August 2006 Archives

The Death Ride – Markleville, CA – July 8, 2006

Adventure Report
- by Cindy J (Age Group: Women 45 – 50)

It all started with a crazy hair-brained idea to enter the Death Ride lottery along with my friend and her husband, who had done it the year before. “It’s a beautiful area,” they said, “You and Peter should try to get in.” So we did … but we didn’t win a slot. I have to admit to being somewhat relieved. The thought of doing 129 miles with 15,000+ feet of climbing was daunting to say the least.

Then, a few weeks later, my friend’s husband sent me an e-mail - “I’m giving you my Death Ride ticket. Not, “Would you like my Death Ride ticket?”, or "Hey, what about doing the Death Ride with Ilana?" ... Nope. “I’ve already done it once, and it doesn’t fit in with my training schedule,” he insisted. (He’s a competitive cyclist.) “You and Ilana will have fun!” he promised. “Oh,” I replied, “gee … thanks” not knowing then whether to love him or hate him … time would tell …

On the 1 year anniversary of my IMC finish, I wanted to share my experiences of that awesome day. This is the race report I wrote for my family and friends following the event. Now, I have to get back to IronmanLive.com and watch my friends finish! Let the endorphins roll . . .

Ironman Canada - Penticton, BC, Canada - August 28, 2005

Race Report
- by Cindy J (Age Group: Women 40 – 45)

Heading out of T2 and facing the prospect of going another 26.2 miles on foot I wondered, fleetingly, if this was all worth it. Yup, I thought as I heard the crowd cheering me onward. The wise words of my friend Keith Sherling (himself a recent Couer d’Alene Ironman 2005 finisher) rang in my ears as I headed out on course, “What ever happens and however bad you feel getting off the bike,” he said, “just START the marathon. It’s worth it in the end.” It was the most valuable bit of advice I took away from all of my pre-race training and conversations with folks.

It also struck me that I had already covered 114.4 miles of the 140.6 mile course … and my personal cheering section was expecting to see me at mile six of the run course – I had better not disappoint them! In addition I thought of all of the other people, friends, family, colleagues and training partners who had helped contribute to my success thus far … there were so many people to not disappoint, least of all myself.

One step at a time I was getting closer and closer to my goal of completing my first Ironman.

I rode moderately hard yesterday with a smaller group than normal, five total, two of whom I didn't know well at the beginning of the ride. But by the end we were "old" friends. I thought we were going to do 40 miles, easy (less than 80% of max effort). We ended up doing 60 miles at more or less 80% effort, but there were definitely spikes during the ride of up to 90%. Not that I was complaining then, but today my legs were screaming as the hill kicked up at mile 2 of a 13 mile run!

Many who know me have been hinting that I've probably been overtraining. I do recognize myself in this story. The first step to correcting a problem is admitting you have one, right? This link was sent to my by my dear husband, and I thought it worth sharing with other female triathletes:

http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13254&sidebar=21

At this time of year, one of our tri club bike coaches says the majority of us should be focused on maintaining our fitness, staying injury free, and recovering when possible. As a general rule, it takes 3 - 4 weeks to see the benefits of your workout, something called the "training affect". So, this means that if you push hard this Saturday, you will see the added benefit in mid to late September. So, if your race is between now and mid-September, you should stay at or below an 80% effort on your workouts. Exceeding 80% will add stress to your body. He recently shared some great guidelines for guaging our effort levels that work well for me as I hate riding with a heart rate monitor... maybe because I don't like it when it indicates that I'm pushing too hard and should slow down!

Last week I thought I was on a roll with my training, and that it was a good idea to do the Big Kahuna 1/2 Ironman in early September AND the Silicon Valley Marathon in late October ... but a sinus infection and fever zapped my energy this week and I was feeling disappointed and down about giving up my B goal of doing Big Kahuna. Until yesterday, I didn't feel like doing a thing. But after last night's easy run followed by a yoga class I'm feeling recovered and ready to train with renewed enthusiasm. Letting go of one goal has allowed me to more fully, and more happily, embrace another.

I convinced myself that getting up at 6 a.m. on Saturday to drive to Santa Cruz for the Sentinel/Big Kahuna practice day organized by my tri club was an excellent idea, even though I was tired ... I would cut out the run practice in order to get back in time for an afternoon commitment. I planned to use the day as a guage of my readiness to "maybe" do the Big Kahuna 1/2 Ironman on Sept. 10th. (It's still open to registration my friends kept telling me ... Are you gonna do it they kept asking) ... Why not indeed, I began to ask myself ... the Silicon Valley Marathon is still more than two months away and I have some gaps in my training schedule.

I shared the link to my blog with some friends recently, and one of them came back with a funny I thought worth sharing - he liked the photo I chose to use and that, coupled with my penchant for blog entry titles that are questions, reminded him of a famous saying ... get ready ... "Two beer or not two beer, that is the question" - Shakesbeer. You gotta love it ... or not

During Monday's lunch hour I sprang for a deep tissue sport's massage because lately my legs have been feeling "heavy" and my workouts have been less than stellar. Immediately afterwards I thought, "oh no what have I done" as I hobbled to the car. My hamstrings had been brought back to life and were letting me know it! I decided to go to my triathlon club's monthly meeting that evening instead of sticking to my normal routine of a mile swim followed by a yoga class. As it turned out, Monday became an unintended day of rest for me.

How DID I become tri-polar you might ask? Well it all started with a move across country from Houston, TX to the SF Bay area in 2000, a longer commute to a job with longer hours, and a newly developed addiction to mocha frappacinos. Two years later I was 25 pounds overweight and dissatisfied with my life ... enter Team in Training and a renewed passion for running. Two marathons and a half ironman later I found myself happily back in shape, and heathfully in love with triathlons. So, depending on whom I'm talking to and what my next event is, I either tell them I'm a triathlete with a running problem, or a runner with a triathlon problem.