3 Weeks in One Post - Where Does Time Go?

Really? My last post was April 27? Time is seriously whizzing by at a mach speed.  It's going so fast that even the weekdays seem fast these days.  And the weekend - forget it - I blink and they are over! The good news is everything is on the up and up, and I'm staying healthy and slowly chipping away at Ironman training.  It's hard to believe that we are almost only two months out.  At this point, I have surrendered all of my weekends and just have accepted that is how it is going to be for the next 6 weeks.  But, I am enjoying it, and I don't have much planned personally, so it's dealable.

Ok, onto the recap of things I have been doing in the last three weeks.

First, from a training standpoint.  Two Saturdays ago, I did this:

This was painful, difficult, long, boring, amazing, incredible and interesting all at once.  I didn't get out until 9:30 due to the weather.  It was COLD.  I waited until it warmed up a bit and heading out and then proceeded to ride EVERYWHERE.  It's fairly difficult to find 94 uninterrupted miles.  By around hour 5:30 my stomach was having a revolution and it didn't want to eat or drinking anything (I think due to a poor choice of potato chips at hour 3; a suggestion from a friend and 9 time ironman, but it's not going to work for this girl) so that was a bit tough to get through.  I finally stopped and got a coke which helped the situation tremendously.  My shoulders and back were killing me by the end, but the good news is that my legs were good - like really good.  Like could have gotten off the bike and run good. So that was an enormous boost of confidence.  The average pace is EH but also includes stopping, starting and a ton of traffic lights and stop signs, not to mention HILLS.  So, I'm okay with it for now.  What was more exciting was the realization that I can ride 94 miles, and could have gone further (I had a hard stop at 5) and it WASN'T THAT BAD.

Beyond that ride, I have been running without hip pain, not super fast, but good enough, and swimming well.  I have been gaining more and more confidence with every passing week that just maybe, a solid Ironman is in my grasp!

Second.  From a gear standpoint.

I GOT A NEW BIKE!!!!!

Here is an image of the bike being fitted.  I got a Look 576 and couldn't be happier. The components are SRAM Rival which is different than my road bike and is so smooth.  I only have taken it on the road for an hour and a half, but it was awesome! This weekend I have a 4 hour ride on Saturday and a 56 mile course preview ride on Sunday for the half I am doing on June 3, so I will get some quality saddle time over the weekend.  It's a little tough to get used to the constant aero position and the different spot that the saddle hits...but I recall my road bike being somewhat tough to get used to, and now that is very comfortable, so, I'll tough out and make small adjustments.  And, unlike my road bike, I bought it at the shop I train at which is 1 mile away.  So I have easy access to make said adjustments.

Third, last weekend my whole family took a roadtrip to see my sister graduate from vet school at Virginia Tech.  Needless to say we are all tremendously proud, but the weekend was a TOUGH one.  We left Thursday night and stop at my all time favorite chain restaurant, Chili's, where many of these were had:

We stopped in Winchester Virginia on Thursday night for a quick "nap" and then got going Friday morning.  Into dead stop traffic on 81 south.  Like, cars off, people out of the car stopped.  The highlight being, of course, our car neighbor's pet baby mini-goat, DeeDee.  COULD NOT have been cuter.

We rolled into VaTech just in time to see the festivities.  It was a beautiful day, and a beautiful ceremony.  We are extremely proud of her.

Friday night was the actual vet school graduation, follow by dinner at a local dive bar.  I got pulled pork and in retrospect, while delicious, it was a HORRIBLE choice. Because Saturday I was running 14 miles on a local trail, and this choice would come back to haunt me again and again.

I woke up at 7:30 and my mom and I headed out at 8 to the Huckleberry trail, which is a trail that runs from Blacksburg to Christiansburg.  It is a gorgeous trail that winds through the VaTech campus and adjacent farmlands and woods.  It was peaceful and quiet and cool...and hilly!

