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I Want to See Where the River Goes

Posted by ookgirl on May 31, 2015

Posted in: Ironman, Ironman Lake Placid. Tagged: #boredomandjoy, #imlp, #jetsoverhead. 3 Comments

Sometimes you find what you’ll need, even though you don’t know how bad you’ll need it.

Two weeks ago, my husband, Craig, and I went up to Lake Placid, NY, to preview the Ironman Lake Placid (IMLP) course. We’d been there before, and Craig’s done the race before. But I never imagined I’d actually do this race when we were there before. So, this was my time to see it with different eyes. We drove up on a Saturday and were there through Monday.

Having seen the area before, and now having seen it on the Computrainer several times, I started to get butterflies in my stomach when we entered the town of Keene. This race is so monumental to me. I’ve sort of built it up into something bigger than it actually is. Luckily, this trip allowed me to live and breathe it a bit, so I can now imagine myself doing it.

We got checked into our hotel and made a stop at the local bike shop, Placid Planet Bicycles. We also went to the local Price Chopper grocery store and got food supplies for the next couple of days. The weather was perfect. We would ride one loop of the (two-loop) bike course on Sunday, and run one loop of the (two-loop) run course on Monday, then drive home. We didn’t bring our wetsuits for the swim, because we thought it would be too cold. But, remarkably, there were people out there swimming, even in mid-May.

Our morning ride started out a little bumpy. I had changed my wheels out before the trip – to take the better gearing off my road bike and put it on my tri bike. So, in a way, I had calmly practiced changing my tires. And I felt pretty good about that. But riding down out of town that morning, I immediately got a flat on my rear tire. (So, out of the two tires, the rear tire is the hard one to change.) Anyway, I started trying to change it, and even though I’d practiced and felt like I knew what I was doing, I got flustered and frustrated. This made Craig frustrated also. I changed the tube out fine, and inflated it with the CO2 cartridge. But then I couldn’t get the wheel back on my bike. Craig finally took over and did it for me in about 10 seconds. This was definitely the low point of the entire trip. But we rolled on.

Getting really underway on the bike helped clear our minds, and I resolved to practice changing my tires every day until the race. (It hasn’t been quite that often. But, I have been practicing!!!) Descending into Keene was really the only part I did not like. I’m not a good descender, and I really slow down on the downhills. It’s actually a little embarrassing, but I’d rather go up-hill all day than do a long, winding descent. The other thing was that the road surface was pretty rough in some spots. So, I was already braking for the downhill, and then I wanted to slow down even more for the potholes. Maybe, just maybe, they will be fixed by the time we race in July. The Whiteface Mountain section on the way back to Lake Placid was pretty challenging, but not as bad as I thought it might be. The Computrainer version of the course is an old course, so this part was different from what we’ve been practicing on at home. But one thing that is the same is the “three bears” section. There are three famous hills coming back to town: Baby Bear, Mama Bear, and Papa Bear. Someone has even marked the road, so you know when you’re on each one. I was so glad to get to Papa Bear and find out out it wasn’t ridiculous or impossible. All in all, it was a beautiful ride, and I look forward to doing it in the race. Having said that, doing it twice after a 2.4-mile swim will be a different story. But still, it’s doable.

After our ride, we took in the fabulous views of Mirror Lake, where the swim takes place. We ate at the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery, which looks out on the lake. It was so good! And, our waiter is a triathlete who lives in LP year-round. So, it was fun to talk to him and get the scoop on what the town is like from his perspective. He is training for Ironman Wisconsin. So, he and Craig talked about that course, since Craig has done that race also.

The next morning, we got up and drove down to the center of town to do the run. The first part is just running out of town. But pretty soon, you are seeing the Olympic ski jumps and running by a beautiful farm, and then… you run along a lovely, peaceful river for most of the course. I couldn’t believe how nice it was. And it’s mostly flat, except when you run back into town. That’s when the run really bites you – when you finish each of the two loops and have to run up the hills into town. But other than that, you have the most pleasant run ever. I really hope I get to do a lot of it in the daylight, because it’s so nice to look at! My pictures don’t even give you a sense for what it’s like. I’m sure it will be different in the afternoon/evening than it is in the quiet morning. But still, this is the kind of run I love…

It really made me think about why I love to run, even though (as you’ll understand in a moment), it’s probably the worse thing I could be doing right now. In the simplest terms, it comes down to this: I love the zone-out. I love exactly what other people hate about running: the boredom. I love that it’s not about what is going on around you, but what is going on in your own head. Everything around you is calm and peaceful and nothingness, giving your mind the chance to go off and figure itself out. I’ve solved nagging work problems and complicated personal problems on so many runs. And this experience — of running the Lake Placid run course — helped me come up with my “theme song” for this Ironman.

As you may know, when you compete in something like an Ironman, you can’t run with earphones and a music player of any kind. I do a lot of run-training while listening to music (especially while on the treadmill). But I try to do some training without, because I know I won’t be able to listen to music in the race. So, instead, I come up with “theme songs”. These are songs I like to listen to, that get stuck in my head. That way, I can “listen” to them anyway (in my head), while I’m doing the race. I might have one song, or I might have several. But for this race, I’ve chosen the song “Boredom and Joy” by Jets Overhead. Aside from the fact that I can think about the boredom and joy of running in general, it also has the chorus, “I want to see where the river goes.” And I just think that’s so perfect for the IMLP run course! You’re following this lovely river for a good little while. Why not think of following it until you see where it goes? By the time I do it for the second time, I’ll probably be delirious anyway; so, maybe it won’t bother me that we don’t actually ever get to see where it goes.

Unfortunately, though, the week after we returned from our Lake Placid trip, I re-injured my hamstring. I won’t bore you with the details. Let’s just say that I know exactly the moment when I did something to it, and it took my breath away. And, now, there is no doubt that I need to let it heal as much as I can. I did nothing but swim for the week following that fateful moment. And, in our first race of the season, Rock Hall International Tri, I switched to the Aquabike division (where you only do the swim and the bike; no run). It was the right decision. Some think I shouldn’t have done the race at all. But, so far, I think I’m okay. And, as a bonus, I placed 2nd in the Aquabike! (Woohoo!) Of course, that was a much smaller field, but I have to be happy about it, because I don’t get on the podium very often 🙂

Now, I have two weeks until my next race (Eagleman 70.3) and eight weeks until IMLP. I plan to swim a lot. I don’t know if I will run at Eagleman, but I do plan to try and do the swim and bike. Right now, I feel like my injury is such that my hammy can handle it. But I will take it day by day and decide as I go. Ultimately, each decision will be with IMLP in mind. I want to make it to the start line. And, when the day comes, I want to run down that river road and see where it goes.

