5 days til.....

We leave for Kona. We are both, the Dane and I, in dire need of a vacation. So, lucky for us, we get to go to Hawaii. My trip is not "pure" vacation due to the little race I'll be doing October 11th, but to be gone and not have to work is a beautiful thing. Into taper mode now, not far enough into it apparently because I'm exhausted and still a little sore from Sunday's last "long" workout - ~80 mile ride followed by a brisk (for me, 7:1x/mile pace) 6 mile brick. I believe I'm as fit as I've been in a long time so we'll see how the race goes. I seem, however, to be getting bad news from/about people I love which makes it hard to feel that this is terribly important. I will be thinking of you Katie and Cathy (each for your own reasons) as my day gets difficult on the lava fields. Love you guys!
More as the week goes on....
Kia Kaha

friends

It is just over 2 weeks from Kona now as I sit. The Dane will be home tomorrow and my world will be better. I've spent the past few hours with a group of amazing women. One, Mary D, turns 50 tomorrow and you wouldn't be able to pick her out from a group of 30 year olds! We gave her a surprise B-day party and it was fun to socialize again. When you train for IM, you give up these nicities in life and wonder if any one will come back. In my experience, they always come back. And thank goodness for these grassroots type of friends. Life wouldn't be the same without them. I am thankful for them and the fact that they always support 'the cause' of Ironman. I couldn't do it without these folks. I've let them know that they will be thought of on the lonely strip of pavement as I go along the Queen K and persue my dreams on October 11th. They seem to understand, which is cool.
All I need now is the Dane to finish my dream....
Kia Kaha

funny

Now, this is funny: http://elizabethfedofsky.blogspot.com/2008/09/you-are-now-entering.html

I don't know Elizabeth Fedofsky (not personally, anyway)but she makes me laugh. Scary how true so much of this is!
TGIF and the Dane comes home tomorrow.
More later.....

Kona is coming!

Ok, so last "big week" for IM Hawaii is in the books and I'm still in one piece. I had a decent week. Great ride Sat with the "hills" group, luckily they wanted to get in 85 miles so I only had another 15 to do on my own. They are a great group and I am so glad I have been able to ride with this group of wonderful people. Of course, missing Linda M who is still healing from her injuries from the accident two weeks ago. The ride is definitely not the same without her and she is missed greatly! As is the Dane who is freezing his butt off in rainy Vienna. Anyhow, 100 miles in the hills in 5 hours isn't bad. Got my long run in Thursday night, last really long one. It's amazing how much harder the long run is after a full day of work in the heat than if you wake on Sunday morning fresh as a daisy. Another 'character building' experience. I can honestly say that I have more 'character' and, I think, solid fitness going into Kona this year. All I have to do now is get a good taper, pace the race, get my nutrition and I'm golden. No rock solid goals other than to finish, as always with any IM. I'd like to finish higher up than I did in '06 but I'll just do my thing out there and we'll see how it goes. I'm pretty confident in my fitness though, running my bricks off long rides in 7:20's will do that for you! I'll be happy to have the Dane back next weekend then venture off to Kona on 10/5! Thanks to everyone who has helped me and encouraged me along the way. Nobody could do this without support of friends and family. I think of everyone during the suffering for sure! I will try and do my best but having fun is also one of the goals!
Kia Kaha

