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July 26th, 2007
09:48 am
Yes, there are two paths you can go by
But in the long run
There's still time to change the road you're on.
And it makes me wonder...
~Jimmy Page & Robert Plant
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July 2nd, 2007
11:00 am
i didn't realize how bad i felt until i started feeling much, much better on saturday. it was like a light turning on or maybe a fog lifting. i re-read emails and text messages i sent on tuesday and wednesday... this is funny to me (although i realize not to everyone): they are the narcotic equivalent of drunk dialing!
mr. traininglog has taken very tender care of me. i consider myself blessed but unworthy to have him in my life. i am happy to be home today, although the unpacking, laundry, and freezer of rotten food are all rather overwhelming. little by little, it will all get done, no worries.
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June 26th, 2007
June 25th, 2007
02:49 pm - Ironman CdA 2007
Let me see if I can describe this with as little drama as possible...
During the swim, I got my share of elbows and kicks. On the 2nd lap, my left hand hurt pretty bad. I thought it must be the worst case of Reynaud's I'd ever had. It was weird though, because I was having a hard time making my hand work. I can't explain it, but it didn't work.
In the transition tent, I saw that my ring finger was sort of dangling and pointed the wrong way. I kept saying (to no one really listening), "That doesn't look right, does it?" I decided to go to the med tent. The medic taped that finger to the fingers next to it. He said it wouldn't make any difference if i got it checked the next day.
I started the bike ride, but I didn't want to. I stopped for some love from mr traininglog and mizmizuno. I tried to decide whether to keep going. All I could think was that I didn't want to wake up the next day and be disappointed that I quit without trying.
The bike course was challenging, especially because I couldn't shift or brake with my left hand. In fact, it hurt to hold on, so I used that hand as little as possible, like to balance/steer when I used my right hand to eat or something. After the first loop, I had to find a medic to re-tape it, because my hand had swollen and was cutting off the circulation. The new tape felt more secure and I thought I could try another loop.
The second bike loop was easier on my legs, but harder on my hand. But I figured if I could just get to the run, things would be better. Except that my hand swelled more and was throbbing/pulsating. I finished the run and went straight to the emergency room, without eating or even changing clothes.
The x-ray showed that my 4th metacarpal was broken and that the 2 ends of the bone were more than a centimeter apart and overlapped. The doctor on call consulted with an orthopedic surgeon, who said it would need a pin to align it. He arranged an operating room and we were to be at another hospital at 6 a.m. I got drugs and went home for a couple of hours.
Ok this is already longer than I can deal with right now. So basically the rest of the story is that I woke up the morning after Ironman and drank some water. The anesthesiologist would not administer a general because of that, so I go back tomorrow to get it done.
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June 19th, 2007
12:54 pm
Looking for some inspiration, I found a journal entry from 2004. I still like it.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1910
"It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
Or, in the more contemporary words of Lyle Lovett: "But what would you be if you didn't even try? You have to try."
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09:24 am
Andrea called on my way home from Barton Springs this morning. They got stuck in Toronto and she wanted to check up on me. I told her I'm fine, and that my latest obsession is whether or not I'll regret not having a 27 on the back.
She said she doesn't think I need it, but that it would give me peace of mind to have it. She suggested I "throw it in my suitcase" (umm, I'd need to buy the cassette first) and that Jamie would put it on for me on Friday.
I don't know. I'm not sure why I waited until the last minute to deal with this, or even if I should deal with it. If I really wanted it, I could have put it on a couple of weeks ago when the thought first crossed my mind.
Lots to do today. A trip to the shop isn't in the cards. Oh yeah! It's TUESDAY! A trip to the shop is definitely not in the cards! Ok, that's too funny!! Not really. It just struck my funny bone. Ok, no more coffee.
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June 18th, 2007
08:32 am
Weekend update:
I left my bike ("it's like a real bike! only smaller!") in Jack's hands. My parting thought was, "I'm going to wish I had put a 12/27 on there."
Friday, another 16 lengths at Barton Springs. Mentally, it went by much more quickly than Tuesday's. I practiced with a borrowed wetsuit. It chafed my neck (good to know ahead of time where to apply the body glide) and my hair kept getting caught in the velcro. ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) deankat helped me figure out what to do about that.