Here are a few shots of the trails.  I met up with a guy around 1.5 miles in and proceeded to chat with him from 1.5 - 5 mile.  He was training for an ultra and was really interesting.  He turned off and I turned around...thankfully I did, because soon after my stomach started rumbling.  I think I knocked out an 8 minute mile in my sprint to the bathroom.  And for the rest of the run, had to duck into the bushes as well as the VaTech library because my stomach was in such distress.  I'm not surprised, given what I ate and drank the night before, but boy was it painful.  Lesson learned.  I finished 14.5 miles in about 2:20 minutes and headed back to the hotel and shower to head out to a party for my sister.

Sunday was a rest day as we drove home...we left at 7 and got home at 5.  LONG day...very long day. Needless to say, Monday I was exhausted, but dragged myself to the pool for 2900 yards.  Tuesday I was supposed to ride in the morning, but the weather here was crap and I was pooped, so I switched it to a run, however then my train was delayed on the way home so I only got to do 3.5 miles.  I rode in my usual Wednesday morning computrainer class this morning, and will head out for another easy hour tonight to make up for yesterday's hour.  Tomorrow night I swim and then Friday is an off day to prep for the weekend cycling.

That's the recap.  June 3rd is the Rev3 Half at Quassy and I am SO excited to race! 

Hitting the Easy Button

I have the most insane week ever, in a good way.  Generally, I am not someone with great luck.  I'm more middle of the road - sometimes good things happen, sometimes bad things, but generally I do believe in the principle of you make your own luck through hard work, desire and opportunity.  That being said, I know that I try hard, and try to always do the best I can.  So, this being said - a few random things have happened this week have left me believing that someone upstairs said this girl needs a break.

In no particular order:

I got into the Rev3 Half at Quassy off the waiting list.  This is HUGE.  I was in a full blown panic over this.  In early March I was in cycling class and the guy next to me was asking me what races I was doing this year.  I was like well, Lake Placid and the Rev3 half, but I haven't registered for it, so I have to do that...and he drops this bomb "Registration is full".  What the WHAT! Full blown panic.  So, my coach emailed then to no avail except they told me to email them to join the waiting list.  I didn't have much faith except they said I would "probably" get in.  Sigh.  Let the waiting commence.  This week out of the blue i got an email that I got in.  Hooray! Crisis averted and lesson certainly learned!  Who knew..although I am sure there are many east coast/north east triathletes like me that live in the tri-state area and this is a convenient and great local race to participate in, and it's perfect timing for IMLP.   I'm extremely excited about this development, although that weekend is going to be nuts...we have a wedding on Friday night, our nieces christening on Saturday, and this on Sunday. I'm going to be DEAD on Monday.

I found a hotel and decent transportation for my wedding.  As a bride, especially one that has been engaged for a while, the words you don't want to hear are "we're booked, and have been for months.  Most brides do this far in advance".  Really?  REALLY? Who books a freaking trolley months in advance? Or hotel rooms.  Sigh.  Thankfully I found a great 48 person limo bus to use and a nice hotel that would squeeze us in.  I was in a cold sweat worrying about this, thinking about all the time I had and how I had not used it wisely.  Lesson learned.

I got into the NYC Marathon via the lottery.  This was a massive shock.  As a New Yorker, you see this race for years...my dad ran it (sub 3), and when he lived in the city he lived on 59th and Park, so we used to walk over to 1st Ave or the park every year and watch it.  I remember the Greta Waitz years and seeing her fly by.  It leaves an impression and was something I always wanted to do.  I applied to this thing for YEARS...I got in in 2009 via the 3+1 rule (which apparently now is going away) and kept applying since I got horrifyingly hurt while training and hopped to a disgusting 5:10 finish.  I have been waiting exact revenge on that, and apparently this year is the year.  I could defer, but I think that having the marathon to run will help with the post-Ironman and post-wedding blues.  So that's exciting.

So that's it - three randomly wonderful things that happened this week.

