Chris and I spent the entire weekend (other than a few hours to train and eat) preparing for the movers. We didnt actually have to pack anything, but we did have to do some major purgeing and cleaning. When we moved to Hawaii, I was moved by my company so we pretty much just had everything moved. This time it is on our own dime, so we had to really limit what we took. We gave away about 15 bags of clothes, threw out/recycled about 20 bags of trash/old papers/etc, and still have another half a room full of stuff we are giving to the driver and maid. It took a long time, but I feel much better now that we went through everything we own and decided what stays and what goes.
The movers came in at 9AM today and we were up at 6 getting everything ready, which included bribing the valets to let the van park in front of our building. I feel bad that I am at work today while Chris is dealing with the movers, but not bad enough to take a vacation day and stay home to help. Moving sucks, moving internationally sucks even worse.
The bad -
- Having to bribe the valet at 6AM to let the moving truck park on the street
- Having to bribe our doorman to let the movers into the building and use the elevator
- Not having a bed for several weeks
- Having to pack a month's worth of clothes in 2 suitcases
- Chris losing his passport which contains his newly recieved Visa in it 15 minutes before the movers arrived.
- Not being able to cook at home for a while, and not being able to have any smoothies
- No bike training for a while and no pool until I get to Houston
- The dogs have no idea what is going on and are therefore completely freaked out
The good -
-The spring cleaning that goes along with the move
-I finally took apart my bike for the first time since moving here and it will be getting a major clean when I get it in Houston
- Chris finding his Passport in a book on the bookshelf before the movers packed it
- No food at home = lots more froyo!
- No TV which means more time to train, but it also means I will miss The Bachelorette and the last episode of Friday night lights.
T-4 days before we touch down in Houston!
Jul 11, 2011
Jul 4, 2011
More changes coming
I just realized it has been over a month since I blogged anything. Not that there hasnt been plenty to blog about, but it just means I have been extra busy. First for the big news. Chris and I are moving back to Houston! Which means Whole Foods, a house with a yard, biking outside, and most importantly friends and family nearby. WE CANT WAIT! We were home a week or so ago and found a house and signed a lease which happens to be 1 mile from memorial park (great place with running and biking trails and a swimming pool) and a block away from another long running/biking route.
Memorial Park loop - where I used to do 99% of my running before moving
I can finally start riding my bike regularly without having to get on a plane to bike outside. It also means that we can finally get good meat, natural peanut butter, lara bars, coconut water, and weekly triathlons and running races to choose from (it's the little things that get me excited!). Plus the dogs will be able to get treats and toys since all they have here is rawhide. Needless to say I have been busy getting ready for this big change since the movers come on Monday. Last night we put together the dog crates so that they could get used to them before being shoved in them for several scary hours. At first they were running away from us and freaking out, but after giving them treats inside, they both decided to take naps in them a little bit later. I also had to pack up my bags I would be living out of while we wait for our stuff to arrive. It is hard packing for an ironman, but this is way harder. I dont know what I am wearing to work tomorrow, much less a month from tomorrow. Hell, I wont even know what city I will be working from a month from tomorrow!
Enjoy the 4th! I am sitting in my office on a freezing, cloudy Mexico City morning wishing I were at the Floatilla in Waikiki today. But it is Nola's 6th birthday so we will be celebrating for her, we just wont have the usual fireworks, which Liko is very happy about.
Memorial Park loop - where I used to do 99% of my running before moving
I can finally start riding my bike regularly without having to get on a plane to bike outside. It also means that we can finally get good meat, natural peanut butter, lara bars, coconut water, and weekly triathlons and running races to choose from (it's the little things that get me excited!). Plus the dogs will be able to get treats and toys since all they have here is rawhide. Needless to say I have been busy getting ready for this big change since the movers come on Monday. Last night we put together the dog crates so that they could get used to them before being shoved in them for several scary hours. At first they were running away from us and freaking out, but after giving them treats inside, they both decided to take naps in them a little bit later. I also had to pack up my bags I would be living out of while we wait for our stuff to arrive. It is hard packing for an ironman, but this is way harder. I dont know what I am wearing to work tomorrow, much less a month from tomorrow. Hell, I wont even know what city I will be working from a month from tomorrow!
