According to the laws of aerodynamics, the bumblebee can’t fly either, but the bumblebee doesn’t know anything about the laws of aerodynamics, so it goes ahead and flies anyway. -- Igor Sikorsky 

So, the plodding elephant continues to roll on. This past Saturday, I rode the Round Rock Outlaw 100, a century ride through the back roads in central Texas. This is the third time I have participated in this ride. The first time was actually my very first 100-mile ride, and the longest... seems like so very long ago, even though it has only been three years.

It wasn't the best ride I have had... there was even a section about a mile long of gravel. Seriously - the ride should have been re-routed around this mess. You run a great risk trying to propel a bicycle between rocks that are bigger across than your tires. We even considered getting off the bikes at one point, just to be safe. The winds picked up midway through the ride. But as a prep ride for Ironman Florida, it is a good ride, other than the gravel.

So, now it is time to work on the running. I need to be ready for the 3M Half-Marathon in January... wish me luck.

Better than the first, but not as good as I wanted to do…

"Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement." -- Brian Tracy

So – the second Half-Iron distance triathlon is in the books. I participated in the Redman Half-Iron distance event this past weekend.

Swim –    46:17

T1     -      3:44

Bike   - 3:07:00

T2     -      4:20

Run   -  3:16:00

Total –  7:17:00

I will say the race as a full-distance event was well-supported, even though it isn’t Ironman-branded. They offered full and half triathlons and aquabike events. A number of people apparently use this event as a warm-up for Ironman Florida. I was just happy to finish.

But lots of lessons learned…

1. First, and maybe the most important, I realized how much heavier my bike is than others. The obvious bike of choice is the Cervelo, and a LOT of the competitors also had race wheels. I am not sure if the weight factor on my bike is because of the metal bars, but it does feel very front-heavy. I hefted a couple of bikes nearby my rack position just in conversation with other folks and you could really feel the difference… of course, the riders were also a LOT smaller than me weight-wise. And I have never used race wheels, but the aerodynamics on them has got to be so much better than standard wheels. These are questions I will have to discuss with the Austin Tri-cyclist guys. They will probably look at this plodding elephant and just laugh. I don’t expect to ever be in contention for a race position (though I would have placed 2^nd in my age group for the aquabike half, had I participated in that event), but I would at least like to improve my own performance, and the bike is one component I can improve.
2. Do a better job of scoping out the swim course. I did not realize until the first wave went off that people could/would actually walk part of the swim. The outbound leg of the swim followed the lake shore and it was actually close enough that people were walking rather than swimming. Maybe that is a good thing if you practice aqua-jogging in the pool beforehand, but swimming into somebody’s backside as they stand up is not a good thing. I improved my swim time by about 3 minutes, but it could have been even better had I thought to navigate around differently.
3. I need to get into the wetsuit more often. It felt like the shoulders were straining against the wetsuit and I wasn’t getting full strokes. I will have to work on this some more… hopefully it isn’t a matter of the wetsuit being too small.
4. My transition times were better, though I didn’t feel as organized as I should have been.
5. I don’t know why I did it, but coming out of T1 on the bike, there is an aid station and a volunteer holding out a Gatorade bottle. I grabbed it, thinking it would be good to have a drink or two to get started and then chunk it at the trash can at the far end of the aid station… wrong! There was NO trash can. In the pre-race meeting the day before they had harped strongly on the fact that there would be a lot of USAT race officials out there and penalties would come for abandonment on the course, so I didn’t just want to chunk it to the side of the road and risk penalty. So I stuck it in my jersey pocket. Well, it fell out in the middle of the no-passing zone, when a race official was on a motorcycle right next to me! And yes, I know there is some discretion about “unintentional” drops, but I didn’t want to risk somebody interpreting that differently than I did, so I stopped and picked it up. Note to self: DON’T grab a bottle unless you have someplace to put it securely. Even more importantly, why take it in the first place?
6. The ride itself was fairly uneventful… the road was in bad shape. We drove the bike course the day before, so we knew what we were in for. But that didn’t make it any easier. Very rough, lots of road damage. I felt like I was drinking enough and eating a gel every 45 minutes, and didn’t have to make any stops. With the new aero bottle for water, I carried all mixed drinks in the other 3 bottles. Being able to grab water bottles at the aid station and push the water into the aero bottle really makes the ride a lot easier. One thing maybe I should have done would be to take some Advil in transition before the ride.
7. T2 went okay. With the size of this event, it wasn’t too crowded to get around in transition. The full tri and full aquabike competitors were still out on the bike route. I could have been out a little sooner but some of my stuff had been pushed around by people around me. I don’t know that there is any way I could have controlled that.
8. The run… well, it’s the run. Actually, the first of the 2 laps went pretty well. I was hoping to do the run in 3 hours, and my first loop was at 1:33:00 – just a few minutes off my goal. But when I started the second lap, my hips started to tighten up on me. So I ended up walking more than I had hoped.

