into a house full of people, sarcasm, crying, laughing and inappropriateness.  AHHHH..so good to be home.  Since this is my family's blog and you were all there I will forego the details of the next few days.  So many laughs and so many tears.  I will say it was wonderful to see everyone especially these girls.

Sunday and Monday were a blur but with the help of each other we got through it and as Bill Harris said "Your family really knows how to throw a funeral!!!!"  Yep we do.  I had to run 14 miles Tues morning which isn't easy in Windber since the damn town is only 2 miles long end to end.  Aside from my usual thoughts such as...am I done yet....why does my Garmin only say 10 miles...feels like 50....are you kidding me....is it raining...yes it did a little by the way...I came up with the perfect send off for David but since the blog is already like a gazillion words long I will make it it's own post so get some tissues and read on.

FOR DAVID

On July 22nd as I stand before the biggest challenge of my life in Lake Placid, the Ironman people will take a Sharpie marker and write my race number on my bicep and quad and my age on the back of my calf.  I am bringing my own Sharpie to Lake Placid because I have something to add.  On the back of my left hand I will write FOR. On the back of my right hand I will write DAVID.  When the race gets hard...and it will, when everything hurts...and it will, when I want to quit...and I will and when I think I can't possibly take one more step I will look at the back of my hands.  Despite the fact that it is hard and everything hurts and I just want to quit, I will take that next step and then another and however many more I have to to get to the finish line.  I will do it FOR DAVID.  I will do it for the man he was, for all he meant to all of us and for all he never got a chance to do himself.  I love you David.

FAREWELL

Goodbye my wonderful cousin David.  May you be at peace now.  Please say hi to Meema and Jimmy for me.  I love you.

WE'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE

I am pretty sure I uttered those words to Kerry at least once on Saturday's bike ride.  I am going to let her give you the nitty gritty details of the ride but let me just preview it a bit.  It included wind varying from "What a nice breeze" to "Oh sweet Jesus hold on to your hats".  Rain came in the form of cooling mists to torrential freaking downpours invoking thoughts such as "Umm...where is the road?" to "I really hope there isn't a pothole under that puddle" to "Lord, please let me live through this bike ride!!!!!"  We experienced so many things out there and I am pretty sure I saw this woman go by at one point

By the time we abandoned the ride in the interest of life and well-being I had 57 miles in.  Too bad I needed 80.  So what to do?  I honestly wanted to just jump in a warm shower and go back to bed at that point.  But I didn't.  I went in the house and changed into warm clothes.  I then went back out and cleaned and dried my bike off as much as possible and brought it in.  I then sat on the edge of the bathtub with my feet under warm water to thaw them out and get feeling back into them.  I then put my freakin bike back on the trainer and got dressed for a ride.  After pouring the water (no joke) out of my bike shoes I had to put them back on.  They were drenched. What to do?  I was already miserable enough and just got feeling back in my feet.  I did not want wet feet.  Thanks to a recent Walmart shopping trip I was in luck.

Socks on feet inside walmart bags inside soaked bike shoes

Now if I wore this outfit into Walmart I would fit right in!!!!  On the trainer I go for 23 more miles.  I really didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this point.  I put Spongebob on TV, my MP3 in my ears and pedalled away.  1.5 hrs later I was done.....with the bike that is.  I had to run 2 miles then.  Did I mention it was torrentially downpouring???  Off I go.  Three seconds after I walked out I was soaked.  I attempted for the first 2 minutes to avoid puddles but that wasn't happening so I just ran through them.  A little over 19 minutes later I was finally done with what has become the single most miserable workout of my entire life.  Later in the day I emailed my coach about the day and he called me hard-core and said he was extremely impressed that I finished out the workout.  Apparently a lot of people would have called it quits.  I can honestly say that despite wanting to lay on the floor and cry and scream and kick my feet I NEVER considered not finishing.  There's no giving up in Ironman.
Other than grocery shopping, laundry and eating and napping I did pretty much nothing else the rest of the day.  I was trying to recover a bit for today's 2hr run and open water swim.  5:15 AM this morning and I am out the door staring a two hour run in the face.  UGH.  At least it wasn't raining.  Kerry and I met in the middle of the distance between our houses and off we went.  Neither of us felt stellar but I felt better than Kerry so opposite of last week I dragged her through the run.  You could tell we were both wiped because we talked very little.  Sometimes on a tough run it takes everything you have to keep moving forward so there is just nothing left in you for conversation.  That was today.  Somehow we muddled through and did it.  We then had a whole 30 mins to change and gather our stuff before Cindy picked us up for swimming.  I am surprised neither of us fell asleep in the car on the way there.  Seeing Cindy helped because we haven't seen her for so long and we had a lot to talk about.  We got to the pond, wedged ourselves in our wetsuits and set out for a swim.  Oh yeah...it was raining. Whatever.  I was pretty slow even for me on the way out to the other side and Cindy and Kerry were great about sticking with me.  It also helped to have their bright orange and green swim cap heads to sight off of.  We stopped at the other end of the pond to regroup and headed back.  I felt much better on the way back and aside from my hands going numb towards the end was pretty happy we did it.  We probably swam a little over 1.2 miles in around 50 mins.  I can't believe I have to do that twice on race day!!!!!!!!! Makes me want to throw up.  What a week of training is all I can say.  Next week looks like around 17 hrs scheduled.  No wonder I nap every weekend!!!
A final note.......we have a new member in the village.  Liam Vincent Bahorik became a member of YINZ on Friday.  Welcome to the zoo Liam.  You have no idea what you are in for.  Congratulations Justin and Sara.

He is absolutely thinking...."Are you kidding me???? Am I really related to them??!!!!!"