And just when I thought it couldn't get any crazier...

OK, maybe I knew that it is going to get crazier. A lot, lot crazier. But I guess I expected that "crazy" time to be more like next summer. When I am doing mad, long training hours in swimming, biking and running. Closer to the actual Ironman day.

But, no, the time is now. Or, more appropriately, it is starting now. I am working on my mileage and doing lots of LSD (long, slow distance-- not the drug). When I posted "to 50k or not to 50k" on my Facebook page, I got the comment back "Why not, it is only another 8 miles or so".

And that is true. Logistically.

However, there is a distinct difference between a 26.2 mile "flat, fast and fun" marathon and a trail 50k. Especially out here where race directors intentionally look, plan and orchestrate the hardest courses possible, I swear.

If you think I am kidding, check out the course description (taken from the actual website):

BEWARE:

No babies allowed. Most of our distance advertised are wrong. For instance our 10 miler turned out to be a 13 miler. Our 20 miler was really a 24 miler and our 50km was in reality a 56 km.

This is not a normal or standard 50km. The Ultimate Xc Moab Edition 50km is considered as one of the hardest 50km on the planet. Most of our participants will attest that this is as hard as a 50 miler.As a rule of Thumb, if you can run a 50km in 6 hours ;count to run this one in 9 hours. Yes 50% more time to complete the same distance. If this sound like a daunting task, this race is probably not for you.

So... it is a little daunting (ok, A LOT daunting).

Why? You may ask am I doing this:

- The experience, not the time. I don't expect to do this race in any record time. I will be happy to finish. (This will be the first event I will participate in where they actually check your vitals part the way through before they let you continue.)

- To challenge myself. I have never been one to take on a task that I am unsure of. I usually, if anything, over-train. With this event, I am taking some advice and guidance from my coach and friends and going for it! Doing something that I am unsure of and putting it out there.

- For the training. I am treating this event as a training run, not a race. The more events I can do where I am on my feet for numerous hours, the more prepared I will be come Ironman day.

- For the views. I have heard about the beautiful scenery. And while it is scary to think of all the elevation I will cover, I must remember for every cliff I run UP, there is a canyon to run DOWN.

So there you have it. My first 50k and not an easy one at all. November 14, 2010.

Two weeks from now, I hope to be posting that I have successfully finished and with pictures that I have taken myself (not 'borrowed' from the internet). With a real, live account of what it is actually like. Of the grueling details of the weird foods I will eat to keep me going and the wonderful accounts of the scenery around me.

If this is my last post, count on me still being lost in the desert...

Denver Marathon: Base Building 101

I know I am a week late, but I ran the Denver Marathon last weekend. :) The day before, a friends told me to "try to win it". I laughed and said, "I'm going to try to finish it."

Going into this race, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Since signing up in August, I had kept up with my running. So, I was prepared for the race (ie, could do the distance), but not really trained for it-- let alone prepared to do extremely well in it. To complicate things, we had hired our new coach and he had me running a 24 mile training run earlier in the week. (Generally you taper/rest-up prior to the race.) This confused me a it, but I rolled with it, thinking there must be some methodology in it.

As the race neared, I did get more excited about it. The expo was fun and I was going to be Trakked on the new Trakkers system. I went to dinner Friday night with a friend and we talked about the race. More talk and encouragement were given to me at a baby shower on Saturday. The morning of, we were up bright and early at 4:45 (actually, it was really dark at this time). We had a sitter arrive and Ross and I were off to downtown.
We took a disposable camera with us (more on poor camera quality later) and took a few shots and enjoyed the hubbub that surrounds the start. Our friend, Sonja, found us and helped us hop the fence (literally) into the corral and there we waited for the race to start, which is where this was taken.
The race was the race. I am sorry that I don't have more insight for you on that. The course was in a city that I know pretty well, so I wasn't enthralled by the scenery or the architecture. But it was flat, well supported and organized-- all signs of a good race. (It will be interesting to see how it is run next year when Rock'n Roll takes it over.)