Overall, I managed to cut about 12 minutes from my previous half-Iron distance tri time. I had hoped to cut it by 30 minutes, and get it under 7 hours. Not anything near trophy-winning performances, but I am proud of a number of my TNT alumni friends, who DID take home some hardware… congratulations to all of them. And I did get to meet a number of TNT competitors along the way.

"The question is not whether we will live, but how we will live." - Joan Borysenko

It has been almost a month since my last post, but it has been a busy month. The swimming and biking have cranked up quite a bit, and the running is coming along, although for a week or so the impact of hitting the ground with each step was bothering some muscles up through the right side of my body. I am basically clueless when it comes to naming the muscles affected - I know where it hurts and when it hurts; I will let the medical types tell me the names of things.
The month's activities were not just the training. I went in for my annual stress test with the cardiologist. The technician doing the work this time was the same one who was there when we ended up going from the stress test to the triple bypass surgery in 2008, and her first statement was "I really hope we don't end up the same way as last time." You and me both, sister!! That was an understatement! Unneeded worries - the test went extremely well. Dr. V looked at the digital images and the charts and said all was good, just keep doing what I am doing. So I hit him with "well, actually, doc, I do have a question..." (yeah, i know -- sounds like that Viagra commercial, doesn't it?) and first ackowledged he had told me before that my heart could not clear the oxidants in the blood fast enough if I was going to attempt a marathon, then with the caveat "I won't run all of it" I told him I wanted to do a full IronMan -- the third segment of which is in fact a full marathon. After further discussion, and acknowledgement from Dr. V that I managed the exertion for the Half-Iron in April and the Triple Bypass ride in July, he approved the full IronMan.  Woohoo!!
Then my next thought was like everybody else when they start this adventure: "What the heck am I getting myself into?" But I already know the answer to that, because a good friend of mine is doing exactly that. I have watched her progress, I have ridden with her, I swim with her on occasion, and I listen to her stories about her training. I will acknowledge right here and now that there is no way I will in 2011 be even close to her finish time in 2010...
So the first thing I did after the stress test was sign up for another Half-Iron distance triathlon. I know a lot of the training plans for IronMan start a year out, and this is more like 14 months, but it will be a good baseline to start from.
I set up a new website for this adventure, and hope to do fundraising to benefit organizations serving those with cardiovascular issues and limitations... check it out at CardiacIronman.com
So - here we go !!

It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, "Always do what you are afraid to do." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash. -- George S. Patton


Yes, two relevant quotes... I have been thinking about this for some time... almost a year, really. My good friend and training partner signed up last year to compete in the IronMan Florida in November 2010. You have to make the decision a year in advance, because registration for a full IronMan for the next year starts the day after the event completes, and the registration for the next year's IronMan events close almost as fast as they open.