Assault on Sugarloaf

Had a really good week of training this week. Other than getting rain and lightening'd out of my tempo run on Tuesday, the weather was hot and humid - great Kona prep! Decent long run on Thursday night, 2:20 but boy was it humid! I was soaked half way through. We planned to make the long ride on Sunday and do the Assault on Sugarloaf ride in Clermont. Nice, organized ride along the Great Floridian 112mi bike course - perfect. The weather was great but super hot, about 97degrees at the end of the ride which was also the beginning of my 6 mile brick, whew! I honestly don't remember Kona being this hot. Anyhow, we rode 4 hours on Sat, pretty easy overall. Drove over to O-town to stay at the Rennaisance at Sea World to cut the Sunday morning drive to 30 minutes. Very nice, empty resort hotel. We got to test out their cool sports bar and sushi restaurant, both good. Went to bed pretty early to get up early for Sunday ride. Tried to make this a race rehearsal type day so rode my race wheels and use same nutrition. Since I bonked on my brick last weekend, wanted to make sure I really loaded up this week. We had a nice ride but missed the good packs so ended up riding mostly by ourselves which is very race specific(what I wanted). The Dane had some troubles the last 20 miles or so and we had to cruise it in so he wouldn't be left out in the sticks. The course is pretty hard the first 35 miles or so then fairly flat (and windy) until the last 20 miles or so. I felt pretty good out there and didn't mind doing fair share of the pulling. Got the Dane back to the car ok then set out on my brick. I love running out there, nice paved path with no traffic and some gentle rolling hills. And, the heat! Had a great run, faster than race pace but went by feel not pace. Got done, packed up and drove back home to relax and watch some football and eat Thai take-out! A perfect weekend! The Dane leaves again for a couple weeks today and I'm sad. Having him along for my rides the past couple weeks has been so helpful and we had a lot of laughs yesterday especially. Only 3+ weeks left til Kona - I'm another hard/long week and great taper away from being ready. Can't wait!
Kia Kaha

The good and bad

I had overall a good training week - 20 hours in the log and some dead-ass tired legs. We are overwhelmed a bit with news of friend's bad bike accident when we rolled back into the parking lot on Sat afternoon upon finishing our ride. I was really upset about it and couldn't run so did the brick once we returned home (and bonked, again). Found that Linda was hit by a trailer when they were only a few miles from finishing. She is still in hospital today with four broken ribs and punctured lung. From what I've heard from those with her at the time, could have been a lot worse. Anyway, all the other stuff I would normally blab about seems pretty insignificant in comparison. She will be ok and recover but it is a scary thing to go through. We wish her speedy recovery!

kona winds........FL style

Ok, I know we cannot begin to replicate Kona winds but, when there's a significant hurricane floating around in the Gulf of Mexico, we get some good winds.....and waves. Did my 5 hour ride Sat in the hills with a small group, got smaller the longer we went then the group let me out on my own after 3 1/2 hours to finish up. No worries, I've never ridden out here in redneck heaven by my lonesome but my mental mojo for the weekend was.....no fear. I'm going to stop being afraid. Of riding alone here, of the weather, of the wind, etc. It may come as a surprise to some but I'm am quite the insecure chickenshit at times. But, like Linda M says, riding the last bit of long ride all alone "builds character". My mother always said I already have a lot of character... but, I here I am, building more. Can't hurt, right? So, off I go saying my goodbyes to my former group (thanks guys, seriously) now off to embark on character building. By the way, it's not like I haven't done long rides alone, never in the hills though. The weird thing is when there is a major storm brewing out in the drink, the weather can be very unpredictable. We got a little rain during the main ride and the pavement was wet the last bit. Then, the big black clouds were building in every direction.....challenging my "no fear" mojo. Had the opportunity to cut bait and run for the parking lot at less than 4 1/2 hours but decided Kona deserved more. It is not a course that welcomes those who cut long rides and runs short. The words "chewed up and spit out" come to mind. I digress. So then, the downdrafts of these building storms are blowing and I am struggling to keep myself and Lucille upright. Reminded me of riding the Queen K in '06 on my training ride. I tried to stay relaxed like the Dane taught me, hold the handlebars as if you are holding a small bird. Whatever that means - he's not out here with me. So, while screaming "oh shit" at the top of my lungs when the big gusts would come through, I held tough. Made it back to the parking lot unscathed. Decided the brick run would be done when I got home - way too much lightening out here for me. Got home, did my 40 minute "brick" in the rain and actually ran quite well, felt great. Sunday morning brought more winds, more steady, sustained variety. Rode the beach first to test the mojo one more time and was bouncing all over the road keeping the rubber side down. It was a hoot and appreciated this opportunity to train in the winds, I wasn't going to miss this. Got through that just fine. Picked up the Dane in the afternoon and shared my "Kona" moments with him and he wished he was there. Today, less than 6 weeks out, I feel pretty fit. Hopefully, the weather will hold up so I can get long rides and runs in. These are things I cannot control so I try not to worry about. Here I am with more character......hopefully, that helps!
Kia Kaha