Saturday, I drove to Pflugerville for a lovely 2 hour ride with cam_ray. I drove more than twice as far as we rode! Yummy wine and dinner organized by trichellee to celebrate the fact that cam_ray is joining the best age group. This was followed by more festivities to celebrate imzadi's birthday. Home at 1:20 a.m. and in bed by 1:30.
Sunday, alarm at 5:45. Ouch. I was "slumping" on the bench when Mr. Enstone arrived at Barton Springs for our run. 30 minutes easy, separated for our 24 minutes tempo because his is more upbeat than mine, regrouped for 30 minutes easy. I love when I get back to my starting point in EXACTLY the time I started. 1:24. Soaked in Barton Springs. Swim class was not on my schedule, which was a little disappointing as I will never obtain that elusive <5:00 if I don't get to do the end of session time trial. Also disappointing in that it's not clear that I earn a breakfast taco with a short run and no swim class. But we ate tacos nevertheless.
Called Dad to wish him a happy Father's Day. He wondered what the difference is between a triathlon and an Ironman.
Earlier in the week I had the obligatory pre-race melt-down, so I'm good to go. Except that my house runneth over with laundry.
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June 15th, 2007
11:06 am
Questions, questions, I get questions.
"Are you ready?"
I dislike this one, but I work hard not to let on when people ask. Am I ready? I don't know. I guess I'm as ready as I'm going to get. It is what it is. Are there things I wish I'd done differently? Of course. Did I do what I could, when I could? Yes, absolutely. Do I think I'll get the job done? I'm going to give it my best shot!
"Are you nervous?"
I like this question. Sure, I'm nervous. Being nervous is not a bad thing. Being nervous means I have a healthy respect for what I am about to undertake.
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June 12th, 2007
11:03 am
At Metroplex Sprint, I was surprised to see a lot of people stand up before the swim exit and try walk through chest-deep water. That's not very efficient. I swam right past them until it was too shallow to swim anymore.
This is me, completely sub-consciously pulling my singlet down so my belly won't be hanging out:
On the run, I used the first mile to settle in, then during miles 2 and 3, all I did was pick out someone in front of me and get up to them. Didn't matter if the person was male, female, young or old. With about 1/4 mile to go, my victim was about to be a 21-year old guy. I gasped, "I am... old enough... to be... your... mother... Do NOT... let me... pass you!" He thought about it for a second, saw how close he was to the finish, and took off.
Here I am, working way too hard to realize that my belly is hanging out:
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08:41 am
1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1 lengths at Barton Springs. I do believe that just might be the longest swim I've ever done.
My coach got there in the middle and I saw her as I finished. She had an expression of "you are such a dumba$$" on her face. I am an advocate the training principle "Consistency Trumps Volume". And physically, I fully believe that is true. But mentally, I needed this swim. It was a confidence builder.
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June 11th, 2007
05:44 am
I'm happy with my race. Especially considering the fairly big workout I had 2 days before it. My swim wasn't fast, but it was solid. I had a much better bike than I thought I would. My run wasn't stellar, but it was the 3rd fastest in my age group, and that doesn't suck. I had a lot of fun cheering for all my friends. So yeah, I'm happy with my race.
Female 40 to 44 | | | Overall* | | ------- 800m Swim ------- | T1 | ------- 27K Bike ------- | T2 | ------- 5K Run ------- | Total | Place | Place | Name | Bib No | Age | Rnk | Time | Pace | Time | Rnk | Time | Rate | Time | Rnk | Time | Pace | Time |
5 | 32 | Amy Anderson | 107 | 43 | 5 | 15:37.0 | 1:57 | 1:42.2 | 9 | 49:16.8 | 20.4 | 1:02.9 | 3 | 25:03.7 | 8:02 | 1:32:42.8 |
Metroplex Sprint Triathlon results
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June 8th, 2007
05:54 pm
Back to PNF for a second. She wasn't saying "don't have a time goal". I probably didn't write enough about what she said. It was a great talk and I wish everyone could hear it.
She was asking, "If you don't meet your time goals, then was it all worth it? The new bike, the evenings and Saturdays away from home, etc." It (specifically she was referring to Ironman, but it applies to the marathon or any other race or something else important in your life that you are trying to achieve) has to be more about the intrinsic value to you, rather than whether or not you meet some arbitrary time limit that you've set for yourself.
