Tornados and Hair Loss

A lot has happened in the past week.

I went home to Iowa City for Easter and there was a tornado on Thursday night! Seriously. Look:

That's frighteningly close to my parents' house. Not close like down the street, but close like we walked there the next day. We rode it out in the wine cellar. The good news is that the pool was open on Friday so I was able to get my 1.5-mile time trial in (47:19). I'm not sure how I feel about the time. I'd like it to be faster, but that pace will get me in well before the cut-off at Lake Placid. We have a 1.5-mile open water simulation swim (they pack 40 people into 2 lanes) on Saturday so we'll see how that time stacks up.

On Saturday I rode 70 miles on a borrowed bike. It was heavy! I'm not sure how I ever rode 56 miles on my old mountain bike. Actually, I rode across the state of Iowa on that beast! It was a nice ride, through the rolling hills of the Iowa countryside. It made me think seriously about doing RAGBRAI next year. Now I just need to convince my city slicker friends that it's worth their vacation time.

I did an 8-mile recovery run around the reservoir on Tuesday. It was awful. I seriously considered hiding in a bush for one loop. I even had the blessing of my training partner, C. Oddly, I felt a lot better when we picked up the pace.

I was going to swim last night but I had a seriously disturbing experience on my way home from work. I saw old man Jim on the subway. And talked to him. I'm not sure why I was so surprised to run into him. I figured it would happen sooner or later. Ahhhh....I was literally shaking afterwards and opted to drink instead of swim. For those of you who don't know of old man Jim, the take-home message is: old bald men are soooooo 2005. I need to get out of this town.

I biked this morning. First, I fell down the stairs leaving my apartment, slid down 6 stairs on my back with my head and elbow banging each one (good thing I was wearing a helmet!) and my bike on top of me. I was so shaken when I got to the bottom that my only thought was to get on my bike and ride. And I did. 24 miles. I had limited feeling in my right hand/arm for most of the ride, pretty mush unable to grip the handlebars. I kept thinking I should just tell my coach but I knew he would have me out of training for weeks, and we certainly don't want that! I'm pretty sure I just bruised it. It's still very sore, but I can feel my hand again. My back isn't very happy either, but that's nothing a few (or 5) aleves can't solve.

I'm off to buy a new wetsuit after work. I'm not sure what one wears when trying on wetsuits. I'm also not sure if it's appropriate to ask for help getting the thing off.

15 Weeks To Go

I’m going to start biking three mornings a week, just to get more time in the saddle. That means I need to go to bed earlier so I don’t go back to sleep after my ride and end up late for work. Also, I’d like to do one of those rides on my own, but I have a lot of co-dependent teammates who want to ride with me. Such a burden. Tuesday morning I biked 12 miles – just 2 easy loops of the park. Wednesday morning I biked 18 miles, and our group ride this morning was cancelled because of rain.

I went to our group run on Tuesday night but wasn’t allowed to do the workout because I’m still recovering. Really I’m fine, but my coaches are very cautious. Their conservatism is very nice in some cases, but right now I just really want to train. And this super secret training regimen is getting a little old. In the future, I think I’ll keep minor injuries and illnesses to myself. I know when I need to take it easy.

Some people have asked how I’m holding up with this high level of training (clearly they don’t read my blog, or they’d know what a slacker I am). My training plan is pretty intimidating, but I could handle it if I did 100% and at some point I intend to. I’m a lot younger than most of my teammates, and most Ironman triathletes actually, and I think my body is a lot more resilient. I’m not the fastest person in the workouts, but I win at recovery. Also, I’m smart. I know that missing a workout here and there is not going to ruin my race. And as my coach has complained, I like myself too much. I feel no need to make myself miserable to please my coaches (I pay THEM) so if I don’t want to push myself, I don’t. And since I’m so incredibly smart, I see right through their attempts at manipulation. On a personal level, my coach says this is all very nice to see. But apparently I’m a pain in the ass to coach. Ha.

Still Plugging Away

Some people feel the need to bring their readers up to date after not blogging for awhile. I do not.

Okay fine, but I’m only going back to Friday.

Friday – At this point I had done zero training since Sunday in NP. I had been sick. And lazy. I mean I really was sick, but I didn’t feel so bad that I couldn’t have trained. I just wanted a break. So after work on Friday I headed to the gym with the intention of cranking out a quick 8 miles on the treadmill. After 3 miles I was soaked in sweat, bright red, exhausted and slightly disoriented. Hmmm…maybe I really am sick. Then I went shopping and felt very fat. I decided I probably won’t finish IMLP because I am lazy and out of shape, and the race is only 16 weeks away! I am so rational when sick.

Saturday – I skipped the team swim, as instructed by my coaches. It rained all day, so I slept all day.

Sunday – I ran an easy 49:21 10k in scenic Newark, NJ with my friend F. I didn’t need to run hard but I did need to get my confidence back, and I think that did the trick. Then we moved on to do our time trials on the bike (3 x 12-mile TT with 5-minute recoveries). It was super windy, so the “out” portions of our out-and-backs were awful. I pretty consistently hit 21:00 for the “out” 6-mile and 19:30 – 20:00 for the “back”. On the last TT effort I had a revelation: I know IMLP won’t be fun and it certainly won’t feel good, so I shouldn’t expect training to be fun and feel good.