Otherwise, last weekend I rode 70 miles and it was great - I felt good and strong, and felt like I could have gotten off the bike and ran happily.  The weather was amazing, I had great company for 4 hours of the ride, and overall it was a great day.  I had pasta for dinner, a large glass of red wine, and went to bed early to get up and run for 2.5 hours on Sunday.  Sunday dawned and it was gray, raw, and cold.  I walked the dog, ate breakfast and realized I better get going before it starting pouring, which was in the forecast.  I headed out, and proceeded to have the most miserable run of all time.  I had to stop to go to the bathroom at least 5 times, and it was an emergency situation 4 of the 5 times.  I cut the run short by a half a mile and ended up with 14 miles total, but it was 14 miles of unhappy agony.  Not sure what happened, but the negative thoughts were there no matter what.  I think also I need to stop making plans for right after weekend workouts because the added pressure of having to be somewhere at a specific time on the weekends is killing me.

Overall, I'm feeling good - I realized recently that I was eating way too much, so I had to dial back the "sweets" and try to find a better happy medium.  I somehow gained 4 pounds in the last 2-3 weeks, which is not acceptable.  And I know it is partly because of my lack of discipline when it comes to Fairway's chocolate dipped pretzel balls.  Sigh.  They are SO GOOD.  Also, I think the tortilla eating needs to come to end too, and needs to be replaced by a healthier option.  Not sure what.  The nutrition part of the ironman training is really hard, being allergic to fruit and nuts is a real killer. I'm struggling with eating too much and eating too little and am currently trying to balance it out.  I did actually make a huge batch of my own granola last weekend which was really cool, so I have been eating that know it is 100% soy and nut free.  I made it using pumpkin seeds (pepitas in their raw form) and raw sunflower seeds.  It came out (shockingly) delicious, so I will continue to make that, and possibly bake some muffins or something as a snack.

Finally, my coach sent me some interesting stats I thought I would share:

Since the beginning of the year, I spent over 35 hours in the pool and logged about 90k yards.  On the bike (keep in mind, inside might throw distance off), I ridden 578 miles in just about 70 hours and I have run 160 miles in 27 hours.  That is a grand total of over 135 hours of training since the beginning of the year.  


Seems like a lot more.  Probably the production of getting to/from the pool, prepping for biking, hanging out after biking and such make it seems like a lot more. He claims it is "serious work".  I guess we will see on June 3rd!

More/Fitness Magazine Half Marathon Race Report...and other stuff!

Happy Friday! This week was an interesting one for me.  Saturday kicked off at 6am with a 3 hour bike ride.  I got up at 6:15 (after much snoozing) and got myself together.  It's interesting that on Wednesday mornings I get up at 4:55 and am out the door to my bike class by 5:05...but on the weekend when I have time I can dilly-dally like no one's business. Anyway, I got going at 6:45 as I had a hard stop at 10am that I had to make.  It was awesome...freezing, but awesome.  The roads were empty and I was sailing along the coast doing an oldie by goodie route from Stamford to Westport  - not a lot of climbing and very pretty and scenic for the most part.  I made it up to Westport, hit the bathroom at the beach, turned around and heading back.  This is when disaster struck - for the first time ever, I tipped over.  I know it happens to every cyclist at some point, but I just got new shoes and the cleats are very tight, so kicking out of them has become somewhere problematic.  So, I rolled up to a weird intersection that involved a triangle in the middle just as a car was approaching from my right.  It's hard to imagine but the car was to my front right approaching me at a 90 degree angle.  He had the light.  So I slowed down since  I didn't have the light, and moved my handlebars to try and stay upright until he went through the light.  He decided to STOP, give me NO indication of what he was going to, and so I had to stop, and over I went into a mulch bed, crunching a bed of daffodils. I was SO MAD.  He was like "Are you okay"..I just yelled back "You should have gone"...so much for cars. I guess he was trying to do the nice thing, but I would never speed through a light that is against me on the assumption traffic will stop. I dusted myself off, and rode home.  My shoulder was killing me and I was ready to be done. I got home at 10, showered, and we got in the car to head to Mystic CT to do wedding stuff for the whole day. We were home by 8 and I was in bed to be ready for the half-marathon the next day.