At one point along the way, I was walking through a water stop with a guy who was obviously hurting, so I asked him if he needed anything. He said he didn't and went on to gripe about not training properly, his body, etc. I told him about my 24-mile run earlier in the week and he asked why I did it. I said "I dunno. My coach told me too." Then he asked "First marathon?". To which I replied "twelfth" and kept running. But it made me think more about my race and my training and why I was doing this. It obviously wasn't for a pr. I didn't need any more race t-shirts or medals. What was going through Steve's head when he had me train so hard earlier in the week? And I thought of the Ironman.

I finished the race strong. Slower than the start, but not in survival mode. Sonja was at the end smiling and waiting for me. She asked how I thought I did and I told her about my week and that I felt good that I could do that much mileage without compromising my body. She confirmed that this was probably Steve's way of building my base. A very, very wide base. Which is what I will need with my goals I have set out for myself for the next year.

Over all, pleased with my experience and my recovery, in particular. This race was an experience and it taught me many things, including that sometimes races aren't meant to be the prize, but the ticket to a bigger one. This next year, I am expecting to have a lot of races that aren't going to be pr's. They aren't going to be highlights. But they ARE going to prepare me to have one AWESOME Ironman!


OH! And I promised more on the picture quality of the camera. Here is another picture that came off of the camera:Recognize him? That's ROSS. With HAIR! Which means this camera is 9+ years old. No wonder the quality of the film was so horrible!

Happy Birthday to Me!

So... you know you are a tri-geek when you get totally excited about... a transition bag!

A transition bag is really nothing more than a gym bag with all sorts of compartments for your different gear. When I started this whole triathlon biz, I had no clue what I would need at races and I still don't. A bag like this allows you to stuff a lot of random things into a small space so that you can have basically everything you need when you are at a race. Above all, it helps to keep you organized. And I like to be organized. (Clean- not always. But organized- yes!)

To top things off, this is something I wanted, but never hinted at it. Didn't ask for it. Wasn't going to buy one. It was just something I had seen around and Ross picked up on the fact that I would like one, so that is what he got me. :)

Here I am with my awesome new bag:

(It even comes tricked out with a small fold-up chair attached to the side. Seriously, this bag has EVERYTHING.)

And here are some of the cute little tags to help me know where to put stuff.

I think the tags are more to show off the cool logos. Some may call it overkill because no matter how dense you are, I don't think you will be stuffing your bike helmet in the sunglasses compartment without their direction. And think I can figure out that my wetsuit goes in the waterproof area and all. Being graphically driven, I still like them.

Then Ross had me open another gift– I LOVE IT!

A simple charm on a necklace to remind me what we had accomplished in our first season.

With the Ironman logo on the other side to remind me what we were training for in the upcoming year. Perfect!

My husband is such a good guy and so in tune with what would make me happy, it is a wonderful thing. I hope that I do the same in return for him.

So... how did I spend my glorious birthday? Running 24 miles. My longest training run EVER. Then spending the afternoon "working" from the couch. Yep, that's the life I am leading this year. Some people felt sorry for me when they asked how I spent my day, but I loved it. It was totally me and what I want to be doing this year. Next year, I hope to be able to run 33 miles on my 33rd birthday. (I have a feeling like I might accomplish that well before the year is up, but we will see.)

5 Things I Am Willing To Do...

So, after the sign-up. Now we are in. We are REALLY in.

What to do next?

Good question, huh? And one I was sick of answering myself. I mean, this is only my, what, sixth month as a triathlete? And now I am training for an Ironman. Man, I need some help if I am going to survive this next year. Sure, we navigated our way through our first season successfully and all, but I won't lie: It. Was. Hard. And part of the hardest part was never knowing if you were doing it 'right' or wasting your time or what not. I need someone to tell me what to do.

So we hired a coach to tell us what to do.

Now, I know that I say that nonchalantly, but let me assure you, this was not an easy or light-hearted decision. Luckily for us, we live in such a fit climate that the problem wasn't finding a coach, it was finding the right coach for us. And there are so many coaches with so many philosophies, ways of training, different specialties, personalities, everything! Oy, boy! We interviewed 5 (yes, 5!) different coaches and all but one Ross and I really liked. Each interview was 2+ hours, so that's over 10 hours, just on that. Not to mention Ross and I talked for hours about the pros and cons of each coach and what we would get out of them, what we needed, would we consider separate coaches, etc. We contemplated second interviews, but realized we wouldn't really learn anymore than we needed to know. And, when it came down to it, we had to go with our guts, jump in and hope we made the right choice. So we did.