****************************************************************************************************
Here’s a playlist for a good zone-out run:

Boredom and Joy – Jets Overhead
Cult Logic – Miike Snow
Swimming in the Flood – Passion Pit
Aeolus – Freelance Whales
Never Meant to Know – Thieves
The Beauty Surrounds – Houses
Young Blood – The Naked and Famous
Woodland – The Paper Kites
Heart Beats – Hey Marseilles
Bloom – The Paper Kites
Teardrop – Massive Attack
Heartbeats – Jose Gonzalez
Weathervanes (In the Way) – Jets Overhead
Never Let You Down – The Weepies
The Longer I Run – Peter Bradley Adams

Three Bananas

Posted by ookgirl on February 11, 2015

Posted in: Cycling, diet, Living Kidney Donation, music, triathlon. Tagged: #banana, #bensbones, #creatinine, #danhaas, #deathcabforcutie, #diet, #floradix, #fountainsofwayne, #greglaswell, #guster, #livingkidneydonation, #lordhuron, #racejoy, #spoon, #thedecemberists, #theshins. Leave a comment

When I think of bananas, three things come to mind:

1. The “bananaaaaaa!” cheer that you can send to an athlete during a race if you’re using our friends’ race-tracking app RaceJoy. I mean, what runner or triathlete doesn’t want to think about bananas while they’re racing? 🙂

2. The fact that as a kidney donor, I can’t eat too many bananas at a time.

3. The banana stretch that chiropractor and physical therapist John Michie prescribed for me.

Allow me to elaborate on these… The first banana: RaceJoy is a super-fun and useful app for athletes and their supporters. It tracks you while you’re racing and shows your spectators where you are on the course in real-time. It also allows them to send you cheers during the race, and helps you all meet up afterward. Our friends left their corporate jobs to start this company… just two people working day and night… and they made it happen. I’m so proud of them. They embody “start-up” in every way. Plus, they’re just good people and they deserve to be wildly successful!!!!

The second banana: Ok, this is all about how I shouldn’t really have a second banana. A kidney donor’s ideal diet is sort of askew from the latest dietary trends. You don’t want to eat super-concentrated protein, and while you don’t need to cut out anything completely, you should also watch your sodium, potassium, and phosphorus. So, as healthy as things like protein, bananas, broccoli, oranges, milk, and beans are… you shouldn’t binge on them. Don’t get me wrong, I still have protein after a workout to help my muscles recover. I just don’t have *concentrated protein*. This also means I try to limit myself to one banana a day. (I haven’t always been good about this, but I’m trying to be better.) It can be tricky if you like to have smoothies, because bananas make smoothies so good! The reason I thought I’d write about this is because one of my fellow kidney-donor-friends recently asked me about creatinine levels and how diet can affect them. I’m not a medical professional; so I can’t really advise anyone. But I did find this helpful article for people with concerns about high creatinine levels. I’ve been fortunate – in that my creatinine level has gone down steadily since my donation. Year on year, it has dropped from 1.1 in 2012, to 1.04 in 2013, and it was 0.91 at the end of 2014. I was once a vegetarian, though. So, I think that makes it easier for me to avoid tons of protein. On the other hand, I also tend to be anemic, and that is a drag when it means they turn me away from donating blood, which happened to me recently. Time to buy some more Floradix iron supplement!

Finally, to the best banana of them all… the Banana Stretch! I mentioned in this post that I ended up with some minor nerve damage after my kidney donation surgery. Well, the good news is that I no longer notice that pain along the side of my left thigh. But I do continue to have a tightness in my left-lower back that I only started noticing after I donated. It gets worse when I do long bike rides or bike-run bricks. If you are a cyclist/triathlete who has this issue – or maybe if you are a kidney donor and your body reacted to the surgery by tightening up on that side – perhaps this stretch will help you as well. You do the stretch on a medicine ball, and it stretches out the entire side of your body. It’s called the banana stretch because you make a banana shape with your body. I was always thinking I needed to stretch forwards, to stretch my lower back. But it turns out that I need to stretch sideways. Dr. Michie prescribed this stretch for me last year, and it is simply amazing! So worth the money I paid for that appointment! Here is an article that describes the stretch. I hope someone else finds this helpful!

Well, that does it for this banana mash-up. It’s been a while since I shared a playlist, so I’ll include one below. Enjoy!

Do You – Spoon
Long Night – Guster
Breaking it Down – Ben’s Bones
Let Go – Frou Frou
Bait and Switch – The Shins
Endlessly – Guster
Circles – Dan Haas
Little Red Light – Fountains of Wayne
Apology – SafetySuit
Make You Better – The Decemberists
Black Sun – Death Cab for Cutie
Waiting All Night – Phish
I Don’t Believe It’s Through – Greg Laswell
Fool for Love – Lord Huron

Let’s Disco!

Posted by ookgirl on January 13, 2015

Posted in: Ironman, motivation, triathlon. Tagged: #disco, #husbands, #relationships. 15 Comments

So, I’ve mentioned my husband, Craig, from time to time. But I’ve never written a post all about him. And, truth be told, if I could choose the one blog post that I’d want people to read, this would be it. I mean obviously I’m partial, but I think he’s a pretty cool dude, and the world should know more about him 🙂

He and I will be training together for two tough Ironman races this year, and I can hardly believe it! However, if I had to pick someone to train with, who can help me get through just about anything, it would be him. He’s the kind of person you’d want to have in your foxhole for sure.

So, how and why am I lucky to be married to this man? Well, I really can’t sum it all up in one blog post. But I figured I’d focus on one of the most remarkable traits about my husband… and that is that he can talk to just about anyone. It doesn’t matter who he might encounter on a given day, he will talk to to them… make a joke, take an interest in them, take some time. He’s never too busy or too self-centered to just talk to people. (I am quite the opposite, by the way…) Seriously, in all the places we’ve lived and the things we’ve done together, I only know our various neighbors and many other people we’ve encountered because of Craig. We’ve had fabulous neighbors and remain friends with many of them — only because of him. How lonely and limited my life would be if not for him! And then, there are the people who work at the local market, or the people at our gym, or random people who work in his building that he just happened to strike up a conversation with. It’s really a gift, I believe. And it’s not just a gift that he has. It’s a gift that he gives. He jokes with people; he puts them at ease; he brightens their day.

And on top of just talking to people, he remembers stuff about them. We won’t have seen some of these people for months or even years, and yet Craig will remember something about their life or whatever they had going on and he’ll ask about it. It’s so easy to be too busy for other people, but he hardly ever is. And I benefit from all this in many ways. Not only is my life richer through knowing people better. But it also reminds me to try to be more like that… To try to encounter other people and celebrate life with them –even on the smallest level.