Race Day
Got up at 5:30 to prep for 6am departure.  We actually left on time - hooray - and stopped at Starbucks enroute.  I had a large coffee (this would later haunt me) and we were on our way.  I met up with my friend and her friend on 63rd and Broadway after a pit stop to use the Empire Hotel bathroom (thank you Chuck Bass!) and we headed over.  We hit up the port-o-potties and by the time that fiasco was finished, were about to start.  The last time I did this race, it was about 36 degrees and raining buckets, so this time, with a forecast of 75 and and sunny, I would say there were about 4 times the people! It was nice, I was in the 8 -9 minute mile corral which was the second.  At 8am we were officially off.

My ONE pet peeve of large races is the people that do not run 8-9 minute miles however say they do and start in that corral.  HONESTLY get out of my way.  If you can't sustain that pace for the first few miles until it spaces out, you shouldn't be there.  It was VERY crowded the first few miles, actually the first loop, and it was a bit annoying.

It got more annoying at the water stops when girls would slow down and grab water, then come to a complete stop and walk the length of the water station immediately to the right of the water tables, holding everyone else back.  This went on the WHOLE race.

Otherwise, it was a challenging race - Central Parks hills are awful - and you can see from the numbers below I was fighting it at the end.  I hit "lap" on my Garmin to get the 13.1 data since I remembered from last time the course is longer - and it came up 1:55 something I think.  Whatever - I finished in 1:57 and I was only shooting for a sub 2 hour race on this anyway.  So, after a 45 mile ride the day before that involved a fall, I'll take it.  I felt good until about mile 11.  Then I started feeling really sluggish - I had eaten an Expresso Love gel at mile 5, but was thinking I should have brought something for mile 10.  I flat out ran out of steam.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	1:57:58.9	13.29	8:53
1	8:13.7	1.00	8:14
2	8:27.1	1.00	8:27
3	8:16.8	1.00	8:17
4	8:42.8	1.00	8:43
5	8:51.9	1.00	8:52
6	8:26.8	1.00	8:27
7	8:50.5	1.00	8:50
8	8:55.6	1.00	8:56
9	8:42.2	1.00	8:42
10	9:26.3	1.00	9:26
11	9:37.8	1.00	9:38
12	9:31.1	1.00	9:31
13	9:22.0	1.00	9:22
14	1:00.4	0.10	10:05
15	1:34.0	0.19	8:03

I was decimated the rest of the day - I got home, laid around, and (this is where I think the coffee reared it's head) I spent about an hour running to the bathroom. Not good.  Had a hair appt at 2, then to my dad's for dinner at 6, although my stomach was still iffy and I had a headache for most of the day and into Monday.

Overall, it was good to race and push myself and know deep down there I have it.  I'm looking forward to putting it all together in a tri sometime soon!

This week I rode 30 minutes of recovery spin on Monday, before work ride of about 70 minutes on Tuesday morning, had my bike class Wednesday morning, then had a swim test last night which I have to admit, I KILLED ( for me).

100 - 1:33
200 - 3:15
400 - 7:05
200 - 3:15
100 - 1:26

I'm getting faster.  This is a good thing, it's nice to see the hard work paying off.

Tomorrow I have a 5 hour ride planned, then Sunday is a 2.5 hr run which could be 15-17 miles. We'll see. I'm heading to a local state park/runner's mecca called Rockefeller State Park with has miles of trails to run on.  I will grudgingly be busting out my hated Fuel Belt to carry hydration. I hate this thing, but can't thing of any better way.

Other stuff - I continue to amaze the staff at REI with my purchasing of nutrition.  Literally by the armful.  I also was able to explain to a small Asian lady (who was a hiker) the differences in all their nutrition products and what to use when.  The salesperson came over and noticed me telling the lady about all the stuff, and tried to take over, but when the Asian lady asked her what the science was behind it, the girl couldn't explain it. Interesting.  It's not quantum physics and seriously they should have knowledgable staff to explain what each product is for!

I bought Ironman Perform and am now using it on the bike and run.  It's not bad.  I need to buy the Recoverite or whatever it is and start making recovery drinks because my poor post-workout nutrition choices are going to start biting me in the ass soon.

Also, I haven't lost much weight  at all.  It's interesting though, I do eat way more (about 2300 calories on average) and have developed a frightening addiction to chocolate covered pretzel balls.  They are small but amazing.  I am getting through this last batch and then NO MAS....I need to dial back the chocolate eating and drop about 8 pounds.



