Oh, my gosh! What am I about to do?

You've got to follow your passion. You've got to figure out what it is you love--who you really are. And have the courage to do that. I believe that the only courage anybody ever needs is the courage to follow your own dreams. -- Oprah Winfrey

This past week was exciting, fulfilling, and scary all at the same time... 

I have watched all year the training my now-Ironman friend has gone through. Swimming, biking and running like a fanatic. But it all has paid off. I volunteered at the Ironman Florida finish line, so that I could register early for the IMFL 2011. I picked a specific time window to be there, so that I could be there when I thought Briana would finish. I cannot tell you how satisfying, how exhilarating it feels to catch somebody you know as they finish their first Ironman. The thrill of seeing them cross that last timing mat, after watching them have an awesome swim, followed by a grueling, windy ride, and then having an excellent run to top it all off… what a great day! Another enjoyable thing I was able to do was take Briana’s son and daughter out on the motorcycle on the bike course so they could see mom racing like a pro. Both kids were thrilled.

I was also able to see a number of new friends finish their race. Members of the Beginner Triathlete forum online now have faces and real names. Seriously, if you ever want to volunteer for an event such as this, the finish line is definitely the place to be. Very exciting, yet very humbling as well.

Having said that, we got up early Sunday morning, Briana to get in line for the expo store so she could get the “finisher” garb, and me to register for 2011. The store opened at 7, so she was finished before our line even started. I was excited to be able to register for the event next year, but at the same time, you get that “Oh geez, what have I gotten myself into?” kind of feeling. But having watched Briana all year, and meeting all these new friends and getting their insight, I feel like I know what it will take to get there. I will read all their race reports, and pay attention to their notes. I doubt seriously my time will be anything close to Briana’s, but for me just finishing on time will be enough.

So it is now official – Briana is now an Ironman, and I am now on the path to IMFL 2011. Let’s get this show on the road!

We won't always know whose lives we touched and made better for our having cared, because actions can sometimes have unforeseen ramifications. What's important is that you do care and you act. -- Charlotte Lunsford

I have spent the last couple of weeks trying to figure out the best way to get some sponsors for this adventure. Not so much for me, but to get somebody to make some commitments to my charities. I have written a number of letters and sent as many emails, and some are fairly quick to respond - the we-really-appreciate-your-effort-but-can't-help kind of responses, darn it. But this elephant plods on... hopefully, somebody will step up.

I am still on the bike, swimming when I can, and running like the runner I am not. I participated in the Livestrong 5K run this past Saturday, and for 3.2 miles managed 34:47, just under 12-minute miles. I realize that this is insignificant to most of you runner types, but to see the 11 on the front of that made me very happy. Sunday we started with the 65-milers for the Livestrong Ride, but there were so many people riding who clearly demonstrated a lack of riding knowledge or etiquette that we decided at the 20-mile mark it was time to go home. This was after some knuckleheads got up on the back wheels so close but yet weaved from side to side, and after having to walk through a water crossing watching folks slip around. So we went home, and I did another ride up Parmer later that afternoon.

Monday, I got on the treadmill and tried the 4min run/1min walk routine, and managed a 3 mile run at 33 and some change. So the run is slowly coming to shape... 

Next Tuesday, we leave for Panama City Beach and IM Florida. I am going to swim a bit of the course, and then ride the bike course Friday in advance of volunteering Saturday. Sunday morning early, I am in line for registration for 2011 !! And the fun starts here!

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...