"There are only two options regarding commitment. You're either IN or you're OUT. There is no such thing as life in-between." - Pat Riley

Finally started running again... I have been on the treadmill at the gym, since it is so freaking hot - and humid - outside. I feel like I need to get the distance up first, before I worry about speed. I know I can finish the events; it just won't be fast.
After a few days off after the Triple Bypass ride, riding the Katy Flatland Century felt pretty good. I am working on consistently doing the longer rides on the weekends, and getting swim and run time in during the week.
So I think the plan is now: half-iron this September, half-iron in spring 2011, another in the fall, all part of getting to the point where I can do a full iron-distance event. Starting the full iron-distance training plan the first of the year, in preparation to do the IMFL in November 2011... guess this is all dependent on what the cardiologist says later this month. But I intend to also work in the century rides as I go along, probably doing Tahoe with the Team In Training group again next June.
I know I am not the sprint-distance kind of triathlete... I have used the term "plodding elephant" in the past. But I feel comfortable doing the half-iron distances, particularly once I get the running segment figured out. So for me the next challenge is getting ready for the big one.
Another thought pattern has creeped into the discussion as well. Now that we have done the Triple Bypass ride, one more thing is checked off the bucket list. But just like most everybody else, I seem to keep adding things to my list at the same time. I have a TnT teammate that rides the RAGBRAI just about every year... but nobody talks about riding across Texas. For some reason, the idea of riding across my own state is more appealing -- but it is about 850 miles, whether you ride east-west or north-south, compared to the 450 for Iowa. Looking at the map, I can envision a route either horizontally or vertically. I have drafted routes going both directions, but I think I would rather do a north-to-south crossing. Starting at the Texas-Oklahoma border at the top of the Panhandle and finishing up at South Padre Island. The route will continue to evolve, and may be another opportunity to fundraise and fight cancer at the same time -- we will see how the planning goes for this, but the earliest I would want to do this ride is spring 2012. Already I get the question of "when?" followed by "Well, yeah, I am in!" -- stay tuned.
Yeah, looks like there is always room for another challenge...

Live your life each day as you would climb a mountain. An occasional glance towards the summit keeps the goal in mind, but many beautiful scenes are to be observed from each new vantage point. -- Harold B. Melchart
So it has been a week since we completed the Triple Bypass ride. What an awesome adventure! 120 miles, 3 mountain passes (technically 4, but who's counting?) and 10,400-plus feet of elevation climbing. 3 great friends and support from home that was just unbelievable.

So then what? Decided to go ahead and ride the Katy Flatland Century, on the tri bike. Not a bad ride, and good basis for ramping up the training for the Redman Half-Iron distance in September. Got back in the pool last week for an easy swim, mostly to work out some stiffness left over from the Colorado ride.

Now it is time for more running... did I mention I don't like running? Oh well, I have a goal of beating my time in Galveston.

Wish me luck. If you pass by me on the road, just make sure I am still at least face-up. It is easier to breathe that way. :-)

Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly. -- Stephen R. Covey


Well, we are now only 19 days away from the Triple Bypass ride... wow! I am starting to get a bit excited, to say the least. Not because I don't think I am ready for it, but because to date, this will be my longest ride. Throw in a trio of mountain passes and a few substantial climbs, and we should have a really good time.
Yesterday was the last triathlon before the Big Ride, and I knew going into it I wasn't going to be breaking any speed records. I had decided a couple of weeks ago that my intent with this one was to go the Nike route - "just do it" - and not risk any injuries. I got through the swim without much of a push. My focus was to see what kind of "time trial" I could manage on the bike, and pretty well walk quite a bit of the run - have I said how much I hate running? on gravel? yuk! Anyway, for the 14 miles, I managed a 19.5 average on the bike without feeling like I wore myself out. I still think I need to work on my pre-race nutrition, because I still haven't managed to get breakfast nailed down. My stomach was a little on the rumbly side when we got into the water. But that's a goal for another day.
I watched a number of friends run past me on the trip around the lake. I think if I can learn to run between now and the next triathlon, things will be quite a bit different. I plan on taking the advice of my coach after the Bypass, and working on bricks -- ride, then run right afterward. Yesterday, I felt like my hips wanted to lock up on the run, so I need to work through the physical bike-to-run transition a lot.
First things first, though - 3499 of my closest friends on 120 miles of Colorado roads - yippee!