ONE MONTH.

Holy crap. I can't believe the Ironman is only a month away.

I am going through the full range of emotions. I am everything from exhilarated to exhausted.

Tommy and I signed up for this race over a year ago, right after we did our first half Ironman distance at Longhorn. Longhorn was a race that we not even close to being prepared for...we hadn't trained and we didn't really know anyone else who was doing tri's, so we didn't have anyone to talk to about it. But we went out there with blind excitement and had the time of our lives (not the best race of our lives, but an incredible time). Afterwards, I was hooked...and the only race left to sign up for Cozumel (darn!). So Cozumel it was.

So for one year, I have been training for this race. After Longhorn, we focused on the marathon in January and then after the marathon we took two weeks off (not off off, but like, not as MUCH exercising...do athletes ever actually take time off off?) and the training began at the beginning of February. Then the REAL training began in June. But for 9 months, we have been pushing ourselves to the limit. Waking up at 4am most days of the week and working out before work. Sleeping in is snoozing till 7AM. I have my arm band from Longhorn on my dashboard as a reminder to keep with it. It WILL all be worth it.

We are at a level of fitness that I would have never actually thought possible. I ran 20 miles before work last week and was fine. I mean, my knees hurt a little, but my legs were fine. I wasn't any more tired than normal and I wasn't sore. Not even a little sore. That's not normal.

I haven't actually lost any weight (not a single pound) or gone down a pants size (nope, still a 10, mother effers) and all my clothes fit exactly the same...but I promise you that beneath this layer of fat, I can totally kick your ass. Ha. Just trust me. But my biggest fear on the weight thing is that if I can only MAINTAIN my weight with this level of activity, I'm going to blow up like a blimp when I stop working out (as much)...and then of course, if I have more energy, I'm more likely to go out to dinner sometimes, which means more calories...it's a downward spiral and it does not bode well for me.

I am so ready for this race to be here. Most of our friends are done (or almost done) with their racing seasons...and we still have a month left. There are days when I feel ready and I feel excited and I feel like I know what the last year has been about. But ultimately, I know I am ready for it to be here...even if I am not physically ready to race. I need this. This is what it's about...the ultimate race in a gorgeous locale surrounded by all the people we love and mounds and mounds of Meixcan cheese. I couldn't ask for a better support team. (although, I'm pretty sure they are coming for the crystal clear water and not so much to see me, but that's okay!)

Mostly I'm tired of the pile of laundry that I can't keep up with, the dust collecting on all my furniture, the half completed chores, the lack of social time, the lack of sleep, the lack of Mexican food...mostly, I'm ready to have my life back. I just buy more sports bras when I run out. Not surprisingly, I run out of sports bras before I run out of underwear (most of my workout shorts have panties in them). I hate missing birthdays and Sunday Fundays...or Tuesday Fundays.

2 more hard weeks left, and then it's the easy stuff...only 10 mile runs and 60 mile bikes on the weekends...and then it's home free!!

I

Fires - http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6692152.html

HTFU.

I went to the foot doctor today, whom I really liked BTW, and he told me quote, un-quote, "to HTFU". That's when I knew he was the doctor for me.

HTFU, for you non-triathletes, stands for Harden the F Up. And my doctor said it to me. Niiiice.

Anyways, basically, he did xrays and checked out my foot (duh). There were no visible signs of a fracture, but yet again, there is still a chance of a fracture in the future. Mostly he thinks that my big toe bone is inflammed because it overlaps the second toe bone. He said there is probably no way it will get better without rest, but that he didn't figure I would actually rest, so I better HTFU. And when it starts to hurt at mile 6 of the marathon, I better HTFU. So, it looks like I'll be HTFUing for the next few weeks.

If it still hurts after the race, he said he would recommend an MRI to check for fracture again, but there isn't much point in doing that right now since I'm not gonna stop running anyway.

So HTFU it is. I'll be laying off the speedwork and the extreme mileage, but otherwise, I'll be training as normal.

Viva la HTFU.

Week 19 - 133 Miles

In the water: 4.3 miles - 2 hours 35 minutes.
On Rocky: 110 miles - 6 hours 45 minutes
In my Asics: 19 miles - 3 hours 23 minutes
On the bosu ball: 1 hour

Total Mileage - 133.3 miles - 12 hours and 43 minutes

Well, this week definitely did not go the way it was supposed to, but all in all it wasn't a terrible week. I feel guilty about its lack of mileage, but there wasn't anything that could have been done about it, due to the Springtown Suck, so oh well. And I got some pretty amazing swims in, so I really can't complain!

