YEAH! The holidays are DONE and I'm just about recovered from a bad holiday flu/head cold. I am absolutely ready to get 2012 training fully underway. Another lethargic hour on the couch with Lifetime movies or marathon day of "Beyond Scared Straight" or "Storage Wars", and I might just have to write some other new goals for the year!
Before getting the "joyous" flu, November and December were packed with a couple of fun, busy weeks. Susie Q and I started off the month of November having a great P.R. run at the Hot Chocolate 15k and then spent Thanksgiving week swimming, running, golfing, hiking, and lounging in Palm Springs. Last year we went Christmas time when the desert had their yearly rainfall in one week, but this year the weather was amazing and the trip was incredibly relaxing.
We took a quick trip back to NJ in December for an early Christmas with my family. Always good to spend some quality time with the family, nephews, and extended family! Anthony schools me on everything there possibly is to know about trains, and William knows everything about Lego mini-figs. It's pretty entertaining to see such passion and how much information can be in such young minds!
The past 3 weeks...I'm just writing them off! BUT today I feel like I'm almost back t o feeling like myself.
Wrapping up 2011, I felt good about the year, that was until I actually found what I wrote as my goals:
Momentarily, I switched to thinking "BOO! This year was a BUST!" Not sure what juice I'm drinking, or maybe it's my attempt for more positive thinking / actions in 2012, but I quickly switched to being proud that I raced to the best of my ability on each of those race days. When it comes down to it, the most important things in my life did not change and are not tied to a stop watch. I won't judge success or failure of a year based on those times, but of course I'll continue to keep setting them! If you shoot for the stars, you might just land on the roof!
For 2012...the schedule is looking the same as 2011. Chalk it up to good timing...or maybe I'm a just a creature of habit. Highlighting some of my 2012 goals:
TRIATHLON
Since I have another year of training experience under my "tri shorts"...I'm keeping my goals on par with last year:
IMWI < 14 hours
Kansas 70.3 < 5:57 hours
Racine 70.3 < 5:48 hours
Last year I had a huge ramp up to get the bike and swim volume up for Ironman distance. Any "run" focus was lost in the shuffle. No pun intended, but my Ironman run did become a shuffle and I am determined to not repeat that experience.
RUNNING
Along with my triathlon goals, I have target goals to P.R. a half marathon and 5k early in the season. I'm looking forward to seeing some good results from some hard work.
STRENGTH
Last year, I didn't do any strength training and felt the consequences. I've been back on the strength training wagon for about 3 months now and LOVE it. Although I'm not "seeing" the results I may have wanted to see at the turn of the year, statistically things are moving in the right direction. I'm feeling stronger and I know my weakness that I need to focus on. Best part...wrist has been essentially pain free!
I was able to do pull-ups and chin-ups before the wrist injury and went back to ZERO. My new target date is MARCH 1st to be able to log some back on the board!
My game plan with training has switched up quite a bit this year, and I'm excited about the changes!
Last year, I did a computrainer class and swam with the local master's swim team. This year, computrainer is not fitting in with the work / life /training balance and I'm going to be hitting the home trainer and trying to monitor the data from my power tap/hr/garmin to monitor the workouts as a trade-off. I may have to target my focus during the workouts a little more diligently than being in class, but the time savings in the commute and hauling/packing/setting up the bike is worth it. And if I don't like how it's going...then I'll sign up for class!
This year I'm heading back up to Lake Forest on Saturday mornings to swim and workout with the Tri-umph gang. A great group of triathletes and coaches and I'm looking forward to it.
Last, but definitely not least, I've chosen to work with Coach Kim Schwabenbauer this year. Last year I worked with Kim closely on the nutrition aspect leading up to Ironman and had an extremely successful day on that front! Coach Kim's enthusiasm and passion for the sport is contagious and I'm excited to be tapped into working with her as an athlete this year.
and me too! Since the Starbucks red cups are back, it means it's November! Not quite sure how October FLEW by, but the biggest highlight of the month: Susan ROCKED the Chicago marathon!
Since she beat my marathon best time by an hour, I guess I'll let her still hang with this Ironman. :-). Seriously, I couldn't be happier for her. I was slightly more anxious about her race plan...ok, maybe a more accurate picture was I was the only one anxious and Susan was relaxed and ready to go. I really wanted her to have a great day for all the training that she had put in preparing for the race. Her hard work paid off- she had an AWESOME day!