Have a great weekend!

Just Keep on Biking...

Wow, I started this post three weeks ago...sigh. Initially when I started this blog after the marathon, I thought how nice it would have been to have a recollection of all the training I did, how I felt, my training schedule,etc. I was thinking the same thing with the ironman...however did not account that Ironman training is so totally and completely life consuming, that you cannot even think at the end of the day, let alone sit in a chair and type a string of thoughts that actually make sense. So, I'm doing what I can and that's that.

I've finally gotten outside to ride. Once I went outside, I realized that I could have been outside a lot sooner. Live and learn. It was hard to leave the warm comforting womb of the computrainer studio, but I cut the cord and struck out on my own.

And my first ride was misery. I was out there for what I thought would be 3.5 hours...turned into 4:15. I did not account for hills, stopping and looking at the map, going to the bathroom, and general slowness. I was SO upset when I got home. I had a 20 minute transition run on the schedule and FORCED myself to do it, but overall I was so unhappy with my output.

What I didn't stop to realize was that 1, it was my first time out, and 2, I rode over 4 hours - this is way further than any previous ride, 3,when I came off the bike I felt the same as I used to feel after 2 hour rides last fall and 4, I live in an EXTREMELY hilly area of Connecticut and the hills are ridiculous. So, there is progress there.

The next week I headed out determined to conquer the same course in less time and I'm thrilled to say the 58 or so odd miles took me 3:54, it felt a lot better, more comfortable and a little easier.

Last weekend was a bit of a mess from a biking standpoint. I needed to be back to my house by 1pm to meet up with my mom...and I had a 5 hour ride planned. So, I set out at 7:15 to ride over to Suny Purchase which I thought would take a little over an hour. What I did not account for was the horrifying headwind. At first I thought it was just me, but then I began to realize that it was really windy and the wind was in my face. So, at 9am, a 1/2 hour later than I was supposed to meet up with a friend, I rolled into Suny Purchase a gasping, sweaty, apologizing mess. Luckily, my riding buddy is a great person and didn't mind. We set out slowly (due to the wind) rode about 40 miles together, and then I split off to head home for a total of I think about 65 miles...my furthest to date. It was a fun ride to be with a friend and also someone that is training for IMLP...but it kind of sucked due to the wind and the early departure time.

This weekend will be no different - I have to get out on my bike probably around 6 - 6:30...and knock out 3.5 hours of riding before I shower and get in a car to go to Mystic to do wedding stuff. Whomever thought planning a wedding and training for an Ironman was a good idea should be shot...oh wait, that was me!

I'm really ready for the great weather to be here. I'm over the raw wind, the 2-3 layers that are on and off the whole ride, and the intermittent rain. I will be more thankful and appreciative than ever when it is 80 and sunny every weekend!

Otherwise, I switched gyms and now am swimming at a gym that has a Salt Pure pool and it's literally so blissful that I am kicking myself for not switching, or even investigating it, earlier. The room that the pool is in is warm, the pool itself is no temperature - meaning, you can just jump right in and other than being wet, the temperature is the same. It's clear, it's clean, it's bubbly, it's heavenly and it makes the swim session about 100000X less terrible. The locker room at this gym is wonderful as well. I can't say enough get things about it, and I am so happy to have joined!

Finally - the running. My hip bursitis has finally calmed down. I'm hesitant to say gone, because I know bursitis is funky and can come back in a heartbeat, for the moment I am running slow and steady and just taking it easy, enjoying being back and running NOT in any pain at all! My times have been slow, but I'm doing the distances so I'm not concerned. It's not horrible, just not what I am used to.

Other odds and ends....

I got new shoes - the Specialized S-Works with the Boa laces. They are great, but I am in the process of breaking them in. They don't have a buckle on the outside bone, so I think will be a much better fit for me since there is a wider toe box and room for my foot to flatten out.