I think we were just pooped from the last 4 weeks of hard...so we are going to take it semi-easy this week and then pick it up for one last ditch effort next week. THEN the taper will finally begin. Finally.

Hopefully Tommy can heal properly and quickly and all well be well with the world. Fingers crossed!

Springtown Suck, er, I mean, Spin.

My thoughts from our ride on Saturday were. “Well, the wind is a nice touch”, and that was just about the only “nice” thing I can say about the ride.

Tommy and I went to the Greater DFW area for the weekend to go to a friends wedding in Wichita Falls. We went to my parent’s house on Friday night to drop off the dog, see them for a bit and then hit up an organized Century Ride that I will affectionately call the Springtown Suck.

The Springtown Suck was intended to be our last century before the big dance, but since it sucked so bad, we didn’t finish and now we still have another long ride to complete. But in good news, I did get to take my first ride in the sag wagon. YAYY.

First of all, the roads in the Fort Worth metroplex suck. They suck a lot. I have never ridden on roads that suck as much as these roads sucked. I must be some spoiled brat about my roads, but seriously, we just don’t ride on roads that bad…ever. There are potholes, chip seal, no shoulders, awful drviers, fish tailing 18 wheelers, gravel, roadkill, you name, these roads have it…the one thing they DON’T have however is someone to actually design roads that don’t suck.

Secondly, the course was hilly. Really hilly. And we all know I suck at hills. And I wasn’t in the mood for hills. And I had run 19 miles the day before. And I was tired. And the roads sucked. And mostly, crappy roads just zap the energy right out of you…between that, the hills and the lovely headwind (that I swear we biked directly into the entire time), I was done. D.O.N.E. Done.

Of course, the roads, the hills and the wind are not the ride organizers fault…so this ride was not dubbed the Springtown Suck for reasons beyond their control. (Although, as a cyclist, I would take an activist approach to get those roads repaired, but that’s just me!).

The Springtown Spin was dubbed the Springtown Suck because it was the most terribly organized ride I have EVER been on.

We stopped at the 23 mile mark to pee, grab a snack, and refill water bottles. And thank goodness we stopped there, because the next aid station wasn’t until mile 53. And then at that aid station, they were out of water, Gatorade and snacks. They didn’t have enough snacks for the people on the 100 mile route. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

I brought about 90 ounces of water with me on the ride, I would have brought more, but that’s all I can fit on my bike. But after about 50 miles, I was out. Completely out of water. I brought enough snacks to get me through the day, but I usually like to eat the cookies and tasty treats provided at an organized ride, because “Hey, I paid for cookies, I wanna eat cookies”. But there weren’t any snacks at all. Sooo, I’m still not certain what my entry fee paid for. Because it couldn’t have been for the police officers “directing traffic…because those guys barely got out of their car, nevermind actually stopping traffic for us.

After the wonderful aid station at mile 53ish, we got back on our bikes, pissed off at this crappy ride…fully expecting to have to stop at a gas station to buy our own Gatorade and snacks. But we didn’t find an gas stations. Finally, we got to an aid station at about Mile 65. They had water refills, but no snacks…because when you ride 100 miles, all you really need is water. Electrolyte replacement is a myth.

And then things got really good.

I passed the station without stopping, but Tommy stopped. I passed him, but slowed down into an asphalt parking lot…or I thought it was asphalt. Turns out it was 3 inches of gravel. I wiped out. Awesome. Luckily, I wasn’t going very fast. I hurt my shoulder and got some road rash on my leg (ugh!), but all in all, I am totally fine. I won’t be swimming any time soon, but I’m okay. However, after the first 65 miles of terrible riding, I was done. I was tired, I was semi-hurt and I just didn’t want to ride anymore. So I just sat there.

I guess Tommy thought I was really hurt because he rode over to me really fast, hit the gravel and flew over his handle bars. It’s a good thing he has a head though because his face was there to break his fall. He landed face first into the gravel, scratched up his face, messed up his shoulder and forearm really bad, and road rash all over his knee. He looked like he lost a really long fight.

The best part about the Springtown Suck though, is that none of the volunteers at the aid station bothered to get up to see if we were okay. And then when I asked if we could get sagged, she laughed at me and asked what I would do with my bike. Are you freaking kidding me? He just flew over his handlebars. Use your brain.

We still had a little bit of water left and we were able to at least get most of the dirt out of our wounds on our own, and then convince the girls to call someone to pick us up. Well, the finally did call someone, but they told them to go to the wrong place…so we waited for about 45 minutes before anyone came looking for us.