She finished, had fun, and her time was within seconds of her goal. Congrats SusieQ!
I survived October "off-season" which probably now should be renamed "Slow-tober-fest". For the past couple of weeks, I maintained running several times a week, jumped on the bike/trainer when I felt like it, and started to hit the pool again late in the month. My only "scheduled" workouts were strength and core three times a week. Not horribly bad, but starting my November workouts, it's funny how the Garmin numbers can take a tumble so quick. I'm pretty confident that taking the month to mentally re-charge with the light workouts is going to have a big pay-off since I am really excited about getting back to training.
Three days into my 2012 plan...and I am really excited for 2012!
Ok...my IMWI time is up! I finished putting together some of the video that Susan took during the very, very long day up in Madison. Please note...I just like the song...it wasn't selected for any self serving reason. I think the video captures how much fun I had and how it would not have been possible with all the love, support, guidance, and encouragement I received along the way. So for those who helped me...I raise my glass to YOU! Thank YOU.
Moving on....it's Chicago marathon weekend and it will be Susan's first marathon! Whoo hoo! I'm sooooo excited for the race - she's put in all of the miles and it will be a fun day to go support her reach the finish line!
Good luck SuzieQ and all the Chicago marathon peeps!!
The past couple of weekends have been relaxing, fun, and kind of uneventful ...which I guess is what happens when you put yourself in a mandatory recovery timeout to recuperate from the physical, mental, and emotional roller coaster of Ironman training. I was given the suggestion by an Ironman / BQ'er along with congratulations..."Take your recovery as seriously as you trained.". Between coach's feedback and those words, I decided they must know what they are doing! After two days of rest, the novelty of downtime wore off, but I saw the value of unplugging from the rut of "what workout do I NEED to do today?". Two weeks of total off time and a week of fun unstructured workouts and I feel like a million bucks! Definitely refreshed mentally and physically on track for targeting my BIG goals for 2012.
This past weekend wrapped up an awesome month of September and kicked off an exciting October! The three things that got me pumped: tattoos, 5ks, and the green light!
I got my tattoo...and still can visit the parents in NJ! This past Tuesday I went to get my Ironman ankle tattoo and a phrase I wanted integrated, the artist couldn't figure how to get the spacing correct, so I decided to hold off. I added just the mileage numbers to my existing swim / bike / run tattoo on my wrist. If I couldn't get what I really wanted, then I wasn't going to do it.
So I kept looking at my wrist and I just love my wrist tattoo. I don't really see a reason of getting a tattoo if I can't see it all of the time, so I put my original design on hold - and decided to get the Ironman word logo on my wrist. Its my accomplishment and my motivation...next year I'm gonna ROCK! (and the IM's after that too!)
I just love it. I'm sure there are plenty that think I'm crazy for the location, or an idiot because I didn't do the world championship Kona, win an IM, or complete Wisconsin with a time of xx:xx...but whatever. (Obviously I won't post my pride and joy on slowtwitch, ha ha....). In the end..."Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." Its my journey and I can choose to express it anyway I want.
5k Sunday!
Sunday, Susan and I ran the Bucktown 5k for fun and the best news of the day was that my sister RAN her FIRST 5k in NJ! I'm so unbelievably proud of her. I LOVE hearing the excitement of the first race...the unknown and then the huge feeling of accomplishment crossing the finish line. Whether it's a 5k, 1/2 marathon, marathon, Ironman...whatever distance...it's all about M-O-V-I-N-G, setting a goal, and going after it. To make it even more special, she was running the Susan G. Komen race and raising money to fight breast cancer for people like our mom and so many others that we love. Congrats to the TEAM BFF! You girls R-O-C-K!
This group and so many others this past year have motivated me to start thinking about using my passion to some how help others. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it in 2012...it may not help a million people, but I'm going to make an effort to give back.
It's October! It's Green light time for 2012! Game is back ON with training and I'm ready to go at it. October will be a little "Lori-structured" training... emphasis back on strength which I have not been able to do right over the past year and drilling down big time on the nutrition. I'll start back up with the JHC and be a lean-mean-racing-machine! (Ok, maybe I'll lay a little off the "mean"...) My strength workouts kick off this week with KRU in Andersonville and I'm really excited for the small gym atmosphere and I expect to net some big results over the next couple of months. The tattoo dictates a little more time off the swim routine, but I think the swim / bike / run / strength / nutrition wheels are in motion and synced up to start chasing some awesome goals for 2012!
