Taking It All In

Yesterday was another amazing day.  Started off with a 20 min swim in Mirror Lake.  Water temp of 74 and a sleeveless wetsuit.  Felt pretty decent, and it was serene to see it before the athletes all get in.  Apparently it is like a whirlpool effect when everyone swims in it on race day, creating a bit of a current.  


Swim was followed by a 45 min bike of the run course.  Nice and relaxed, and was wonderful to see so many athletes training.  Wish that was something we saw all the time. Enjoyed it all.

Cleaned Ruby, now she is very pretty and far less dirty!  This occupied me as I waited for my parents to get back from breakfast and for Little Bear to get here.  As I said "I wonder where Erica is" she came in the door and said "HI!"  Perfect!  

We had lunch in town, then headed to the Oval where Erica and I found Derek so we played and had fun looking at all the things I wanted to buy and goof around.  Was a blast :)  


Mike and Amanda hit traffic so they got here after I left with Doreen for the athlete dinner and meeting.  We met Brian and it was packed.  First real tears here, it was only a matter of time.  They should race footage from last year, and talked about this woman fundraised for this little girl who has NF (I can't not cry at these things).  Some fun facts:

• The oldest athlete is 76, and the youngest is 18
• There are 7 athletes over 70!
• PA is the 2nd most represented state to NY
• There are 22 countries represented
• All 50 states are represented
• The age groups M 50-55 and W 40-44 are 2 of the biggest groups this year
• There are a total of 2700 athletes racing IMPL 2012!
• There are 959 first time IM athletes!!!

After getting a little hyped up and seeing some other friends like Ryan and Todd T, we headed back to our families and friends.  Came back to see boo boo and Amanda!!  Was so good to see them, and made me even more excited.  We spent some time chatting and I again was too excited to sleep :)

Another great day here...it is so beautiful, all of Lake Placid.  My loved ones make it that much sweeter, and I couldn't ask for more.  And I have Doreen, and so many other IM friends here with me and tomorrow is going to legend (wait for it) DARY!

I'm too excited to sleep!!!

Lake Placid is everything I hoped for and more.  I have been up here twice before, for work and training.  Loved it both times, but this is so much different.  It's magical.  I found myself feeling the "are we there yet" vibes as we got onto me 73 and saw my infamous Sausage Man. 

Might I say, that is a beast of a road we mistakenly rode!  And the mountain E-Town...feeling proud :)  And glad they are not part of the course!

Got here and told my parents we had to go to packet pick up immediately because I couldn't wait and had to see Doreen (you'd think I was a child).  The Oval is beautiful, filled with vendors and awe.  We beelined to get our numbers and sweet bags!  Saw Derek and then went straight to the race merchandise.  I never really buy much race apparel, but am treating myself to a couple things :)  While short-lived, it was an incredible afternoon with my parents and one of my best friends. 

Had dinner at the Lake Placid Brewery, a favorite.  Had the Endurance Amber, brewed in honor of the IM athletes and it was delicious as it was described.  Walked my parents through part of town before heading home to take in Bear Lodge.

I am so excited, it is ridiculous!  Thanks to all for the incredible messages and well wishes...I have almost cried multiple times today talking to you and hearing from you.  I feel so loved it is so touching!

Tomorrow more to come as I get in a swim and ride, explore the Village further, continue to share the joys of Lake Placid with my family, and see some of my other closest friends and boo - Mike, Erica and Amanda, you can't get here soon enough!!

In Preparation

I wish I had started packing earlier...I feel like I say this every time I go on vacation/race.  And this time it's both so double whammy.


Here's the Andrea list for Placid:

• Get a "once over" on the bike, and practice flat changing.  Thanks Kev, we had a great Friday night filled with pizza and bike grease.  
• Hit Costco and liquor store with Mom.  
• Organize paperwork.
• Pack tri gear - double of everything and anything you could think of needed to swim, bike and run.
• Get bike to Doreen.  Since I'm not driving the Suby, she was kind enough to transport the Ruby.  (No time to clean it, will have to do up there).
• Get a mani/pedi.  Had to, with some special flare (IM logo) and black of course (to be hardcore)!