Enjoy the 4th! I am sitting in my office on a freezing, cloudy Mexico City morning wishing I were at the Floatilla in Waikiki today. But it is Nola's 6th birthday so we will be celebrating for her, we just wont have the usual fireworks, which Liko is very happy about.
Jun 1, 2011
Pool time
I am back at it this week. After a full recovery week of doing nothing but sitting on the couch and eating, I was very ready to get back into some sort of a routine. Dont get me wrong, I am not training 20 hours a week, but I am at least doing somthing. I think if I had to take any more time off I would go crazy. I promised Chris that I would be around more for the time being, and I am going to stick to my word. So no big races until October for the 70.3 in Austin, which is exactly 2 weeks before our wedding. I havent mentioned that part to Chris. Im sure he wont be terribly excited about it, but it was an easy way to stay in shape for the wedding! However after seeing my tan lines from the past few races I have done, I might have to rethink this.
I got up early today for the first time since May 21st to head to the Y for some easy swimming. Now i dont mind sharing lanes at all, but today it was very difficult. I had one person walking his laps, one person doing water aerobics in the middle of the lane so every time we swam by we had to go into the other side of the lane, a lady who was swimming so slow i finished 100m before she hit 15m, kickboards flying into our lane from the class that was going on, and exactly 4 lifeguards standing around not saying anything. It was very frustrating to say the least. The lady that was going so slow actually got mad at me for passing her and then for accidentally running into her. I had to tell her that she needs to swim like she drives. If she is going to stop suddenly in the middle of the lane, she should check behind her to see if anyone is coming up on her (me) that cant stop suddenly without hitting her. She didnt find that an acceptable answer, or maybe she is actually swimming like she drives. I was glad that I didnt have a set of timed 100s that I had to get through because I was stopped every length of the pool to go around someone or wait for someone to pass. At one point there were 10 of us in the only available lane. It is mornings like these when I cant wait to get back to the US. At least if I were spending the 170 USD a month that I am spending here I can find pool with more than one lane open at a time!
Here is a photo I snapped of my walking friend. He takes up most of the lane, but at least he was moving faster than the swimmer who got mad at me!
I got up early today for the first time since May 21st to head to the Y for some easy swimming. Now i dont mind sharing lanes at all, but today it was very difficult. I had one person walking his laps, one person doing water aerobics in the middle of the lane so every time we swam by we had to go into the other side of the lane, a lady who was swimming so slow i finished 100m before she hit 15m, kickboards flying into our lane from the class that was going on, and exactly 4 lifeguards standing around not saying anything. It was very frustrating to say the least. The lady that was going so slow actually got mad at me for passing her and then for accidentally running into her. I had to tell her that she needs to swim like she drives. If she is going to stop suddenly in the middle of the lane, she should check behind her to see if anyone is coming up on her (me) that cant stop suddenly without hitting her. She didnt find that an acceptable answer, or maybe she is actually swimming like she drives. I was glad that I didnt have a set of timed 100s that I had to get through because I was stopped every length of the pool to go around someone or wait for someone to pass. At one point there were 10 of us in the only available lane. It is mornings like these when I cant wait to get back to the US. At least if I were spending the 170 USD a month that I am spending here I can find pool with more than one lane open at a time!
Here is a photo I snapped of my walking friend. He takes up most of the lane, but at least he was moving faster than the swimmer who got mad at me!
May 29, 2011
Bike and Run
Since I am on my last day of full rest, I figured I better get this RR finished before I forget everything.