Sunday, October 2nd was Livestrong Day and Bixby was kind enough to entertain me by wearing my Oakley Livestrong sunglasses for a couple minutes. Funny pup! If she could bark through the blog, she'd bark "Let's kick cancer's butt!". Live strong people.
And to wrap up....it's Chicago Marathon week!! To SusieQ and the Chicago marathon peeps - GOOD LUCK!!
Truth be told, I didn't actually "hear" Mike Reilly say it, but there are videos and pictures to show that I did in fact cross the finish line after swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running 26.2 miles.
I live life on the "one day at a time - it's a we program" and this journey to Ironman was only made possible by getting on that path of the good life. It's funny to think back to a December 2005 brunch conversation that got me started in triathlons.
Friend: "The three of us are doing the Naperville triathlon in June."
Me: "No. That involves swimming...which involves a bathing suit. I only know how to doggy paddle. I don't own a bike. And I don't particular care for running...especially if there isn't a ball and points involved."
Friend: "Lori - You've done a good job pulling your life together, but you're still a mess. You're out of shape and you use to be an athlete."
So I registered for the "stupid" triathlon.
I bought a bike.
I picked up running shoes.
I taught myself to swim by watching people at the pool.
I did the race.
I fell in love with the sport of triathlon.
(The only reason I don't mention the friends names is that I was the only one who drank the triathlon juice...)
My target year for Ironman was 2010, but the plan was delayed a with a summer off sick. Ironman Wisconsin was my 21st triathlon race since the that first race in the summer of 2006. For me, the multi-year approach of doing the various levels to build up to the Ironman distance was the right thing to do. I've been able to be coached by some amazing people and have met so many incredible friends along this journey.
Here's a recap of my first Ironman race day!
Transition Set-up / Bike Check: Nothing like pumping up tires before the sun comes up in very little light and them just not feeling "right". I had trained on my Zipp wheels since April outside and had not any flats, and here it was race morning and something wasn't right. I was using my lucky pump and didn't think that could be the problem, so I ran the bike down to the maintenance area and the guy put air in and said "If you just pumped these to 105 and they are now to to 40 PSI, you have a problem..." After a couple of minutes, the tires seemed to hold the air, so I racked the bike again, left transition and ran into Susan and said "Just let me have a moment - and had a 2 minute freak out about the tires." Luckily, Susan can handle my little "anxiety moments" really well and directed me relax, go back in, check the tires, and come back out. The tires seemed good....and at the end of the day...that "lucky" pump is getting donated! :-)
Pre-Swim We headed down the helix to the swim start area and I wanted a little space to get my wet suit on. Susan took a video and I think it's one of the funnier ones because I look like I saw a ghost. I asked her how she let me get in the water with 2500 triathletes looking like that! The nice think was that a familiar face from my gym popped up along with her friend and they were doing the race for the first time as well. The one woman out of the blue, said "I saw you at the Madison Open Water Swim a couple of weeks ago. WE can do this!" Little positive angels when you least expect it...
Swim - 2.4 miles - 1:33 Wow. My least favorite part about triathlon is the swim start which is typically in waves of like 80 women and a tiny air horn. Starting off with 2500 women AND men with a cannon blast @ 7am...way different! The "word" on the triathlon streets is to expect a 5-10 minute swim improvement from the Madison Open Water Swim with the additional swimmers. I figured my anxiety with swimming coupled with that many people definitely cancelled that edge out, plus ADDED on another 5-10 minutes. Having swam 1:46 at that swim, I figured if I could get out of the water within 2 hours (cut off is 2:20) I wasn't going to sweat it.
I started towards the back and in the middle and had quite a bit of room around me while treading water waiting. Kind of enough room that I wished that more people were closer so if there were any snakes around, they would scare the heck out of someone else! When the cannon went off I just thought face down, relax, it's your swim - get 'er done!
Here's a cool video from YouTube of the swim start race day morning:
I felt great and relaxed the entire swim. I had the expected get swum over and jockey for some space, but besides fixing my goggles quickly 4 times, it pretty much was head down and relaxed swimming for me. Just as I was coming up to exit the swim, I looked at my watch and saw 8:32 and had the first of MANY huge smiles on my face! My official swim time was 1:33, but I never expected to have a 1:3x as the swim time...and no panic attack or snake sightings were icing on the cake!