The medic finally showed up with his kit of bandaids, which was helpful since you know we were scratched for head to toe. We convinced him to give us a ride back to the start (he didn’t really want to) and that was that.

Worst ride ever.

I will never ride in the DFW metroplex ever again. If I ever move to Dallas, I will give up cycling. I have now biked 140ish miles and all 140 sucked.

Springtown Spin can suck it.

Drowned Rat.

The good news is that my longest run of the season is done. The bad news is that my foot is killing me now.

Ugh.

Our training schedule says we should never run more than 2.5 hours, but since that would mean that I would never run more than about 15 miles (because I am slower than molasses), I threw that crap out that window. So, we have done mostly 10-12 miles every weekend, a few 15 milers, and then we planned to 19 this weekend. Ideally, we would do 19-20 a couple of times, but life and injuries have prevented that. Oh well.

And then Vince decided that this weekend was the best weekend in world to get married. Sweet.

Ugh.

So that meant we could either go the wedding, not drink (much), come home early and run 20 miles the morning after...and then drive home to Houston. OR we could do our run during the week, ride on Saturday before the wedding and be able to play a little bit that night...and of course, still plan on running on Sunday, just not 20 miles.

We opted to scheduled a 20 mile run for Thursday before work so we could play. Big surprise. Ouch.

Of the Mother Nature has it out to get me and planned a wonderful slew of storms for yesterday morning. Thanks biatch.

Our alarm went off at 3:30 (because that's how early I have to wake up to run 20 miles and still get to work by 9ish) and it was pouring. We checked the radar and there was a big red blob over our house (I could have told you that by looking out the window, but I digress)...we decided to wait it out thirty minutes, and see if the red section had passed. It did, and we headed out to the park.

We were ready to run at 4:30AM, alone at the park...seriously, it was a ghost town. We saw one chick (we saw her twice, she ran far), but that was it...for those non-Houstonians out there, the park is packed 24/7. There are always always always people there. It was creepy to see it so barren.

I wore a trash bag for the first loop, but quickly realized that was a pointless effort. We dodged puddles for about 0.25 miles and then realized that was pointless too. It was just going to be wet. Really really really wet. We ran one loop at the park, then headed out towards the Heights trail. Heights was a mud pit, so we ran up our old street (where we discovered our house had been demolished...siiigh) to 20th and a water stop.

Oh, and I peed my pants. Ha. It was much easier than peeing on the bike and the rain helped me feel clean again. I mean, I was soaked to the bone. What difference does a little pee make? Not much I discovered.

I actually peed my pants 3 times during this run. I'm so gross. I wouldn't be friends with me if you paid me. Totally awesome though. Watch our Cozumel! If peeing your pants is cool, then consider me Senor Miles Davis!

From 20th, we headed towards the White Oak Bayou trail and that's when the lightening started. Ugh. I'm totally down with running in the rain (I'm lying, I would never run in the rain if I hadn't carbo loaded like a champ and didn't want to waste the calories), but lightening is just unsafe. And of course, at this point, we are at the furthest point in our run and have no choice but the continue running in the rain back to the park. TC Jester was a mud pit, but there was no avoiding it, so we slogged through it...slowly and painfully. Those 2 miles really hurt our splits!

We finally got back to the park, without being struck by lightening, and planned to do two more loops. I started getting grouchy, so we only did about 1.5 loops before Tommy threatened to divorce me and I quit, but that was 19 miles, so eh...that's good enough for me.

The rain stopped long enough for us to each foam roller and stretch a little.

My shoes were STILL wet this morning. I am chaffed in places I didn't know I could chafe (mostly places I didn't put Body Glide/Chois Butter because I didn't know I could chafe there...duh), but I didn't get a single blister (what? I was surprised too.). My quads are a little sore today, but nothing outrageous...I definitely wished I had a one story house, but it wasn't that bad. Mostly my foot is hurting a lot.

So, 100 mile ride tomorrow, then another hard week next week and we are D.O.N.E. Finally!!

Cursed.

Three and a half years ago, I met the love of my life...he is my BFF and he looks dam good without a shirt on, so I married him. It was pretty much that simple. That's the key to a good marriage kids, find a hot one and make him buy you jewelry. Done and done.

However, someone upstairs must be having a hay day because everyplace that has been important to our relationship is gone.

We met at Little Woodrows on West Alabama. Demolished.

We fell in love while I lived in this crappy white house with Natalie. Un-liveable and for sale (foreclosure!).

We got engaged at Brennan's. Burned down.