The lacing system makes it so easy to tighten and loosen and control how tight the outside is. I hated my old shoes (also Specialized) so it took an extra special leap of faith to invest in this puppies. I literally tried on about 20 different pairs of shoes, 10 with my coach and nothing felt right....I was like Goldilocks and the beds! But these were the best, and while mulling it over, my fiance said "Do you want to pay extra and be comfortable for the 7 hours you are going be on the bike in Lake Placid, or pay less and still be miserable"...um, great point. I'm pretty sure the salesguy was mentally high fiving Mike...but I agreed. I have dealt with numb feet and pain for the last two years and if paying $350 for shoes will cure it, I'm all for it.

I sent back my Garmin to Garmin to get a refurbished one. After fighting with them for a few weeks, they granted me a refurbed one for the low cost of $70....$70 to replace a $400 watch that was BARELY 2 years old. Gee, thanks Garmin. I'm so mad and almost bought the 910, but then realized I was going to be buying into their ponzi scheme and just decided to suck up my price and pay for the refurbished watch. It's been GREAT to have data again!

Also, this weekend I am running in the More/Fitness Magazine Half Marathon. I love this race and find it really inspiring to run with only women. This race attracts runners and walkers and women of all shapes and sizes so I am really excited to participate in an event that really emphasizes women's health. Per usual, my goal will be to NOT get lapped by the leaders and hopefully to finish below two hours. I think beating my half PR of 1:52 is out of the question, but if I can do sub 2 hour, I'll be pleased. When I was got my PR I had been doing a lot of speedwork and I haven't been now, so I can't imagine I've magically gotten speedier. We'll see.

That's it. I'm going to try to post more and not let life get away from me so much. I had Good Friday off - after an 8 mile run and then a massage, I spent 7 hours cleaning. So, I can now sit in my condo at night and not feel like I should be vacuuming, dusting or doing some cleaning related task. I have sworn to try and upkeep the aforementioned cleaning, but we'll see.

And, I leave you with the reason living around Stamford CT rules - you bike out about 10 miles and this is what you find in someones front yard:

In Greenwich, CT - a horse, and two mini horses. ADORABLE!!!

Month 4 - Here We Go!

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted...actually, I can - at work I have been given two new projects in addition to my regular project, so it's been exciting, but busy. I'm all for the new work as it is challenging, but it's proven very difficult to balance everything and as such, I have spent the past 4 weeks in a state of utter and complete exhaustion.

In the last 4 weeks, I have literally burned the candle at both ends so hard. Training has been so - so, not for lack of trying, but due to the hip bursitis that continues to plague me. We dialed back a lot of the running and put cycling and swimming in it's place. It's been tough, since running is so easy - sneakers on and out the door, as opposed to swimming, which is a production that can easily reach two hours from start to finish. But, I've been able to ease back into running lately with a run/walk strategy which is boring as all get out but I think it lets my hip have a rest in between running and sadly has been critical to being able to run longer distances with no pain during the run or after.

My cycling has been hit and miss. I will have a few brilliant sessions followed by utter and complete bonks. I don't know if it is fatigue or nutrition, but the lows have been LOW. LAst Saturday morning, I just gave up. It's so not like me, but I just couldn't, its a two hour computrainer class and midway through, even after a Gu, I was just shot. I spun out the last 45 minutes and hung in there as best I could, but I was done. I am heading outside this weekend finally. I think getting out of the computrainer room where you are just staring at your numbers will be a good mental break for me. The weather in the Northeast is so-so, so hopefully the 60 degrees will prove warm enough to be on my bike for 3.5 hours.

Otherwise, I have been eating like a bottomless pit. I'm hungry almost all the time, I am easting unbelievable amounts of food and not gaining any weight, and seem to be getting leaner which is great. My coach and I have a bottom for the number on the scale, it is about 15 pounds from where I am at now, so we'll see how it goes. In the interim, I am trying to eat a balanced meal and not just eat empty calories with little to no nutritional value. It's tough though.