• Organize food, kitchen supplies & purchase what needed at Target.  
• Do laundry, blah.
• Pack tri clothing - a surplus, totally ridiculous.
• Pack regular clothing and everything else (an after thought).
• Double check everything!
• Leave Thursday am for Lake Placid!!! :)

Good Luck & Karma

So this week has not been nearly as relaxing as I had hoped. 

Last night was interesting.  I had lots to do, and was trying to keep a tight schedule from 5 pm on.  But that of course didn't happen.

My Garmin Edge was acting up and I spent a few minutes fooling with it.  I had an 1:15 bike ride with stronger efforts in aerobars.  I left my house and was just past the Conshy train station (the small climb by the wood bridge, to my SRT friends).  If I hadn't spent time on my Garmin, I could've come up the the scene of a crash earlier.  I missed being involved by about 20 seconds!

Apparently this guy was coming down the hill and someone else was on the wrong side of the path and they crashed.  I pulled over immediately to offer help as another women with the other man stopped traffic.  The guys were pretty bloody, but seemed to have no serious injuries.  The one guy coming down the hill felt nautious so I shared my Shot Blocks and gave him my extra water bottle.  He asked me to call his friend to pick him up so I did.  I told them I could stay until help came.  He had some bad scrapes and road rash, but didn't appear to be seriously injured.  Bike had some damage :( The other guy likely needed stitches on his chin.  Another nice man brought hydrogen peroxide and bandaids.  Thank goodness for no broken bones. 

I was wearing a tri top since it was hot, and the guy I was helping asked if I was a triathlete.  He obviously was with his tri kit and Kestrel.  Turns out he is a local pro.  He asked if I was training for something, and when I told him about Placid he shared last year that was his first IM.  Once he felt better, he continued to tell me that he won the Placid swim last year, but had a bad run and fell back in the pack.  He said it was as awesome as everyone else tells me it is, and that I will love it. 

I sat there for about 30 minutes waiting, making sure he was ok.  He finally thanked me again and said he felt much better and to go.  He gave a couple Placid tips (stick to your nutrition plan, pace well, etc) and offered me his gel in exchange for the Shot Blocks.  He said he really appreciated all of my help, and I said I just hope someone would do the same for me.  He told me to kick ass up there, and that he would track me. Was pretty awesome to make yet another Placid connection, especially after the notes from last year's champ. 

My friend told me that this was some good race karma (thanks Tara).  So glad I was running late for once, a crash would've been devastating.  Helping someone else in need will hopefully pay off and help me in the end.

Heading up there tomorrow, with some good luck and karma hopefully in my corner!

So track me maybe?

Hey, my race is this week (7/22/12),
And it's sure craaazy!
But here's my number (#473),
So track me maybe?

Log onto http://www.ironmanlive.com/ and click on "live race coverage" in the upper right corner.  Under Ironman Lake Placid, click "track an athlete."  Enter my bib #(473) and my info should come up!

No text updates, you have to go the actual site fyi.  Also, it may not show today but will be a shortcut as we get close to Sunday! 

Gains and Losses

There have been a lot of gains and losses since December.  I thought I would share some of them, as they can be considered ironic, humorous, cool, and lame (depending on who you are and how close we are). 