If you think about it, life is like a dance. We encounter people everyday, and we sort of do a dance with them. We say hello, ask questions, exchange ideas, thoughts, complaints, etc. There is a give and take there, but we don’t always make it a fun exchange, the type you look forward to. I feel like the dance I do with people on a daily basis is sort of like a waltz… very formal, not too exciting, nothing memorable. But I feel like Craig’s dance is more like a disco. It’s fun; it’s humorous; it doesn’t take itself too seriously. You look forward to it, if for no other reason than because it’ll probably make you laugh. I’d like to be more like that. Let’s disco, baby!

I Have a Hamstring (and a Kidney)

Posted by ookgirl on December 10, 2014

Posted in: Ironman, Living Kidney Donation. Tagged: #hammy, #hamstring, #injuries, #kidneyversary, #livingkidneydonation, ironman, triathlon. 4 Comments

In sports like American football, when a player is injured, the commentators often say something like, “[Player-X] has a hamstring.” … or “[So-in-so] is out with a hamstring.” I always find it funny when they leave off the word “injury” — as if human beings don’t normally have a hamstring (two, even!) You can do this with any part of the body… “PlayerX has an ankle” …. “PlayerY is out with a wrist.” It makes me laugh… Until now, that is. Because now … I myself have a hamstring!

My friend Shelly likes to call it a hammy, which I think is cute. For some reason, it makes me think of a person running around with a big ham tied to the back of their leg, like in a cartoon. But this, my friends, is no laughing matter. Sure, I’ve had a strained/pulled hamstring before, and I would generally feel it whenever I started running. It would ache at first and then warm up and be okay. I could always think back to the moment I over-stretched it … maybe in a yoga class or while stretching after a run. But this time, it’s much worse. Sharp, searing pain, and not always when I’m running. I might just be walking into a store and YOWZA! An extreme burst of pain in my right hamstring — like it’s about to rip off. I hate it, and I’m embarrassed by it.

It also hurts when I’m driving. What’s with that? Somehow, they designed driver’s seats to put you exactly in the worst position for a hamstring injury. It takes me about an hour to commute to work (sometimes longer), and occasionally, I think I might have to pull over and take a rest because my hammy hurts so bad. It’s crazy.

I found this really great article that explains what’s going on with hamstrings and why they get injured. The problem is that they are actually over-stretched all the time, and the quads are stronger, so the quads just pull the hamstrings even more. Then, we feel like we need to stretch the hammies, but they’re over-stretched already. So, it’s like a vicious cycle. (The article explains it much better, but that’s the gist). My latest frustration is that I’ve been doing more strength training lately — which is what you are supposed to do to strengthen the hamstring so it doesn’t get injured. And yet! … The strength training seems to be aggravating my injury! That’s probably because I should have been doing more of it *before* I injured it. I know I need to ice it and rest it. I’ve been mostly swimming lately, so that’s good. (Swimming is awesome, because you can almost always swim – even when you’re injured.) But my work schedule this week has not made it easy to ice it. I will have to do better. And I may even have to break down and get an MRI.

I wouldn’t freak out over an injury like this normally. But this next year, I have two (yes, TWO) Ironman races on my schedule (Lake Placid & Maryland). So, I can’t afford to go into the training season with a big fat hammy. I just can’t. As much as I’ve been in denial over this injury, I’m going to have to face the facts and do the right thing with this one.

In other news, yesterday was my 3rd kidneyversary! That’s right, three years since I donated my left kidney to my stepdad. I spoke to my stepdad yesterday, and he is still doing great! And, hammy aside, I’m still doing great also. I think about my little right kidney down there working away to keep me healthy, and I just have to thank that kidney for stepping up and taking on the full load! At the time of my donation, I had only done my first half-Ironman, and I wasn’t sure if I could ever do that again. I found it to be so hard. At that time, I couldn’t imagine doing an Ironman, much less scheduling two in one year! Ironman Arizona was so amazing, and I know that we trained diligently for it. I’m going to have to be even more disciplined this time. I have to think that I’ve put that lone kidney through a lot! Thank you so much, little kidney!!! This has been quite a journey!

It seems funny to worry that having a hamstring could derail my triathlon plans, whereas having a kidney (only one, that is) doesn’t seem to be a problem at all.

Secret Thoughts of a Triathlete

Posted by ookgirl on October 29, 2014

Posted in: Ironman, music, triathlon. Tagged: #avettbrothers, #chores, #cleanthehouse, #laundry, #mikedoughty, #notenoughtime, #swivelchairs, #triathlonlifestyle, #u2, #weepies, triathlon. 2 Comments

(This one’s for you, Mom 🙂 )

Today, I took the day off from work to clean my house… Yes, it’s THAT bad… Exactly what are you trying to say?

It’s true that my car looks like I live in it, and my house looks like no one could live in it. What the heck?! The sad thing is we aren’t even training for our next Ironman yet. This is definitely NOT ACCEPTABLE. I must rectify this situation!!! My mom would not approve of the clothes on the floor. No way. But, hey, at least the bed is made.

Yes, it’s the craziest thing, but even with the look of a recent tornado throughout the rest of my house, I can’t stand to *not* have the bed made. My husband, Craig, has accepted this obsession of mine and dutifully stands by the bed, ready to help me make it every morning — just as soon as we get up. It’s so sweet. But it’s pretty ridiculous when you look at the rest of our house. Why should the bed be different?

It all reminds me of what goes through my mind on most Mondays… Here is a typical conversation with a co-worker on any given Monday:

Them: “Hi there. How was your weekend? Did you ride 100 miles or something?”

Me: “Well, actually, we rode 56 miles and then we ran 6 miles on Saturday. On Sunday, we just swam 3000 yards. It’s still early in our training plan…”

Them: “Wow, I can’t even imagine doing half of that!”

Me: “How was your weekend? What did you do?”

Them: “Well, the kids had three soccer matches and a birthday party on Saturday. Then, on Sunday, we re-landscaped our back yard, and I changed the oil in my car.”

What they don’t know is that now, I’m thinking, “Wow, I can’t even imagine doing half of that!”

I guess somewhere along the way, as we got into training for triathlons more and more, I gave myself permission to, um, let’s just say … not always get all my chores done around the house. And, then, eventually, I just didn’t have enough energy to do all that stuff! Honestly, I’ll buy flowers or shrubs to plant in the yard on Friday evening, and that’s as far as they get. They’ll sit there in their plastic pots the rest of the weekend while we’re out training, waiting for me to put them in the ground. “Maybe next weekend,” I’ll think. Poor plants! Or, maybe I’ll actually pick up all the clutter in the house, but I’ll never get as far as sweeping and dusting and really cleaning once I can finally see the floors and the counters and the furniture. It’s about to drive me insane. Cobwebs, and dust bunnies, and dog hair, oh my!!!

