R & R and a little training self reflection

*Today is my rest day and I feel great. I really thought with the volume and intense record breaking heat we've had in the last week that I would have hit a wall. But alas, I'm still standing tall with a massive smile on my face. A dental cleaning, pampering on my hair and a yummy Starbucks Banana Chocolate Vivanno can do a lot for a girl. Speaking of dental cleanings, the fluoride toothpaste my dentist prescribed is awesome. Malto, Gu and Cliff bars can't faze my pearly whites...I'm sure the Scope I bring on my long bike rides help as well :D. I almost feel like a girl again, almost.

*Living in hell for the last week (talking about hot weather here) I've managed to drop 5 lbs, this is with taking in salt sticks and drinking (H2o :)) like a fish. The weight loss is purely water weight and brings up a few questions. I'm 5 lbs lighter, am I more efficient? Do I really need to carry around 5 lbs of water in my muscles? I really don't feel dehydrated, if I'm not dehydrated how much of this hydration loss is going to affect my training? Sodium is such a fine balance, too much or too little and I swell....it's not often I don't swell. Note to self - never get pregnant. Too much and my tummy hurts, not enough and my muscles cramp. WTF?!
I'm not really a fan of sweating when I'm not training.

*7/31/09 - I am now less then a month a way from my "A" race. How did this happen? How did the days go by so quickly? I've been avoiding the countdown. I didn't want to think about time, but now is the time to start. On August 30th I will come face to face with what I believe is my true love, we'll see if it's as good as I expect it to be.

*I've been asked the question "Are you prepared for the fact that you might not finish?" and read or heard comments such as "potential Ironman".
This is a topic I really tend not to focus. It's a negative and I don't want any kind of negativity floating around in my head. YET it's a very real subject and I am a realist. Shit may hit the fan...take that back, it will hit the fan, I just hope I have what it takes to bounce back. I'm doing everything I can mentally and physically to prepare for this race. IF for someone reason I am unable to cross the finish line then I will accept that it just wasn't meant to be, everything happens for a reason.

*I'm excited to meet Gumby :)

*I've walked on a "burning ring of fire....I went down, down, down and the flames went higher. And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire. The ring of fire."
There have been times this year that when in confidence I've become arrogant, maybe not boastful to those around me but in my own head. Not that I ever bit off more then I could chew but having the mentality of success without using common sense fundamentals to back it up. I went into a few training workouts without correct nutrition/hydration - thinking I'd be ok without. Ha! I thought I was invincible to injury - then I fractured my fibula. I raced my "B" race in arrogance and thought my fitness could over rule heat. Ha! I allowed my level of fitness to overrule my mental toughness, allowing negative words to race throughout my head and admit defeat. I've disgraced myself, shamed myself and become very humbled.

*Training schedule / lemons and lemonade
I went into the year with a well throughout periodization schedule. My training was very structured with 3 weeks of building - 1 week focused recovery, built in races with rest in between. THEN I got injured - fractured fibula and everything went to shit. This totally F%$ed with my mental TYPE A must-plan-every outlook. I was taken out of run commission for 3 months - in the heat of my strength and power period. On top of that I had to withdraw from the Wildflower HIM, I was looking forward to racing this almost as much as doing IMC. This was lowest point I had reached thus far in my triathlon training/racing. My heart was crushed. What in the world was I to do? A phrase, mental outlook and an alternative fitness method changed it all.
***Always be ready to think/train outside the box
***Know how to turn sour lemons into the sweetest lemonade
****Aqua Jogging
I still do believe aqua jogging is the axis of all evil, along with sugar. But it was aqua jogging that kept my run fitness/form/endurance up. 3 months off of dry land contact and it only took me a couple of weeks to get back up to a 1/2 marathon. I missed out on the speed phase of running but realistically I was already where I needed to be for my IM marathon goal and with aqua running I did not loose any fitness :). Not being able to run forced me to work on my speed/efficiency in swimming and biking power, both of which I made significant gains. This was encouraging. My type A-ness also got a much needed tone down as my training schedule had gone A-Wall. I kept the periodization going but didn't forecast out. I knew how many weeks of what kind of training I needed. I decided to build my weeks as they came along, never more then 2 weeks out. What more did I need? A long bike here, a long run there with a few bricks and races thrown in an wa-la! Race day will be the true test if my chaotic training worked our not.

*5 weeks of long training weekends.
June 27th-28th
27th - Raced Pac Crest HIM - 2nd AG finish
28th - Recovered with the Pac Crest Oly - hehe placing 15th in my AG and a PW - but had a ton of fun!

July 3rd-5th
3rd - Biked Bull Run in 95 degree heat - 65 miles with over 9000ft of climbing
4th - Ran 3 hours
5th - OW swim

July 11th-12th
11th - Biked from Seattle to Portland in one day - 203 miles /11:20 min riding time
12th - recovered

July 18-19th
18th - 3.5 hour LSD run
19th - 80 mile ride up Larch Mnt - 4500ft of climbing

July 25th-26th
25th - 102 mile bike ride w/ 5200 ft of elevation gain/ 4.25 mile run - 70-90 degree heat!
26th - OW swim and recovery

3 more weekends to go and I'm still energized, motivated and giddy :) And who says this girl over does it?

*And to save the best for last
I am truly blessed to have an amazingly mother. She
-follows me daily on my blogs
-checks in when training goes poorly
-joins me for pretraining and recovering fuel
-inspires me
-sits at my looooong races only to see me all of 5 seconds to cheer. Hehe, "run like a girl" I'll never forget that one. When she can't make it to a race I get endless supportive txts
-makes me smile when I'm having a bad day - Toe-knee-fish!
-lets me sleep in her tempurpedic bed (she takes the futon) after I biked 203 miles and can barely remember my own name.
I <3> my MOM