The Bike -
Exiting out of T1 I was in a state of panic. I wasnt sure what was going to happen out there on the bike, but I knew that I had to just ride my race and not worry about what anyone else was doing. I had ridden most of the course a few weeks back and the winds were insane, so all I could do was hope for a better day. And boy did we luck out! The entire ride was overcast with almost no winds, so the first half and the last half felt about the same for me. My goal was to never dig too deep so I could make it through the run, and it worked. I got on the bike and started to try to take in my nutrition, but I felt so crampy and sick and couldnt get anything in but water. I think it was from swallowing so much lake water. I was starting to worry, but knew at one point I would feel well enough to start taking something in. There of course were tons of people passing me, but they all had words of encouragement or something funny to say. The miles were clicking off and even though I couldnt take anything in, I wasnt bonking. I got to the halfway point with our special needs bags and stopped. I drank my coke and a rice krispie treat and took off my HR monitor strap (I think that was putting some pressure on my stomach, making it worse), and headed out again. I kept thinking to myself that if I had to I could stop and regroup, but I was feeling much better. I started taking in my carbopro/gatorade/salt tab mix at every mile and that helped too, and I felt so much better on the second half. I just kept waiting for it to get hard, and it never really did. I know I wasnt pushing to where I could have, but this was my first IM and I wanted to do a smart race. The most annoying part of the bike was that I had Lady Gaga's Born this way stuck in my head throughout the entire 112 mile ride. I dont know all the words, so I just had the first part going through my mind over and over again. Finally I just decided to start singing it, probably annoying everyone else around me. I came into T2 and to my surprise I was able to walk.
T2 - I didnt want to leave. Everyone there was so nice and helpful, and if someone had given me a beer at that point, I would have called it a day and hung out in the tent.
The Run -
I thought after I was feeling better on the bike, I thought that I would be able to break 13 hours. I didnt have a goal other than to finish, but at that point, I knew a sub 13 was possible. However, the bad (and good) part of an ironman is that everything changes. I started to run and immediately cramped up and felt like I was going to puke. So I walked. When I walked I felt fine, but as soon as I started running, I started feeling sick. I ran into a group of people who were all walking for the same reason as I was. They werent used to the heat and couldnt take in any calories. I told one of the ladies that if I ran I felt like I was going to throw up, and she told me that she saw two people who got pulled off the course for throwing up. I didnt want that to happen to me. Plus I knew that I only got in half of my calories on the bike and didnt want to throw them all up. At every aid station I took in water, coke and pretzels, and figured at one point I would feel ok to run, and if not, I would still finish and I was ok with that. Around the end of the first lap I heard my name from behind and turned around to see Beth kicking ass in the run on her last lap. And right after that I ran into my family and a few friends. The second lap was about the same as the first with a lot more portapotty stops. I do not recommend going into one during an ironman, as apparently people use the entire thing as a toilet and there was shit everywhere. Even on the toilet paper. Finally at the very end of the second lap they brought out the chicken broth and I had about two cups and instantly started to feel better, which was good because I think hell is having to walk an entire marathon. I started running and didnt feel sick. YAY! I got a lot of comments about how fast I was going, but I think that was an illusion becuase almost everyone else was walking, so my shuffle looked like a run. Now my new goal was to break 14 hours. My garmin was dead, so I didnt know how much time I had, but I knew it would be close. When I got to the last section and saw my family I heard Mike Reilly say Rachel Ryerson from Houston Texas needs to hurry in order to break 14 hours. I looked up and had about 20 seconds left and the crowd went crazy. I sprinted as fast as I could (which was probably a 10 min pace at this point) to try to break 14 hours. I knew the best part of the race would be the finish chute and I wanted to be able to slow down and enjoy it, but breaking 14 hours became my goal, and to do that I had to kick it up a notch. I didnt even hear my name announced as I crossed the finish line, but some nice lady was there to catch me and help me walk around and wouldnt let me go until I found my family and they agreed to take care of me.
Finally able to run - bloated stomach and all.
Giving my grandmother a kiss in the middle of the run.