I’ll get up each morning during the week, sometimes earlier and earlier, thinking I’ll get some of it done before I take the dogs for a walk and go to the gym… I look around and try to get a little done here and there. But, I have this sort of all-or-nothing feeling, like I can’t dive into a cleaning project unless I know I can do it completely. It’s very frustrating. Then, on top of that, I’ve gotten up so early that when I get home from work, I’m so tired, I can’t do anything either. At one point, Craig and I made this plan to do 15 minutes of cleaning every evening, and we haven’t even been able to do that. We are ri-DIC-u-lous!

What I think is funny is that we always seem to get the laundry done. I wonder if this is true for a lot of triathletes. If there are two chores that never take a backseat when you’re training, it’s laundry and grocery shopping. You’ve got to wash those stinky, sweaty workout clothes, and you’ve GOT to eat! Okay, so maybe the laundry does not always get completely put away. But it’s clean. It’s piled up in the laundry baskets… or on the couch… or on the bed. But the laundry is CLEAN, and the bed is MADE, dammit!

And, I don’t even need to go to work on a Monday to feel the shame of my triathlon lifestyle … I’ll go to the gym, where other people are spending precious chore-doing time exercising instead of polishing the bannister… And I’ll ask them what they’ve been up to. They actually have the gall to have done something like replace their hardwood floors, or they’ve re-painted their guest room, or they’ve cleaned out their garage… IN ADDITION TO training. How dare they!

And, then sometimes, I’ll just walk outside my house and have a conversation with my neighbor about all the amazing stuff she has done inside her house… like dusting all her china or cleaning out her fridge. Mind you, the reason why I have to walk outside my house to have this conversation is because I couldn’t possibly let her come into my house. Not in the state that it’s in!

Sometimes, I’ll think to myself, “Well, I got the laundry done. Does that count?” I guess I better go clean now…

Oh yes, and to continue with the theme of my last blog post, here is some of the music to which I will be cleaning my house. No special theme this time. Just random music… Enjoy…

Here Out of Reach – Swivel Chairs
Bad – U2
Nightswimming – REM
Please Speak Well of Me – The Weepies
Light Will Keep Your Heart Beating in the Future – Mike Doughty
Counting on Karma – Will Dailey & the Rivals
Rainbow – Robert Plant
This is a Game – Nick Waterhouse
Southern Skies – Yuck
Dark Sunglasses – Chrissie Hynde
Only One – John Butler Trio
Another is Waiting – The Avett Brothers

Music Included

Posted by ookgirl on October 4, 2014

Posted in: Ironman, motivation, triathlon, Uncategorized. Tagged: #bellx1, #coldplay, #eels, #joyshop, #oscarwilde, #playlist, #running, #stars, ironman. 3 Comments

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
–Oscar Wilde

So, my mom encouraged me to start blogging again (hence my recent post about doing Ironman Lake Placid next year.) And I’d like to be a real blogger, who posts often, with all kinds of interesting thoughts and whimsical comments … to entertain my massive following 😉

But the truth is, I don’t really have much to say that I think other people would want to read. Let’s face it: there’s a lot of crap out there to read on any given day… With email, and Facebook, and Twitter, and texts, and news, and dare I say actual work-related, school-related, or even book-related reading to do… we must all pace ourselves. If I’m going to throw one more thing onto your reading list, I feel like it should be worth your precious time and attention.

Yet, here I am trying to come up with something — so the Internet engine won’t mark my site with demerits for being dormant.

Therefore, I figured I’d start posting some stream-of-consciousness-like thoughts from my recent training runs (since that’s where I usually think of the little kernels of stuff to write about anyway). It’s like you’re getting the clay before it’s formed or the wine before it has fermented. Grey, lumpy matter and some grape juice; that’s what this is, people. Don’t say I didn’t warn you 🙂

“Dawn is coming. Open your eyes.”
–Jose Gonzalez

For me, the kernel of thought usually starts with a little music. So, I shall also share my running playlists just for the fun of it. Maybe someone out there will find that interesting. (Others will roll their eyes, but that’s okay. I can handle it.)

“I just saw the sun rise over the hill. Never used to give me much if a thrill. But hey, man, now I’m really living!”
–Eels

On one of my most recent training runs, I was listening to the playlist I’ll post below. It was also on this run that I twisted my ankle, scraped up my knee (see photo), and smacked my new iPhone flat against the paved trail when I fell. But luckily, my awesome phone case protected it, and it seems perfectly fine.

I’m happy to say that my ankle was fine enough for me to keep running, and I am trying to be nice to it now – so it will heal completely.

Also during this run, I became preoccupied with stars, due to several songs included in this playlist… We recently went to see one of my favorite bands – Bell X1 – so they featured prominently in the list.

I have an extremely emotional and religious attachment to the Bell X1 song Rocky Took a Lover. It’s about a homeless person (Rocky) and his lover, and how Rocky is fascinated by stars. Which, if you have no roof over your head, is a nice thing to feel that you *do* have… God knows, those of us who are not homeless don’t look at the stars nearly enough. Rocky and his lover also seem to have a difference of opinion about Jesus (or at least that’s how I hear it). And the lyric, “He said, I’ll shine for you,” pretty much always makes me tear up. Sometimes, I think about it religiously, and sometimes I think about my husband and how we both want to “shine” for each other… Like stars…

“He said they’re like headlights in the rear view mirror – they’re closer than they seem. And from this gutter, we’re still staring at the stars.
–Bell X1

Another thing I was thinking about during my run was that the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, are coming up. I think it was when we went there to see our friend James do that race many years ago, that we watched the stars at night, and I got to see shooting stars and satellites crossing the night sky for the first time. Last year, before Kona, one of my favorite pro triathletes, Linsey Corbin, posted a series of videos about her preparation for Kona. That’s where I heard the song Souls to the Coast by Joyshop. With the ukelele as the main accompaniment, it is such a perfect backdrop for a video showing a bike ride to the Hawaii coast.

“You’re in the gutter, but your dreams will turn to gold.”
–Joyshop

Now, I will be preparing for *my* version of Kona: Lake Placid … one of the most epic Ironman races in the U.S. … So, now, I am eagerly putting together my “theme songs” for training. And so far, one of them might end up being the rather lame but infectious song Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay. I was originally disappointed with a song that starts with the chorus and simply repeats it in various forms. But it has grown on me, and there was this obsession with stars during this particular run. So, we’ll see. It’s definitely not the Coldplay I used to love. But it has a good beat and you can dance to it 🙂

“‘Cause You’re a sky, ’cause You’re a sky full of stars, I wanna die in Your arms.” …”Cause You get lighter the more it gets dark, I’m gonna give You my heart.”
–Coldplay

So, now that you know some of my “running thoughts”, here is the playlist that inspired them:

Do It Now – Ingrid Michaelson
The Moth – Aimee Mann
Breathe – Alexi Murdoch
Sing Loud – Alpha Rev
Velcro – Bell X1
Holocene – Bon Iver
Middle Distance Runner – Sea Wolf
Hey Man (Now You’re Really Living) – Eels
Stay Alive – Jose Gonzalez
Careful What You Wish For – Bell X1
Souls to the Coast – Joyshop
Girls Chase Boys – Ingrid Michaelson
Rocky Took a Lover – Bell X1
Brill Bruisers – The New Pornographers
A Sky Full of Stars – Coldplay
Simple Machine – Guster

Feel free to leave a comment with your playlists or the random thoughts from your recent swim, bike, run, or other meditative activity…

Getting the 4-1-1

Posted by ookgirl on October 1, 2014

Posted in: Cycling, Ironman, Living Kidney Donation, team in training, triathlon. Tagged: ironman, living kidney donation, Team in Training. Leave a comment

“Lake Placid is going to be totally different from Arizona,” our friend James warned me, adding, “I just want to give you the 911 on that.” I laughed and said it was scary for him to be ‘giving me the 911‘ instead of ‘the 411‘. Indeed, I already knew that Ironman Lake Placid is a lot harder than Ironman Arizona. The bike and run portions are both hilly, and the weather can be rainy and even steamy; but the scenery and overall race experience promise to be spectacular. So, since I already have ‘the 411’ on it, my goal will be to make sure my husband and I won’t need ‘the 911’! We are both signed up to do Ironman Lake Placid in 2015.

That means we’re in for some more intense training and, hopefully, an even healthier lifestyle in the year to come. We’ve certainly taken things a lot easier in the year since we did Ironman Arizona together in 2013. And we could both stand to get even more firmly back on the healthy eating bandwagon. It’s going to be another wild ride!

In the meantime, I am wrapping up my first season coaching for Team in Training, which is a program that helps people train for endurance events while they raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The people I am coaching are amazing! They are driven; they set goals; they care about other people; they care about each other; and they know how to go the distance. They remind me every week that while we preoccupy ourselves with the challenge to go another mile; other people are battling for their lives. So, to just do an event is not enough. Let’s also raise awareness, raise funds, raise up these patients and their families. Let’s raise the bar. We can’t cure the diseases, but we can do something. And so we do.

My father is a cancer survivor. He didn’t have a blood cancer; he had colon cancer. But I still feel like helping LLS is helping people like him, because blood cancer research has led to treatments that can be used against other forms of cancer. I was able to help my stepfather by giving him a kidney. But I couldn’t give my dad a colon. That would have been so cool if I could have! Still, I think about him and how he has gone on to live fully despite what cancer took from him. He is an inspiration to me!

I’m keenly aware that things don’t go so well for all cancer patients. One of the Lymphoma patients that we consider an honored teammate with Team in Training just started a new chemo regimen in her five-year battle against cancer. It will mean the fifth time she will lose her hair. And yet, she faces it with grace. The other day, she posted a picture of herself while she was getting a treatment, and her beautiful smile told you that her spirit is still strong even if her body is tired. She is also an inspiration to me!

How does Lake Placid compare to losing your hair and parts of your body to cancer? I think that’s all the 411 I need to keep me going!

Escape from Alcatraz 2014 Race Report

Posted by ookgirl on June 8, 2014

Posted in: Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon, Living Kidney Donation, triathlon. Tagged: #badass, #EscapeAlcatrazTri, triathlon. Leave a comment

Alcatraz Finisher’s Medals

The first thing I’d like to say about this race is that it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. That statement comes with a lot of caveats, however. First of all, I always think things will be worse than they end up being. Secondly, I may have both over-prepared and set very low goals for myself; so, your experience (if you are lucky enough to do this race) may be quite different — depending on your expectations of the race and of yourself. This race report will not give you any particularly great tips on how to be fast on this course. But it could help you plan for a successful escape, nevertheless :-). In short, I loved the race & highly recommend trying to do it!

(I’ve posted several pictures here that I purchased through MarathonFoto. They provided “race highlight” pictures; so that was how I got the shots from the swim and so forth. The other pictures were either taken by me or my support crew…)

Trip Logistics

You definitely want to get to San Francisco at least two days before the race. I had initially made the mistake of planning to arrive the day before the race, but I changed our arrival to two days before later on, and I’m so glad I did. Traveling really wears you out, and it’s good to have at least one day to recover from the stress and energy of getting there. If you can swing it, arrive three days before – so you have more time to ride the course and get a swim in. But that can be done even if you only arrive two days before as well. We had a whole vacation planned for the week after the trip. So, we could only afford to take so many days beforehand. But getting there 2-3 days before also helps you acclimate to SF’s interesting weather. It was foggy/misty much of the first half of each day with the sun coming out in the afternoon. I was happy to have a fleece jacket to throw on whenever it chilled down.

Alcatraz

We stayed at the Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, and it was fine. It was a little further away from the race site than the race hotel (Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf), but only by a couple of blocks. You will have a nice little walk/bike ride to the transition area race morning no matter where you stay (from what I could tell). So another couple of blocks didn’t make a big difference. I was glad I had a headlamp for the ride to transition at 3:30 am on race morning! (You do not rack your bike the day before. You take it down with you the morning of.) Also, the Sheraton was one of the hotels that gave a special rate to Alcatraz participants, and it saved us $100/night, plus they had a nice $1/day parking package as well. Parking is expensive in SF, so be sure to account for that. Pretty much any hotel in the Fisherman’s Wharf area is good for the race and for sightseeing. We planned to do all our sightseeing after the race (to save my legs from walking too much beforehand).

I shipped my bike using TriBike Transport, and that worked out well. They shipped to Sports Basement, which is located within walking distance of the race area. You can also rent a bike at Sports Basement if you want to save money. And I think you can rent a wetsuit there as well. If you go that route, I suspect you should put your order in early to get what you want. I’m weird about my bike & wanted to feeling confident riding something I was used to. Either way – if you rent or do TriBike, it’s nice that you can just drop off the bike right after the race. I also shipped a gear bag, allowing me to get rid of my race stuff and not carry it around for the rest of our trip.

In the couple of days I had before the race, I picked up my bike, took it for a spin, and did a short swim at the Aquatic Park. I had done the Alcatraz RealVideo ride on the Computrainer and decided against riding the course, since I sort of knew it already. But I would still recommend riding it beforehand if you have the chance. If I had ridden the course, I might have done it a little more aggressively in the actual race.

Another special thing I got to do on the Saturday before the race is meet Patrick — a reader of this blog, who is also a kidney donor. It was so cool to meet him in person and talk to him and his friend David. They had ridden their bikes across the Golden Gate Bridge to meet with us near the expo. Patrick is an avid cyclist, and I envy him for being able to bike-commute to work every day across the GG Bridge! He has also done “Levi’s Ride”, which is organized by and named for pro cyclist Levi Leipheimer. I hope we can stay in touch with Patrick over the years. He’s definitely a kindred spirit! Who knows, maybe we will go back to the Bay Area again – so my husband, Craig, can do this race! His friend David had invited some other triathletes from Ireland to meet up as well, and David gave us all tips about the swim, which he has done several times.