She stressed that you don't have to tell anyone what your reason is; no one else has to know. Some people do it because they aren't challenged in other areas of their lives, everything has come easy to them. Some people have something to prove, like "My parents called me a quitter because I dropped out of school and I am NOT a quitter." Whatever your reason, you can call on it when the going gets tough. When the little demon is sitting on your shoulder saying, "it doesn't really matter". When you've found your limit and you need to push that limit out a little further.
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04:06 pm
Last long workout DONE! It feels soooo good to check off that box! Not quite 4 hour ride and not quite 1 hour run. That was the hottest run (2 p.m.) I have done in a long, long time. Un freaking believably hot and humid. AND I FELT GREAT!
Taper starts Monday! There is that pesky little thing to get past on Sunday, but since I have zero expectations on such fatigued legs, it's just going to be a good, solid workout.
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June 7th, 2007
08:41 pm
Mark your calendar! June 30th (4 p.m.) is Austin's fourth annual World Naked Bike Ride. You should do it! Because I sure as hell won't ...only because I'll be out of town... uh yeah, that's why...
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05:12 pm
As a reminder, both to myself and also to my Ironman-bound friends: A little refresher on WWPNFD. ( What Would Paula Newby-Fraser Do? )
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04:16 pm
My old ones had gotten smeared-smudged from riding in the rain, so just now I put fresh stickers on my helmet. They look great! This makes me happy. This makes me really, really happy.
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08:28 am
Dang! You know it's a combative open water swim practice when ONE OF your dearest training partnerS tries to drown you!
I had a pretty good swim. Better than I expected. I fell off the pack during warm-up, but I found some excellent feet for my cooldown. Long story, but I feel bad because I forget his name (need to ask Andrea so I'll know next time) and the reason I feel bad is that I know his wife, his mother, and his brother. I really should know his name.
Another swim today. That's three days in a row. Maybe it's my coach who is trying to drown me?
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June 6th, 2007
05:26 pm
I was at the shop today, chatting with Jack who won't sell anything if he thinks he can fix it, rig it, patch it or.. wait, I digress. So I was chatting with Jack when I realized that I have to turn my bike in to TriBike Transport next week. NEXT WEEK?
I'm awfully posty today.
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03:39 pm
This journal started as a way for my friends and family to see what I was doing as I trained for my first Ironman. Hello? My user name is "traininglog". That ought to be a hint. Nearly 5 years and nearly 5 Ironman triathlons later, I'm still writing mostly about my training. I post the occasional-to-rare protected entry that is unrelated to swim/ride/run, but not often.
It may come as a suprise to people who only know me through Live Journal, but I am a fairly well-adjusted, well-rounded balanced person. I do give you the occasional tidbit: faithful readers know that I love Mac, I lust after Dr. House, I'm self-employed, I spend a lot of time cooking (there are brownies in the oven, but they aren't for me), my son's tattoo makes me cry (not because he got a tattoo, but because he put thought into it and it makes my heart hurt), and I enjoy evenings at the Paramount. Ironman doesn't consume my every waking thought. Training doesn't rule my life. It is, however, what I'm most comfortable putting in a public journal.
I have no way of knowing who reads this journal. I only recently found out that I accidentally hurt someone's feelings with an entry. Maybe it has happened more than once, but I certainly hope not. I wish more people would comment if and when they stop by. My journal accepts anonymous (non-lj user) comments, which I haven't had a reason to regret... yet.
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01:59 pm
Last night's run was some weird hill workout that Jamie came up with in a dream or something. It was ok.
1.5 hour bike this morning. Intervals on South Mopac. It was surprisingly windy. My avg mph was a bit high, which makes me suspect that my new computer isn't calibrated for my sweet little 650 wheels. Either that or I've gotten magically fast in the past couple of weeks since my old computer went on the fritz.
Open water swim tonight. I can't imagine that the water quality is any better at Mansfield than it is at Barton Springs. Makes me kind of gag to think about it. At least at Barton Springs, the water is flowing.
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edit: I want to go do my bike workout all over again, now that I've got the proper wheel circumference in the computer. I can't (obviously) but I want to :(
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