Losses
My mind
My social life & tolerance (the first two are jokes, but partially true)
My boobs
Body fat percentage
Lbs.
Ability to save TMI things to myself (gross bodily issues)
NOT any toenails (knock on wood, last year I lost 3 in Half IM training)
Many chapsticks (while training)
Mucho mula (IM is NOT a cheap hobby)
Time (spend a lot on prepping for long rides and runs, it's crazy)

Gains
Endurance
Abs (yay!)
Swimmer shoulders (people ask me if I am a swimmer at the gym, shocking!)
Compliments from strangers while working out
"Realness" (also a loss or TMI on gross bodily issues)
Increased water bill (due to excessive washing of clothes and ridic amounts of water bottles)
Increased ability to sweat fastly (more than ever, not pretty)
Bedtime of an elderly woman (to go with the loss of my social life)
NOT getting hungover (you have to drink more than a couple for that)
Ability to get buzzed after 1-2 drinks (cheap date)
A tan (with SWEET tan lines)

From one training session, absurd!

Am I constantly wearing a glove?  Sadly, no.

Penis or dick knees, so we fondly call them.  I enjoy the gradual tan lines from running v. biking shorts.  Hott.

And the permanent racerback!

Testing Limits

I have had a couple long weeks, especially last week and the past two weekends.  Aside from the huge undertaking that is Ironman, work has been crazy busy due to a new position and life seems to have lots going on.  It's hard to keep up.  I have felt like it's all too much, and overwhelmed. 

I've had lots of good things going on, but also just a lot extra that combined with training has proven difficult to manage.  But somehow most of it gets done, with some shuffling and lack of sleep.  Bringing work home and fitting in long workouts doesn't leave much time for much else in life these days.  Maybe that's a little lame, but it is what it is. 

Last week felt like my breaking point, with the weekend being the culmination of two sub-par long workouts.  My last really big bike and run, naturally.  I remember thinking how can I do this?  And then telling myself you are testing your limits, getting through this makes you an Ironman. 

Last weekend was the worst.  I've had some tough long weekend workouts.  But last weekend was hot as hell and extremely humid as early as 5 am.  The 100 miles on the bike were not fantastic on Sat, but the 18 mile run was the worst.  Drenched at 7 am when I went out at 6:30 am I shed some tears along the way and wanted to quit.  But I dug deep and pulled it off. 

The end is in sight...I still can't believe it.  I just kept telling myself that.  I tested the limits with the workouts on mucho tired legs, in the heat, on little sleep, for long endurance, with a crazy work schedule, and little time for anything else in life...and I'm still here! 

I was reminded that you can push your body farther than you think you can, and the mind is what will quit first.  So keep pushing the envelope and see what you can achieve. 

Thanks for sharing partner, and to another friend for the original inspiration.

The past couple weeks looked like this:

Week of 6/11-6/17:
Monday 6/11: 2700 swim, 30 min easy run
Tuesday 6/12: 1:30 threshold ride
Wednesday 6/13: tempo run (4x8:00 min at 7:45 pace)
Thursday 6/14: 2900 swim, 60 min spin
Friday 6/15: OFF
Saturday 6/16: 77 mile long ride
Sunday 6/17: 20 mile long run

Week of 6/18-6/24:
Monday 6/18: 2700 swim
Tuesday 6/19: threshold bike workout
Wednesday 6/20: 1:15 aerobic run
Thursday 6/21: 2400 swim, 1:15 spin
Friday 6/22: OFF
Saturday 6/23: 1:15 aerobic ride, 15 min easy run
Sunday 6/24: Philly Tri Olympic
 
Week of 6/25-7/1:
Monday 6/25: 1:30 ride aerobic
Tuesday 6/26: 2600 swim
Wednesday 6/27: 1:15 aerobic run
Thursday 6/28: 1:15 ride
Friday 6/29: 1500 swim
Saturday 6/30: 100 mile long ride
Sunday 7/1: 18 mile long run

Week of 7/2-7/8:
Monday 7/2: 2900 swim
Tuesday 7/3: 1:15 tempo run (4x8:00 min at 10K pace)
Wednesday 7/4: 2 hour aerobic ride - Happy 4th my schedule said!
Thursday 7/5: OFF
Friday 7/6: 3 hour aerobic ride, 45 min transition run
Saturday 7/7: 2.5 mile open water swim
Sunday 7/8: 14 mile run