Packet Pickup

Packet pickup started at 10 am, but we did not get there until 11 am. The line was seriously long by that point. So, if you hate waiting in line, you might want to get there extra early. Luckily, a friend who had moved to SF was also there and hung out with us in line; so catching up with him during that time made it go by faster. Another good thing – for your support crew – is that the expo is going on all around packet pickup. So, they can mill around and get a snack while waiting for you. In 2014, they had us bring our stuff for the post-swim transition bag. In it, we could put running shoes to run from the swim exit to the main Transition area, plus a small towel and a small bottle of water. If they do that again in future years, be sure not to forget this stuff when you come to packet pickup (along with your USAT card if you have one). There is a Safeway grocery store not too far away also — in case you need to pick up a bottle of water. It is good for rinsing some of that salt water out of your mouth after the swim.

At the Escape expo

Not long after the packet pickup, they had one of the “mandatory” athlete meetings in the same area. I’m glad I was there for it, but if you watch the videos on the website, you get most of the same info. One good tidbit was the current water temperature. For 2014, we lucked out & it was 58 degrees F. That made me very happy, as I had thought it would be as low as 52. My practice swim also confirmed that the water would not be as shocking as I had feared.

Food

Two nights before the race, we ate at Tommaso’s Italian restaurant on Kearny St (in the Financial District). My sister had researched it and read that it had good reviews. It was really good & I highly recommend it. The night before the race, we ate at Boudin Sourdough Bakery & Cafe in the Fisherman’s Wharf area. They have a lot of seafood dishes, but I went with the chicken club, which was good. My husband and I also split one of the salads. There is plenty of bread for carb-loading, if you like to do that. I liked that it was close to the hotel & we could get back to the room early – so I could apply all my race number stickers and pack my transition bag. (We ate at another one of the Boudin locations the day after the race and had the clam chowder in the bread bowl. Very yummy!)

T-Zero

I was able to go to bed really early the night before the race, because my body was still on East Coast time. Of course, that also meant that I woke up about an hour too early, but that was okay by me. I had my breakfast (a banana and PB&J), got myself together, and headed out on my bike with my transition bag. It was chilly, and my fleece top over my Tri suit just barely kept me warm. I could have been better off with some tights or something over my legs as well. I got to transition really early and had to wait for it to open up. After I hit the port-o-potty & set up my transition area, I was pretty cold. Luckily, they already had the shuttle buses ready and waiting to take us to the pier for the ride to Alcatraz. My husband was there by then, so I kissed him goodbye and jumped on one of the buses. (There were a couple of things that I did not do in transition that I normally would do… For one thing, they did body marking at packet pickup the day before. So, I didn’t have to worry about that race morning. Also, I elected not to pump up my tires that morning. There was a long line to pump tires, and since I had pumped them up the day before at Sports Basement, I figured they were okay, given that the mist might still be on the roads when we got to the bike portion of the race. It was nice that Sports Basement had pumps out and available to use just inside the store, so no need to bring your own.)

The shuttle bus was nice, comfortable, and warm. I enjoyed talking to the other triathletes while we waited to get to the ferry. It was interesting to talk to people who had done the race multiple times and also to note how many people were there from other countries. Interestingly, there seemed to be a lot from the UK and Australia. When we arrived at the pier, there was a little wait before we could get on the ferry. But they had port-o-potties there and water – so you could stay hydrated. This was also where we turned in our before/after-race clothes bag. You had a choice: you could turn in your bag outside the ferry and expect to get it back right after the race; or you could keep it with you until the last minute and leave it on the ferry, but you might have to wait for it a little while after the race. I chose to turn mine in right away, but that meant I had to put my wetsuit on early to stay warm.

San Francisco Belle (ferry to the Swim Start)

The Swim (42:40)

As the island got closer, you could feel the tension in the air. You have plenty of time on the boat ride out – to talk to other triathletes and think about what’s coming up. They also have water for you to drink, and of course bathrooms on the boat. Some people stood outside as we neared Alcatraz, but I stayed inside. I wanted to stay warm as long as I could. They did a loop around the island before stopping at the “start”. It was neat to see it all up close after looking at it from shore for two days. They played the National Anthem, and that made me a little emotional. Finally, after months of stressing about this swim, it was about to happen!

Swim Start!

They herded us to the open doors on the ferry, and volunteers reminded us to have our goggles on, then told us to JUMP! I did as they said, and I was sure to hold my goggles against my face as I jumped, then quickly moved away from the boat as soon as I could. The water did not take my breath away as I had feared. I took a moment to look back at the island before really getting into my swim stroke. At first, I didn’t think it was very choppy, and I was relieved. I started swimming toward the apartment towers like they tell you. It was at this point that it started to feel more like a washing machine, and the swim seemed even more crowded than in the Ironman race I had done.

Swim

You have to swim “across the river” as they say – meaning the river of current that would slowly push you to the Golden Gate Bridge to your right if you didn’t cross the “river” soon enough. You sight on the twin apartment towers first and then the trees and the three piers of Fort Mason. It seems like you are trying to swim toward them forever before you can focus on your next sighting spots – the yacht clubs and the Palace of Fine Arts. This was the point at which the choppiness started to get to me, and I knew I was swallowing a lot of that salty, brackish water. But I kept going, and slowly but surely, I got closer to the red-roofed St. Francis Yacht Club, whose beach we were to land on. I was so pleased when I could look up and see people scrambling out of the water. I was also relieved that I didn’t over-shoot it. I had thought it might take me an hour to do the swim, but when I looked at my watch on the beach, it had only taken 42 minutes!

Swim

You then run down the beach (where I happily waved to my sister & her husband on the sidelines) and you run over to a mini-transition area, where they have laid out everyone’s post-swim bags in rows. You can take off your wetsuit and stuff it in the bag with your goggles and cap, then throw on your running shoes. I chose to leave my wetsuit on and run the half mile to the real transition area that way. It wasn’t too bad and warmed me up a little. I was glad I had shoes on (some people do it barefoot). I also had a different pair of shoes in transition for the real run, because the first pair get all wet & sandy.

T-One

I took my time in T-1. I was so happy to be done with the swim and wanted to make sure everything was good to go on the bike. I also made a pit stop at the port-o-potties. I put a bike jersey on over my tri top and wore arm warmers and gloves. I knew the bike might start out a little chilly. But I was glad I could still feel my hands and feet despite the chilly swim. Since it was not against the rules, I carried my phone with me (in my race belt) on the bike and the run so that my friends and family could track me using the RaceJoy app. I checked the app really quick to make sure it was working and then headed out on the bike. I could tell that all the water I swallowed was affecting my stomach a little. I took some Tums to try to calm my stomach.