We got married at the Majestic Metro. Burned. (still standing, but burned).

And today on our run, we discovered that the first house we lived in together was demolished.

I wouldn't be friends with us if I were you.

Holy Smokes.

The fires in my neighborhood are starting to get out of control...and they are moving closer which I am not really a fan of. Inner city livin' is cool, but seriously, I have the worst luck. This latest fire is approximately 1 block from my house...I saw the firetrucks heading there on my way to the gym. Sveeet. Hopefully his next target will be the crack house down the street.

Am I the only one who thinks that chewing gum while going to the bathroom is gross?

How do we feel about singing in the shower? In public places? There is a lady who sings in the shower at the YMCA and it drives me up the wall. UP THE WALL. This is not your house lady. Save the Jesus songs for another day. (Why does it make me so crazy? I have no idea.)

Today I swam next to an old dude who did Kona. He told me I was a good swimmer but that I would be a lot faster if I could flip turn. I flippin' hate flip turns. But yeah, I would be faster. Ugh. I still have water in my ears. 4000m = DONE. That guy swam Kona is 1:22...I think I found my swim goal! 1:22, here I come!

A picture from my high school reunion. Mums are awesome. And do NOT look like cow bells.

I can't decide what to be for Halloween. Ugh. What do we think the odds of me being able to fit into my old tutu's are? Zilch? Probably. Gonna try anyway. That'll be depressing.

I'm planning on running 21 miles before work tomorrow. Shoot me. Hello 3am!

And the Don. He be cool. His leg is still hurting him so he is very pitiful lately.

Francis should be Jon Gosselin for Halloween. Seriously. Haha. OMG.

My new job is hard. There are lots of things to memorize and I can't take notes fast enough. Brain is hurting. I hear that it gets easier. Waiting for that day...

Week 18 - 172 Miles

In the water: 3.2 miles - 1 hour 46 minutes.
On Rocky: 147 miles - 9 hours 0 minutes
In my Asics: 22 miles - 3 hours 40 minutes
On the bosu ball: 2 hours

Total Mileage - 172.2 miles - 14 hours and 26 minutes

Despite the significant decrease in overall mileage this week, this was probably the hardest week I've had yet. My workouts were just hard, not because they were intense, but because my body was rejecting me everytime I put one foot in front of the other. It was screaming for me to stop. I was emotionally and physically drained. And I may or may not have tried to do a little too much in the evenings, which I'm sure didn't help. I got free tickets to U2 - what am I gonna do? Say no? Pa-sha!

But I learned my lesson! I will not be having any outings during the week for the next two weeks..sorry pals!

By Thursday evening, I was able to turn my mood and body around - I squeezed in a wonderful 4 mile run that I desperately needed and it turned my frown upside down! Saturday I did a nice easy 12 miler with my friend, grabbed a delicious breakfast at The Breakfast Klub with LauraB, and hit up Lake 288 for a freezing hour and half swim. I almost pussed out during the swim, but knew that Tommy would make fun of me, so I HTFUed and finished it up. It was rough. FYI - egg sandwiches and swimming = not so much.

Sunday we met a pretty large group at the Bronco Burrito in Pearland for a 115 mile ride. Surprisingly, I was able to keep up with the lead pack fo rthe first 80 miles...now this may be because they were waiting for me, but regardless, I felt pretty awesome to be the only chick in a group of guys. And there was never a line for the bathroom! HOORAY! At mile 80, the wheels started to fall off though...but I got some delcious cookies (remind me to put cookies in special needs bag, they get me through pain everytime) and we were able to finish relatively strong. The wind was brutal, but we averaged about 18.5mph while riding (not including stopped time).

But the best part was heading to Kemah for a tasty seafood lunch on the boardwalk...it was a gorgeous day and even though we were smelly, it reminded me, once again, how grateful I am that Tommy and I can train together. It was the perfect day.

Only two more hard weeks left and then it's home free. We are planning on running 21 miles before work on Thursday...hopefully my foot can hold out!! And then a century ride in Springtown...then the wedding of Vince and Ruthie - hello open bar after burning 3000 calories! Danger danger! Mental note, find a designated driver...

Dreaming.

I still can't believe the Ironman is so close.

I am at a point in my training where I am exhausted, drained, tired, missing friends, missing sleeping in, and trying to decide if all the sacrifice is worth it. There are days when I can say without a doubt that this is all worth it - the times when Tommy and I meet our friends for workouts or when we are alone and just enjoy the quality time together. And then there are times that I think, "Why the hell am I up at 4AM to ride my bike before work when I could have gone to dinner with friends and slept until a normal hour?" - and it's on those days that it's helpful for me to read things like this.

