Taper Time...

Taper has started for Ironman Wisconsin, and I think the first indication it was absolutely time get recharged physically and mentally was the appearance of the "short fuse" and the feeling of everyone joined "Team-Pick-on-Lori"!

Overall, the week went well.  Heading into the weekend, I was so excited it didn't involve a hotel.  Since Racine 70.3 the weekend of July 16-17, every weekend has involved a trip out of town - either up to Madison to train and one weekend was a fun time at the NJ shore.  Being the homebody I am, 6 weekends away and coordinating Bixby duties was probably more tiring than the training.  Taking off from my front door for Saturday's last long brick seemed like an simple 4.5 hour training day without packing up the car and bike!  Granted, I probably should have head out to Barrington to ride the hills instead of riding on the Northshore, but tacking on another hour out, and another back...mentally I couldn't do it.  So I made the best of the roads I have accessible to me and called it a day.  And the couch called my name.  As much as I wanted to nap, I got sucked into not just one, but TWO Ryan Reynolds movies that I have seen more times than I like to admit...waste of time, but it was time on the couch with the pup so I can't complain!

All through the weekend, I couldn't stop watching the news and look for updates on Hurricane Irene.  I was bit worried about my family with the path of the Hurricane blowing up through NJ.  After a night of compulsively watching The Weather Channel, I was so relieved to hear they were ok.  The Sunday run didn't go perfect, but I had a good swim in before the "short fuse" popped!

A little hungry, anxious, tired .... and I really should learn by now to go to sleep!  But like always, some lessons take a little longer for me to learn.  As the days are counting down, it's even more important that I break it down to Rule #62:  "Don't take yourself so damn seriously!"

As I went down my list of "Team-Pick-on-Lori" with one of my biggest fans yesterday, it was kindly and gently pointed out that really, no one was on that team.  (I have a VERY strong imagination! :-) )  So as the countdown has REALLY begun, it's time to relax, re-charge, finish up the workouts, trust the process, stay in the moment, give myself and people around me a little slack, and get plugged into the positive people that truly fill my life up! 

I REALLY AM EXCITED!

Do Overs...

Some days I miss those days on the playground in grade school playing kickball and a bad "pitch" came in and it was ok to say "Do over!".  Everybody reset...and then came the next "pitch"...Or in golf, you hit a bad tee shot and it's Mulligan time!

This past week was a vacation from work.  And on many fronts it was a great week - got to spend a couple of days at the Jersey shore with the family, beating my sister in Zim-Zam on the beach, and boogie boarding with the lil' guys and Susie Q.  But training wise, the weather was....extremely frustrating.  The Sunday long run ended with downpour, hail, and a fried iPhone.  The other runs during the week just seemed to wake up the rain gods, but luckily we were able to enjoy some nice weather together inbetween the storms.

The end of the week was back in Chicago and got a good bike ride and run in.  I had a problem getting into the lake in Evanston with some algea stuff going on...and it seems like all of the local pools I can get into are doing some kind of maintenance.  Getting in the remaining swims the next couple of weeks is going to be some fun scheduling.

Friday came around way too quick and once again it was a trip up to Madison - the last training trip before race weekend.  I was signed up for the Madison Open Water Swim Saturday am which is a chance to swim the 2.4 mile IMWI course.  I got up at 5am and started the nutrition plan and was too damn anxious.  I have a bad habit of reading too many forums and have read one too many about the algea eating snakes in Lake Monona that were suppose to have died off, but the relatively warm winters the past couple of years allowed them to survive and get BIGGER.  Aside from the snakes, 2.4 miles is a long way...there's no black line at the bottom of the pool to follow to make it straight and short, there's no wall to push off and coast, and there's no wall to stop for a breather.  Anxiety was running high and I had "lost" my breakfast, so I just tried to keep moving forward and prepared my stuff for the post-swim bike ride and headed over to the swim.

Driving over, the sky was getting DARK.  I picked up my packet and the lightening started and it was clear there was going to be a delayed start.  I had over 2 hours of hanging around with me and my anxious thoughts looking out of the parking garage to the swim course.  I switched the iPod to some "settle-down-positive" music to get my mind set changed. 

Here's the course picture from the MOWS web site - the loop is 1.2 miles, so the IMWI course is 2 loops:

The storm FINALLY passed and prepping up with the wet suit bumped into some training buddies which settled the nerves a little and got a couple of last minute tips and popped some Endurolytes!  (Thank you Mark & Mark & Krista & Angela!)