The Bike (1:24)

Let me start out by saying that I could have done the bike much faster if I had wanted to. My Garmin recorded a time of 1:24 for the bike, and I was happy with that. But if I had really been racing, it could have been much faster. On one hand, I was worried about the up-hills. And on the other hand, I was worried about the downhills. So, I planned to take everything slowly and stay out of everyone’s way. Well, the up-hills were not bad at all. Maybe I just rode much tougher hills in training or something, and riding it on the Computrainer made it seem harder. But I was pleasantly surprised either way. (For Annapolis-area folks: I still believe Chesterfield Rd to Hawkins is harder than anything on this course. Go do 18 miles of hill repeats there & you will be fine.)

On the bike

There is one 12% grade that comes at a turn around mile 12. You need to be prepared and get in your smallest gear on that turn, but otherwise, the hills are really do-able as long as you have trained for them.

The downhills were another story, though. You need to know how to descend in order to really race on those downhills. They are twisty-turny, and a couple of them have a sharp turn at the bottom. I saw a guy completely wipe out taking the downhill too fast after the second time you pass the Legion of Honor. My advice is to slow down where they tell you to do so. It’s not worth it to go too fast down those hills. But that’s coming from me – a person who doesn’t know how to descend well. I took it ridiculously slow, but that was okay with me.

Last hill of the bike

Other than the hills, there is a lot of great scenery on the ride! I wish I could have gone back and done it again just to enjoy it. The Presidio and Golden Gate Park are beautiful, and the views of the GG Bridge and the coastline are breathtaking! You can take in some nutrition on the flat part out and then as you go through the park. But the rest of the time, you are either going up or going down.

T-Two

I saw my husband on the last hill of the bike, and I saw my sister and brother-in-law just before the transition area. They all knew just where to catch me thanks to RaceJoy. In T-2, I moved a little faster, feeling relieved that the swim and bike were both done. I took off the bike jersey but forgot to take off my arm warmers. So, out on the run, I just scrunched them down around my wrists. The sun was coming out, and the GG Bridge was shining in the distance. It was a beautiful day. I had no goals for the run – other than to enjoy it.

The Run (1:23)

The views of the bridge and the beach were again spectacular on the run. You have a couple sets of stairs in addition to the infamous sand ladder, and it was on the first set of stairs that I felt how tired I was. I was glad that you pretty much had to walk them – since people bunched up on them a little. As we continued the run, which has some good inclines on it, I relaxed and started talking to other people. We were all so happy and just taking it all in. The portion of the run that is on the beach drains your legs a bit, but it’s so fabulous to look around and see the view that you don’t really think about it.

Beach portion of the run

The sand ladder is definitely a place to walk, and it’s good to use the cables to pull yourself up. Some of the wooden steps are loose, so you have to be a little careful.

Sand Ladder

My husband found me on the sand ladder and seeing him took my mind off things. (For spectators: it’s possible to catch racers twice on the bike and twice on the run if you hang out in the general area of the sand ladder.)

Me on the Sand Ladder

After that point of the run, you still go up a little bit, but you really feel like it’s all downhill from there. I started to feel overjoyed even though I still had 2-3 miles to go. Running in the flat section back to the finish, the photographers can get a good shot of you with the GG Bridge in the background. So be sure to smile 🙂

Heading to the finish of the run

The finish line is just as great as they say — with a huge crowd and the grand stands. They give you a medal and take your timing chip, and then you have the post-race food and festival area. I can never eat right after a race, but it looked good. I opted to just walk around a bit and take in the accomplishment. I realized that the race itself was not so hard. It was the idea of it that had become monumental to me. And that’s what made me feel so glad to have survived… and escaped!

Near the finish line

My total time for the race was 3:53, and I was happy with that. I had estimated a time of 4 hours. For the distance, that’s a slow time – but with the difficulty of this race, I felt pretty good about it. I know that people who go back and do it multiple times probably want to improve on their finish time in each attempt. But since I only wanted to finish, I was happy. I heard that even though it’s a lottery system, people who have done the race before get some sort of advantage in the selection. I think my husband will try to get into the race again, and if he does – I will be happy to be his supporter on the sidelines.

Afterward

Sightseeing Afterward

After the race, we hung out in San Francisco another day and went on the official Alcatraz tour. I really recommend it. It was neat to see the iconic place first-hand – after escaping from there! And you learn all about the prisoners who really did try to escape. We also stopped and had clam chowder from a sourdough bowl in the Fisherman’s Wharf area.

Next, we drove our rental car to Yosemite National Park and did a lot of hiking. We hiked up to Cloud’s Rest one day (14 miles) and got a permit to hike up Half Dome the next day (16 miles). These are both pretty strenuous hikes, but very rewarding with great views and waterfalls (on the Half Dome hike). If you don’t want to do the whole Half Dome hike, you can see the falls by just doing the Mist Trail hike. Plus, there is so much more to see in Yosemite.

We stayed outside the park – at a bed and breakfast called Red Tail Ranch. Very cozy and fun. From there, we drove to Monterey, CA and spent two days there. Lots to see and do and a nice running/biking trail along the coast. We recommend eating at the Old Fisherman’s Grotto on the wharf and also –for breakfast- at Rosine’s on Alvarado. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Cannery Row, and it was perfect.

From there, we drove through Gilroy (garlic capital of the world) and Half Moon Bay (very cute town) on our way back to San Francisco to fly out.

We spent our last night in San Bruno –right by the airport. If you find yourself waiting for a flight out of SFO and want a bite to eat, we highly recommend this little hole in the wall Mexican place called Taqueria San Bruno. (This was another place my sister found.) It was so good!

Thanks to everyone who gave me encouragement leading up to this race. I had to overcome some fear, but it was really worth it! I especially thank my husband, without whom I never would have even considered doing something like this!

Until the next adventure!

-Ookgirl

Shouts to the Out!

Posted by ookgirl on May 27, 2014

Posted in: Cycling, Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon, Living Kidney Donation, Maryland, motivation, triathlon. Tagged: Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon, living kidney donation, San Francisco, triathlon. 2 Comments

Well, the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon is almost here, and I’m filled with fear and gratitude. I’d like to focus on the gratitude part, because, let’s face it, the fear isn’t doing me any good. So, I thought I’d write this post and send some shout-outs to all the people who have helped me get through the training for this race… I don’t necessarily feel ready for it, but I do feel encouraged by so many people, and that makes me want to go out there and do this lottery slot some justice!

So, the first shout out, as usual, is to my husband — for getting me out to ride some tough hills and hill repeats, and helping me get my bike geared up and in shape for this ride. He also did open water swims with me and pushed me to do a hard 50-mile bike/8-mile run brick workout when I would have stopped way sooner on my own. He just completed the Mountains of Misery double metric century ride and I am super proud of him. He is so strong!