Overall, this process has been interesting - I am meeting amazing people that have the same interests at me; in particular there is another girl doing IMLP who is such a kindred spirit I almost feel like we were destined to meet. Mentally, it's been HARD - the hardest thing I have ever done. Getting up day in and day out at the crack of dawn gets old really fast...but I have learned that just getting it done is the only way. It's just a non-stop, constant loop of workouts and unfortunately I have learned that the priorities in my days are family, work, and working out, and then everything else. I have learned also that prepping everything for the week on Sunday is the ONLY way to remain somewhat sane - this includes grocery shopping, breakfast and lunch for the whole week, snacks, laundry, gym clothes, work clothes etc. It has helped to eliminate some of the chaos. But, as the training calendar moves on, and the weather gets nicer, I am starting to be able to actually imagine racing this thing as opposed to it being some foreign concept at some random point in the future.

Other exciting things - I had my bridal shower on February 25th, and then the following weekend in a frenzy of wedding planning, we booked a band and a florist. Then I spent the next two weekends writing thank you notes for said shower. They are almost done and I am looking forward to clearing off my dining room table and going back to living like a normal human in a clean house.

Recovery Week

Last week I finished up the last week of my swimming block. If I never see the pool again, it'll be too soon. As best said by a friend of mine, swimming is a "production". With the longer swims I did during this period (well, long to me) every swim workout was at least an hour and ten minutes, if not more, and that was just the actual "in water" portion. Prior to actually being in the water, the morning would go like this: 4:55am alarm goes off, snooze, 5am, snooze, 5:05, snooze, 5:10 - drag myself out of bed. Stare at the mirror trying to blink sleep out of my eyes. Dress in grubby clothes, grab all 4 bags (bag of pool toys, gym bag, purse, lunch bag) and my hanger with my work clothes, and a mug with tea, and drive to gym. Put all the stuff previously mentioned in a locker, zombie down to the pool, and submerge myself in freezing water to start swimming. All by 5:34 - 5:40am. Swim, then back up to the locker room, shower, get to train station, pass out on train with mouth open and actually drooling, get work around 9. Rinse, repeat. Basically by the time I get to work I have been up already for 4 hours. That's RIDICULOUS. But, I signed myself up for this and I can't complain, I actually kind of like the satisfaction of knowing I have my workout done already and can just relax and basically drink caffeine all day like it is going out of style. Still it was a tough three weeks. I know that the running and cycling blocks will be just as hard but in different ways, but still. Getting enough sleep in while doing all this training and working more than full time is tough.

On that note, this was a three week block that had me in the pool 4-5 times a week, along with cycling and some running. Every Wednesday I go to a computrainer class at my local tri store, and you have to be there at 5:15am to set up, calibrate etc to get going. I live about a mile away, so it's not far and it's very easy to get to. Anyway, I think just from the sheer exhaustion from the pool, I set my alarm per usual to get up and go, snoozed once per usual, and rolled over at 5:20!!!!! 5:20!!! 5 minutes after I was supposed to be there, and 10 minutes before the class started. I literally leapt out of bed, jumped into my clothes, and got there at 5:29. They set my bike up and I was fine, but still...annoying. Caveat - you have to pay for the class even if you miss it, so I was relieved to not have to burn the $25 per class. So, lesson learned - set two alarms, and get to bed earlier before the 4:45am Wednesday morning wakeup call.

Finally, last weekend was a doozy. My coach suggested our little team meet for an hour of extra cycling prior to the 7:30 class on Saturday morning. Under normal circumstances this would be fine, but unfortunately due to wedding planning, we had to drive to Hartford to listen to a possible wedding band on Friday night and got home at 1:45am. My alarm went off at 5:40am. Not enough sleep AT ALL. We rode from 6:15 to 9:30 and it was the first half of the LP course. My calf has been hurting and I am pretty sure this is the reason why. I am super mad at myself for agreeing to go but I just want to get the wedding band vendor locked down. Not a great call on my part - I was exhausted all day Saturday and Sunday, and I made some majorly bad food decisions out of sheer tiredness. I was also exhausted all week and am now just catching up.

At least this week was a recovery week. I went to the doctor on Monday for my hip and back; he said it bursitis of the hip and will be fine, and the my back was a hematoma and that will be fine too but will take a long time to go away. Basically my issues have issues and I have to remember that everyone that is training for an ironman is going to have small injuries here and there and being honest with my coach and tailoring the workouts to take them into account is what is going to help me in the long run. I actually skipped Wednesday morning's cycling class to rest, and slept 10 hours last night and am feeling better. Amazing!