Transition 1
Got stripped by the wet suit strippers...haha...
Headed up the helix and realized my one contact was having some problems. Luckily, I was able to take a couple of seconds and take it out,and put it back in and it was all fixed up! But if I didn't "see" you on the helix, that's the reason why! Had some coke to get some quick calories while switching fully to bike attire, and then hit the road!
Bike - 7:25 The bike course is described as a lollipop - stick out to the 40 mile hilly loop (completed twice) and then the ride back.
Starting on the bike, heading out to the loop, I felt pretty good. My heart rate was running high - z4, but I didn't feel out of breathe or that I was pushing it so I pulled it back slightly and started focusing on the nutrition plan.
I hit the loop about the time I expected, and was excited to ride and see how different the course would be race day with people out watching compared to the lonely training rides. After riding several times this summer, it felt like home court.
First loop - I stayed focus and hit all of the nutrition targets I needed to and everything was feeling good.
Second loop - Still feeling pretty good, but time wise, there is a significant decrease from my first loop. Part of it was loosing a little focus, some of it was focusing too much on slowing down to make sure hydration was taken care of - a lot of the little things that I think with some strength training and experience, I'm going to see a huge decrease in this bike time next year. Overall, I felt strong on both loops and didn't have some nagging knee stuff that I had on a couple of my training rides. AND NO BEE STINGS!!! Definite bonus!
The ride back to Madison from the loop was strong, a little slow down with the route of the course, but the course is the course.
Nutrition wise, I felt good the whole ride and I knew I was doing well on hydration which is the key to getting to the finish line. (I'll spare the details....) I was ready to get off the bike ~ 108 miles...which is awesome that I didn't have to start doing the little positive cheers a lot earlier on the bike...I needed to save that self talk for the run! Transition 2 Switching from bike to run gear is a little bit of a blur. I just remember being a little stiff...I guess 7+ hours on a bike can do that to you!
Run - 6:18 Thoughts off the bike in the first 7 minutes:
Picture courtesy Jeff Thompson!
First thought: "I feel pretty good!"
Second thought: "Wow...I have to run a marathon." (Translated PG version.)
Third thought: "Where the heck are the clouds?" (Translated PG version.)
Fourth thought: "When is the sun going down?" (Translated PG version.)
Fifth thought: "What TIME is it?"
I had a watch on and could have easily figured out the time, but that's essentially the direction my thoughts were going. A couple of miles into the run - probably 3-4, I was jolted and scared by a tarantala on the street. Yep, I went into the race freaked about snakes, little did I think that at mile ~118 I would get scared by kids messing around with a puppet tarantala on the course. About a mile down the road I found a little humor in the fact that I was just scared by a puppet, and was a little relieved that I wasn't loosing my mind and seeing things.
Around mile 9-10 I felt like I had hit the marathon wall and had a little panic. In the two other marathons I've done I hit that point of "how am I going to finish this?" at around mile 17 and mile 22. Mile 9? I had a LONG night ahead. I couldn't do the basic math during the second loop of the run that is typically like breathing "26 - x miles left over y amount of time"....I kept on asking trees if I had enough time to finish. I was "running" along side a guy that was walking briskly and after a couple of minutes said to him "Guess this doesn't speak too much for my running speed if your walking just as fast!" But we both laughed and kept plugging along the course.
There was amazing support on the course. I kept seeing Susan pop up all over the course along with all the friendly familiar faces of coaches, friends, training buddies, swim friends...and all the amazing volunteers and spectators with their cheering it was just an amazing experience.
Running that last mile into downtown and around the capitol and the reality that the finish line was going to happen...I just can't even put into words how absolutely amazing it felt!
The best thing of having a 15:40 first Ironman race....I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT - and had plenty of minutes to enjoy!
Although I have done a lot of this Ironman training solo, this accomplishment was not possible without the help, guidance, support of so many people. I am truly fortunate in the past couple of years to have amazing coaching resources, nutrition counseling, and training buddies that have become friends. The coaches and athletes of Tri-Umph, Jen @ JHC Coaching, and Kim @ Fuel Your Passion...thank you for giving me the foundation and path to make my dream possible.