And to describe the swim in short....I made it!  I know it doesn't exactly replicate the IMWI swim because there will be ~2500 more people starting the swim in the water, but I do have these take aways:

• I finished the distance with plenty of time to spare under the IMWI cut off time.
• i saw a snake, and I survived.
• Spelling people's names and counting keeps me moving forward.
• If the water temp is that hot, I need to do sleeveless, or get my head wet before putting on that stupid swim cap.
• I need to have more than a 1 song play list in my head "Tonight Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae may not have been the most positive songs to be going through my head! :-)

With the delayed swim start, it messed up "my" plan for the bike ride and the remainder of the day.  I refueled while driving out to Fireman's Park and headed out on the first 40 mile loop with an alternate nutrition plan.  Like the last time I rode the course, I had another bee sting and towards the end of the first loop was starving.  I did a refueling break at the end of the first loop, tried to get calories in...had a little "clip-in" fall (yep, embarrassing!) and headed out for loop two.  After 8 miles in, decided to call it a day and head back.  The schedule of the day was off track, nutrition was off, and I was riding solo.  Just too many factors were coming into play that I didn't feel safe riding out the second loop, so called it a day. 

I drove the 2:45 hours home and put the bike on the trainer.  Nothing like being up since 5, having a non-stop day, driving for almost 3 hours, and trying to put a bike on a trainer.  But I just wanted to try to finish the day out.  It wasn't as I planned, but as several of the training days of this "first Ironman" journey have been....I'm learning more and more that it is A LOT more than just swim, bike, and running.

So that wrapped up my "Bad-urday".  Sunday was a bit better and was able to get an 18 mile run in...mostly trailing Susie Q as she is training for her first marathon in Chicago in October!  Whoo hoo!

Between all of the moments - especially the past week that brought out the frustration, fear, anxiety, and self-doubt of getting to the starting line at Ironman...I am able to go to that moment 8 years ago that I heard that I could "DO ANYTHING."  Being able to feel the challenges and face them has been such an incredible gift that I am incredibly grateful to face one day at a time.  19 days to go where I will be on that startline and I absolutely WILL get to that finish line...no matter what challenges that day presents.  I can't wait!

Loopty Loop! Loopty Loop! Loopty Loop!

Oh yeah, kids.  I FINALLY rode the "loops" of the IMWI course.  And with the theme of "one is never" enough, the past three weekends have been spent driving the 3 hours up to Madison, staying over night, biking 80 - 109 miles (and a couple of post bike runs), and then driving the 3 hours home.  The most painful part might have been my singing in the car to stay entertained.  :-)

Now I no longer have to hear from the IMWI finishers "What do you mean you haven't ridden the course YET?!?!"  Since I was suppose to ride the course in May and bailed at the last minute, I had a couple of weeks of those comments getting under my skin and the fear factor was starting to build more than I care to admit.  I kept thinking that the hills of the course were possibly worse than the Horribly Hilly course that I rode back in June - and if that was the case, I was going to have to post-pone my Ironman journey for another year.  Yep, extreme thinking at it's negative best! 

The IMWI bike course is 112 miles which consists of a 16 mile stretch to a 40 mile loop ( which is done 2 times) then the 16 mile stretch back.  Even though I had not ridden the course, I had read plenty of blogs, listened to a copy podcasts, and watched a cool video on Simplystu.com that covers the whole 112 miles in 30 minutes.  I some what knew what I was "riding" into, but after spending time on the course the past three weekends, I fully understand that the experience of the ride is immeasurable.  I have to drive an hour from my house to get off the pancake flat northshore Chicago roads and be able to switch gears a bit.  On the IMWI course, the gear changing gets a workout!  Uphill / downhill / false flat...constant descisions and finding the right gear without mashing the pedals is a bit of a challenge.

As tiring as the trips were the past couple of weeks, especially following the Racine 70.3 weekend, each weekend was worth the trip and a couple of lessons learned.  Mostly, I just need to keep my head in the game and enjoy the ride.  No doubt, it's a challenging course, but it's also pretty fun.  The last time riding the loop on Saturday I had some more positive thoughts going through my head than I had the previous weeks and I'm glad I had the chance to get familiar with the course and a couple of more chances at trying to nail down the nutrition piece.  Riding flat over the same distance just would not have given me the same frame of mind.

Heading into this Ironman training, I've had the mindset that the training will take care of the swim.  I've experienced a marathon twice to know what I'm getting into.  But my big concern was the bike - which is the biggest part of the day.  Rolling into the last couple of weeks before taper, I have a little more confidence in that area.  I'm going to finish out the next couple of weeks training "in a box" and I'm going to race "in a box" too. I'm not going to focus on what other people are doing, have done, or what their time is going to be.  I'm shooting to get to the start line and cross over the finish line.  Next year will be about setting time goals and hitting them.  This year it's about becoming an Ironman and it really doesn't matter what the heck that clock says - I will cross that finish line on September 11th and I will become an Ironman!

I had to include this photo to 1) thank SusieQ for taking care of Bixby during my playtime in the cheese state and 2) my 14 year old "pup" seems to be in her own Ironpup training!  After my long workouts she likes to try to keep extending her long walks!  Granted, the extra blocks sometimes makes me want to pack a snack...but she's such a trooper!