This weekend, we are going our Valentine's day dinner tonight - our favorite restaurant has price fixed on V-day and you don't get all the options on the 14th, so we opted to go today instead. Plus getting home at 8pm from work and then getting up at latest 6:15am (on a day I am not working out) really makes me a zombie during the week. Tomorrow morning I have the usual cycling class, Saturday afternoon I'm headed to PA to help my mom pick out a mother of the bride dress, Saturday night a few people are coming over, Sunday morning I will ride my trainer for an hour, then meet a fellow Lake Placider for brunch, then get my hair done, then go to my friend Kelly's for the night to go shopping on Monday for bridal shower outfits. Busy much?

Finally, and 100% off topic, but I stumbled into the get off my internet (GOMI) forums about the healthy living blogs. I am so happy I did because I realized that I what I said in a previous post about how the HLBloggers are kind of frauds and I didn't understand how they promoted processed food and fad diets and I wasn't interested in health tips from people that have 0 qualifications other than not working all day and getting free stuff. I feel moderately justified that other people think blogs like Carrots n Cake, Run Eat Repeat, Skinny Runner, etc are just kind fake and ridiculous and their posts and content are awful bids to make as much money as possible without actually doing anything. I don't think my blog is very good, but hey - I work 50-60 hours a week, commute 3 hours a day 4x a week, and am training for an Ironman. This is as good as it is going to get, and that is the reason that I choose to support other bloggers that are in the same boat as me.

Hi My Name is Danielle and I'm Training for an Ironman

This Friday night on the way to babysit our 4 month old twin nieces (who already sleep 10 hours at a clip!) I popped by our neighborhood REI for a refill on all my triathlon training fueling needs. I try to buy as much of my stuff at the LBS here in Stamford, but due to a series of odd circumstances, I had a $74 gift card to REI that had to be used. Plus, they have an amazing selection of Nuun flavors (including Fruit Punch) which is my absolute favorite, so I stopped in to reload on everything.

One thing I have constantly struggled with, not just in my endurance training, but in life in general, is eating. Eating too much, eating too little, eating the wrong things. It's a really hard balance to hold it together normally for me, let alone throwing training for an Ironman into the mix. After being called a "wilted flower" two weeks ago in my bike class on Wednesday morning for not eating beforehand and having a spectacular bonk, I knew that I had to get up to REI to make the best of this gift card. And make the best of it I did:

Oh yes. And this is minus one Honey Stinger and minus a Gu. My massage therapist recommended the Stinger waffles - all I can say about these is - HOLY YUM!!! They are amazing, tasty, and have 160 calories! I got a bunch if the Shot blocks, a bunch of GUs, a few Stinger Waffles, and 4 packages of Nuun - three fruit punch and one lemon lime!

Needless to say, I think I am fueled up for the near future, and I have $20 to go on my gift card still! Troubling however is the fact the REI salesguy followed me around talking about his weight watchers diet and remarking on all my purchases. I had to explain what I am training for, and then I had to explain what an Ironman entails. I find the REI staff to be SUPER pushy about their "membership". Um, no thanks I don't want to pay $20 to save 20% after I finally spend $200 there. It never fails every time they are following you around and in your face. I guess if I was buying a kayak, or bike, or some big ticket item there it would make sense, but they are just ridiuclous!

This weekend on Saturday I cycled for 2 hours at the Computrainer studio and then ran 20 minutes after, and then Sunday ran 9.5 miles. The run on Sunday was SLOW...but, it doesn't need to be fast so I am ok with that for now. I am still battling lingering hip and back pain from the fall down the stairs, and saw my physical therapist friend last night who recommended I saw my othropedist in a few weeks if it doesn't get better.

Speaking of last night, I am elated the Giants won - there is nothing like NY victory in a Superbowl especially over a New England team! Unfortunately, something I ate got to me and I woke up at 1:52am violently ill and throwing up. Not good at all. I am working from home today, and thankfully today is a rest day on the schedule, so I can relax, recover, and be ready to roll tomorrow!