To my family, friends, and the anonymous ones...thank you for your love, support, and understanding on this journey! Your kind messages helped me get through many of the more difficult moments!
To Susan...like I said when I first saw you after finishing - "WE" did this. Thank you for making this season possible and for your unbelievable patience everytime I said "Do you REALLY think I'm ready? Can I REALLY do this?" You never had a doubt and always answered my questions with real examples of why I could and why I would do it. I would have stuck a sock in my mouth way back in May! I can't begin to say how much I appreciate how much time you sacrificed and took care of Bixby while I trained!
Will I do it again? ABSOLUTELY! It's on the calendar - Ironman Wisconsin #2 - September 9, 2012. I can't wait to train for a full year with a healthy wrist (finally!) and hit the strength workouts 100%, another year of experience on the bike, and improve my swim and run. I may even be MORE excited about 2012...
It's the day before my first Ironman and I'm nervous and so excited! After talking to a guy who's completed 7 Ironman races and he said he still gets nervous...I think I'm ok, so I'm going to roll with it!!
Today started off with a quick swim in Lake Monona and a short bike ride to shake out the legs and make sure the bike was switching gears ok. Athletes get the chance to register for the 2012 race before it opens to volunteers/public on
Monday...guess I drank enough of the Ironman training juice to bite that bullet! "Silly C" (my bike!) was racked and transition bags were dropped off...now it's rest up to race!
The past couple of weeks I've been prompted with the question several times "How can you do a race on the anniversary of 9/11?". For the people that ask me, I know they were directly affected by the tragic events of that day. They work in NYC - they lost loved ones. I, like most, remember that day so vividly. And the days following. September 11, 2001 and the people that were affected will never be forgotten. Although I am not "doing" the race for any charity, I am proud of all those that are racing and raising awareness and funds that support the people that have fought to defend freedom and provide safety. I have much respect for the courageous racers wearing the special bib numbers that represent their service to this county and their communities. It's cool that the Ironman organization recognizes them on the anniversary day. No doubt September 11 is being remembered and honored by this Ironman community.
Remembering back to the day of 9/11, my life looked incredibly different. Had I known the twists and turns life was going to take, I'm not quite sure I would have signed up for the ride, but today I am so blessed for the changes that have come my way.
Tomorrow I know I'm going to start swimming 2.4 miles at 7am.
Then I'm going to bike 112 miles.
Then I'm going to run 26.2 miles.
And I'll finish before midnight.
My mind will hit hurdles, my body will hit pot holes...but the journey is a gift that I want to take to get to the finish line to hear the magic words...
If you have a couple of extra nice thoughts (a.k.a. prayers) on Sunday, please send them out to the athletes, countless volunteers, and supporting spectators for a safe race day.
If your interested in tracking me, I'm bib #569 for Ironman Wisconsin - I think these Links will work on race day:
Last week I was able to stop taking off my shoes to count...and today it's down to one hand - FIVE more sleeps until IMWI! Whoo hoo!!
I saw these cows on my lunch time run today and just had to stop and take a picture. Not sure if they are always there and I run on the other side of the street, but I thought the timing was P-E-R-F-E-C-T! Cows on the sidewalk in Chicago...they must have been wishing me good luck to head up to Wisconsin. Or maybe I just needed the laugh!
In addition to Susan (jokingly I hope?) threatening to take away my phone so I stay off the forums reading about the snakes in Lake Monona and the weather forecast every 11.3 minutes to check radar...I can easily tend to get into serious mode with this little Ironman journey. Reality is...I'm going to win it just like I've won all of my races. I have my own little imaginary race category, and I take the top podium spot every time!
Since "winning" is not the issue and I've detailed all I possible can control in my multi-tabbed race plan it's now time for me to stop thinking and switch over to really trusting the process. I'm as ready as I'm going to get for the day. At this point it is all about executing on the physical training, nutrition, and staying mentally positive and F-O-C-U-S-E-D. I'm not underestimating the challenge that Ironman is going to be, but if I'm going to succeed, I need to loosen up just a little bit and remember that this is not putting the roof over my head or food on the table. It's time to for me to remember why I signed up - for the challenge and for FUN!
And it has been a lot of fun. No doubt. And I've learned so much.
The next couple of days I'm going to enjoy and head up to Madison Friday morning relaxed and ready. It's time to soak up the most of this first journey before the cannon goes off at 7am Sunday and the "work" begins!