Also to our friend Arthur — who got me out for some more hill repeats and took Craig and me on some of the steepest rides we did all spring. If you want to ride with someone who knows some good routes (inside and out!), Arthur is your man. Because of him, I can proudly say that I did well over 26,000 feet of climbing in our various rides, and thanks to him – I knew what the grade was on many of the climbs. He is the master of mountain riding!

To my sister Michelle — who surprised me by announcing that she and her husband are coming out to San Francisco to see the race! It’s so very nice of them, and I know it’s not an inexpensive trip! She also listens to me kvetch about everything and gives me tons of support through phone calls, texts, and emails. I have two wonderful sisters, and I feel very blessed. (My other sister Renee also came to see me do my first half Ironman in Augusta, and it was so great to have her and other family members there!)

To Emily — one of the few people I know who has done this race — thanks for giving me lots of great advice, getting me to keep trying Bikram yoga, and generally being the type of triathlete I always want to be… enthusiastic, charged up, fearless… she just owns it.

To Rhonda — another friend in our triathlon club who is so nice to just check in on me every once in a while to see how my training is going. She is a rocket on the bike and a damn good runner also. I’m just glad she’s not doing this race with me, because I wouldn’t be able to keep up with her! 🙂

To Alison — a super nice elite triathlete who helped me master the flip turn in the pool and also gave me some great tips on my stroke. I really think I’ve gotten a wee bit faster by following her advice. (I don’t know how much that will help in the San Francisco Bay, but it can’t hurt!) I think she should be a coach!

To Crystal — my best friend, who came to Arizona for the Ironman and also will be in San Francisco around the time of the race. It looks like her travels won’t quite put her there in time to see it. But we hope to see her the next day. She always has my back and always reminds me how special life is. She has seen me at my worst and still loves me. You’re the best, Crystal!

To Terese — a friend of ours from the gym who has become one of our favorite people. She also came to Arizona and saw us do the Ironman. She has a great sense of humor and a very caring heart. And God bless her for listening to me babble on about my insecurities at the pool when we both should have been getting more laps in. I don’t have a picture of her, but here’s a picture of her arm 🙂

To Patrick — a fellow kidney donor who started reading my blog before he donated to his brother. He lives in the Bay area, so we hope to meet him while we are there. It’s so nice to know that someone else has gotten something out of this blog!

And of course, to my parents: my Mom and Stepdad, Gary, and my Dad and his sweetheart, Nancy. They have been so nice to support me and always ask how my training is going. I know they also probably think I’m a little bit crazy 😉

On June 1, when I am standing on the ferry-boat trying to convince myself to jump in the freezing cold waters of the San Francisco Bay, I plan to think of all these people and many others and appreciate every word of encouragement and moment of time they have given toward supporting this crazy hobby of mine. It means so much!

As an organ donor, you become familiar with the slogan “donate life”, but you also know that life is to be lived! Let’s do this!

Ineffable

Posted by ookgirl on April 18, 2014

Posted in: Cycling, Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon, motivation, triathlon. Tagged: #badass, #EscapeAlcatrazTri, triathlon. 1 Comment

Hello, Blog-o-sphere. It’s been a long time.

What have I been doing with myself, you say? Well, as you probably noticed, I took a hiatus after I attempted to start a second “music blog” – which died a silent death. It just wasn’t any good. And I must have been prescient when I killed it off, too, because just today, I read this article.

And that’s how I decided that (a) My new favorite word is ineffable, and (b) It is best to stick to writing about what I know: my own life…

Personally, I find music to be ever more interesting than my own life. But it also seems like magic … something I don’t fully understand and something that can render me speechless, confident, happy, sad, and vulnerable all at the same time. Um, let’s just say it’s ineffable.

Anyway, what I’ve been doing is racing against the clock to get ready for a race… the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. I have only five weeks to go!!! The past few weeks have included some pretty solid training. Not fabulous, but decent. And, since I’ve finally gotten into a groove, I’ve tried to throw in some Alcatraz-specific training. In addition to normal training, we’ve done a really, really hilly ride – with 6100+ feet of climbing on something like 12-16% hills – out in the Catoctin area. (It was so bad that I had to get off my bike and walk up some of the hills…). And I’ve done a hill-repeat ride, where I repeated and fairly good 6% hill five times. And this weekend, we plan to do an 83-mile ride along Skyline Drive in northern Virginia. Craig didn’t even let me start complaining about how hard it is going to be before he said emphatically that he’s doing it (with or without me). [So, shut your trap, missy! We’re doing this!]

Finally, I’ve tried to increase my “hilly” runs, and I also plan to don the wetsuit and wade into the 52-degree Chesapeake Bay this weekend. (San Francisco Bay will reportedly be 52-54 degrees on June 1. So, I’m trying to shock my system in advance.)

The Escape from Alcatraz people have started sending out wake-up-call newsletters to make sure the people who are signed up to do the race realize what they’re in for. And I have to tell you, it’s pretty terrifying. Ok, not really. But seriously, it is. They assure you that the only sharks that might be in the area where the swim takes place are of the 4-foot variety. Bigger sharks don’t venture into that part of the bay. Also, the water is quite a shock when you jump in (You don’t say?), and you can get caught in currents and eddies. (Sounds like a water park.) They have the gall to suggest that you should float on your back to take it all in and make sure you aren’t in one of those eddies. Um, I’m just gonna swim. Hard! (Actually, I hope I have the presence of mind to float on my back and take it all in, but I really think I’m just going to want to keep moving in –hopefully– the right direction…)

I’ve also been doing the Real Video bike course from the race on my Computrainer. I love the 12% climb at mile 12. And I love the way the hills always come after you turn a corner, giving you no way to get any momentum beforehand. It’s so cute.

And then there’s the run… up hills, on sandy beaches, and up sandy “ladder” stairs. It all sounds positively lovely. (Why am I doing this again?) Seriously, though, I’m not going to care about the run, because when I get to the run, I’m just going to be so glad to still be alive!

The truth is that the main thing motivating me for this race is the ability to say – after I’m done – no matter how terrible my time is – that I AM A BADASS. I’m convinced that I will be allowed to call myself that, because serious, top-of-their-age-group triathletes that I know in our area have never done this race before – simply because the swim is too cold. So, while that will make me wonder if I’ve totally lost my mind, it will also motivate me. I mean, what else is there to shoot for after an Ironman besides achieving badass-ness? … I’m warning you now, people: you are not even going to be able to stand me after this. It will be ineffable.

Only One Kidney – Donating a kidney and life afterward

I Want to See Where the River Goes

Three Bananas

Let’s Disco!

I Have a Hamstring (and a Kidney)

Secret Thoughts of a Triathlete

Music Included

Getting the 4-1-1

Escape from Alcatraz 2014 Race Report

Shouts to the Out!

Ineffable

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