Back to the story:
In the process of signing up with our coach, he had us fill out a number of worksheets on out health, goals, strengths, weaknesses, etc. to help him better understand where we were coming from and to aid him in his job of coaching us. One of the questions that struck me was:
List 5 things you are willing to do to accomplish your goals.

Huh? 5 things? Aren't I just going to be swimming, biking, running a whole lot? Maybe throw in some weight training and core. Do you want me to define how far I am willing to swim? How much time I will devote to biking? Put numbers on it? What's the goal here? I know it struck Ross, too, because he asked me how I was going to answer it.

So I thought about it a bit and came up with these five:

1. Pay a coach.
2. Keep an open mind and do whatever is asked of me from said coach. (Which I am guessing involves running, biking and swimming further than I have ever before.)
3. Define conservative goals for our business for the upcoming year (ie maintain it, but not focus on growing it).
4. Give the majority of my time to training, learning, recovering, etc.
5. Basically anything you ask of us. You're the coach and if you think it will improve me as an athlete, I will try my hardest to do it.

This was kind of an eye-opener to me, as I realized that IM training was going to be much, much more than hours in a week of training. It is going to impede on every part of our life. It is going to be a commitment that extends much further than the soreness of our muscles. It is going to affect the pocketbook, how we spend our family time, the business, where we spend our vacations, everything.

But, you know what, I am ok with that. By defining and knowing what we are giving up, we are accepting it so that we won't be resentful of it when it does indeed happen. I am reaffirming my commitment to the sport and to my goal for this next year.

It IS scary, but exciting at the same time.

And so it begins...

The year of the Ironman. Well, actually it began 12 days ago. September 14, 2009. The day after the 2009 Wisconsin Ironman/the day we signed up for Ironman Wisconsin 2010. {Affectionately called: IMMOO. As in IM (Ironman) MOO (what a cow says)}

Anyways, here we are with our confirmation sheets.
Yes, dorks, I know, but it was a special moment for us. To actually, finally be in. "The dream" started about 6 years ago for us. We watched the Kona IM championships on t.v. and saw how incredibly cool, exciting and rewarding the experience could be. Ross said to me "If a 75-year old nun can do it, we can to do it." {Yes, there is a 75-year old nun who has finished over 33 IMs.} Anyways, I laughed and told Ross once he finished a marathon, I would start to take him seriously.

Side note: It's not that I don't believe in my husband, it's that he has a way of putting ideas in my head that I get really excited about, only to come and find out that he really doesn't have the interest or want to do the amount of work to get there. No biggie, I just didn't want that to be the case this time.

Anywhoo, in 2004 Ross ran his first half-marathon and in 2005 he completed the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. After the marathon, Ross turned to me and said "I am not going to run another marathon until we do our Ironman." OK, so I knew he was still into it and chances are we WERE going to do it. With one little on in the crib, I knew IM wasn't anytime in the immediate future, and we started talking about how we would do it when the kid (turned into kids) got older. In 2008, knowing that we were moving to Colorado, we decided to go and spectate the Madison IM. After watching it, we were more excited than ever and it was then we put a year on it-- 2012. It was the year both boys would be in school and we would have more time to train. However, when we got out to Colorado, the school systems were a little different and we realized with both kids in 5-day, full-day pre-school, THIS may be the time to train.

So, Spring of 2009 we set a race schedule that included 3 triathlons with the final triathlon being a half Ironman distance in August. If we finished that successfully, and feeling good about it, we would sign up for Wisconsin IM 2010.

We had a great, self-coached season this past summer. Some ups, some downs. LOADS of training. Tons of new experiences. We tried to integrate ourselves with other triathletes and learn as much as we could along the way. And, as a result, we did finish our halves in GREAT times (for us). So... onto Wisconsin the next month for volunteering, spectating and sign-up.

So here we are. $1100 in the hole with two pieces of paper confirming that we are crazy and about to have the most athletically challenging year of our lives thus far. Scared? Yes. Anxious? You bet. Excited? YOU CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE!!!!