It puts it all in perspective. We do this because it's hard. We do this because it pushes ourselves to the limit - both in training and on race day. We do this because ultimately we love being out there, in the elements, doing what we love with people who love it too...and may the best man win. You never know what the day may bring...no matter what you do, how hard you train, how fast you go...you may not finish. The joy in finishing is knowing that anything could have happened.

I still maintain that I WILL NOT be signing up for next year, but I know that if I can cross that finish line still standing, it will be one of the hardest things I have ever had to pass up.

47 days until I become an Ironman. 3 more hard weeks and then the taper begins...

My peoples.

I got a new follower today!! Let's all say "hi" to Nukem!!

Hi Nukem!

I am now up to a solid 6 followers. I think I am well on my way to quitting my day job, eh?

I've been blogging for 4 years and I have 6 followers. Pretty awesome by anyone's standards.

Hip hip hooray for Nukem. Thanks for joining this exclusive club. Please send your yearly club dues to me. You know where I live.

Week 17 - 257 Miles

In the water: 2.17 miles - 1 hour 12 minutes.
On Rocky: 243 miles - 12 hours 46 minutes
In my Asics: 11.5 miles - 1 hours 55 minutes
On the bosu ball: 2 hours

Total Mileage - 256.67 miles - 15 hours and 53 minutes

7 weeks of training left...only 3 more hard weeks and then we are home free!!

I took it easy on my foot this week and didn't do much running. I did a lot of ellipticalling (which I counted at running), some aqua jogging (which counted as running) and then I did a little actual running...I determined that I love running and I couldn't kick the habit entirely.

My mileage was HUGE this week due to the lack of running and the massive amount of biking. Ooops. My quads hurt a little. Okay, they hurt a lot.

Bike Around the Bay was awesome. We were not the fastest group (they were sooo fast), but we were the second fastest group...and therefore we had our own police escorts. I've never felt like such a stud. Seriously. That is probably the closest I will ever come to knowing what it's like to win a race. It was incredible. OMG. IT WAS AWESOME! I will definitely be doing this ride again in the future - I will be hoping for much ebtter weather though! The wind, cold and rain were brutal!!

After Day 1, our new friend Mandy went for a 20 mile run...we felt like slackers because we only did 6. And THAT my friends is how much training for an Ironman can skew your reality.

I also got in the pool and swam 2 miles - I've still got it! I knew I could still do it, but because it had been so long, I was starting to doubt myself...but nope, I can still swim forever. Thank goodness. I do not want to have to start swimming regularly.

Looking forward to this week! Tonight is the Beerathlon!! I am going to start easing running back into my schedule and see how it goes...I figure a beer drinking relay is just the ticket!!

Leaping Lizards.

Every year in elementary school, Ms. Raiden, the evil PE teacher extraordinaire, started a jump rope team. I, big surprise, never made the team. This failure still haunts me. I loved loved loved jumping rope. Nowadays, I can barely make it 2 minutes before I am on the ground gasping my last breath, but back then, it was easy.

These girls, however, ALL made the jump rope team and pretty much rock my world. I promise you that this 8 minute video is worth every single second.

If I ever see Ms. Raiden on the street, I'm pretty sure I would take her down. I'd probably take down Ms. Pain the art teacher too. She was a big pain in the you know what (yeah, we said that joke a lot back then).

Seriously. 8 minutes of video. Worth it.

(On another note, Kona is tomorrow! Can't wait to watch some race coverage!)

Week 16 - 153 Miles

In the water: 0.75 miles - 33 minutes.
On Rocky: 135 miles - 6 hours 45 minutes
In my Asics: 18 miles - 3 hours 3 minutes
On the bosu ball: 3 hours

Total Mileage - 153.75 miles - 10 hours and 21 minutes

I took it easy on my foot and didn't do any running on Saturday...what's interesting is that I still hit 18 miles for the week. I did a lot of walking (and counted that as running), but I still can't believe the number of miles. Oh well!

This week I am taking off running entirely and doing Bike Around the Bay this weekend. I may attempt a short run after Day 1 (70ish miles) and see how it goes, but I won't be pushing it at all. I'm afraid of losing my speed, but I'm more afraid of breaking my foot...sooooo, we will see.

We are officially 55 days until showtime. I can't believe it. I can't believe how close it is. My friends are making shirts. They look amazing. I'm working on my farmers tan and my invisible 6 pack.

I CAN'T WAIT!!