"Sprinting" to the finish.
Realizing that I was about to finish this thing and trying not to cry.
Finishing with just a few seconds to spare
I dont know if it was because the mental image I had of what the ironman would be like was basically a death march, or if I was delirious from lack of sleep, but I enjoyed every minute of this event, and never really got to a point where I felt like I couldnt go on. Even at my worst and sickest, I still was having a great time. This is a huge testament to the volunteers and people cheering out there (especially my family and friends) because they really made this event and kept me going. Any memory of the pain I experienced passed quickly because on Sunday I was begging Chris to let me do this race next year. Congrats to everyone who finished IMTX! Now I am off to enjoy my last day of full rest before I ease back into things tomorrow. No more eating crap and drinking wine every night.
The Bike -
Exiting out of T1 I was in a state of panic. I wasnt sure what was going to happen out there on the bike, but I knew that I had to just ride my race and not worry about what anyone else was doing. I had ridden most of the course a few weeks back and the winds were insane, so all I could do was hope for a better day. And boy did we luck out! The entire ride was overcast with almost no winds, so the first half and the last half felt about the same for me. My goal was to never dig too deep so I could make it through the run, and it worked. I got on the bike and started to try to take in my nutrition, but I felt so crampy and sick and couldnt get anything in but water. I think it was from swallowing so much lake water. I was starting to worry, but knew at one point I would feel well enough to start taking something in. There of course were tons of people passing me, but they all had words of encouragement or something funny to say. The miles were clicking off and even though I couldnt take anything in, I wasnt bonking. I got to the halfway point with our special needs bags and stopped. I drank my coke and a rice krispie treat and took off my HR monitor strap (I think that was putting some pressure on my stomach, making it worse), and headed out again. I kept thinking to myself that if I had to I could stop and regroup, but I was feeling much better. I started taking in my carbopro/gatorade/salt tab mix at every mile and that helped too, and I felt so much better on the second half. I just kept waiting for it to get hard, and it never really did. I know I wasnt pushing to where I could have, but this was my first IM and I wanted to do a smart race. The most annoying part of the bike was that I had Lady Gaga's Born this way stuck in my head throughout the entire 112 mile ride. I dont know all the words, so I just had the first part going through my mind over and over again. Finally I just decided to start singing it, probably annoying everyone else around me. I came into T2 and to my surprise I was able to walk.
T2 - I didnt want to leave. Everyone there was so nice and helpful, and if someone had given me a beer at that point, I would have called it a day and hung out in the tent.
The Run -
I thought after I was feeling better on the bike, I thought that I would be able to break 13 hours. I didnt have a goal other than to finish, but at that point, I knew a sub 13 was possible. However, the bad (and good) part of an ironman is that everything changes. I started to run and immediately cramped up and felt like I was going to puke. So I walked. When I walked I felt fine, but as soon as I started running, I started feeling sick. I ran into a group of people who were all walking for the same reason as I was. They werent used to the heat and couldnt take in any calories. I told one of the ladies that if I ran I felt like I was going to throw up, and she told me that she saw two people who got pulled off the course for throwing up. I didnt want that to happen to me. Plus I knew that I only got in half of my calories on the bike and didnt want to throw them all up. At every aid station I took in water, coke and pretzels, and figured at one point I would feel ok to run, and if not, I would still finish and I was ok with that. Around the end of the first lap I heard my name from behind and turned around to see Beth kicking ass in the run on her last lap. And right after that I ran into my family and a few friends. The second lap was about the same as the first with a lot more portapotty stops. I do not recommend going into one during an ironman, as apparently people use the entire thing as a toilet and there was shit everywhere. Even on the toilet paper. Finally at the very end of the second lap they brought out the chicken broth and I had about two cups and instantly started to feel better, which was good because I think hell is having to walk an entire marathon. I started running and didnt feel sick. YAY! I got a lot of comments about how fast I was going, but I think that was an illusion becuase almost everyone else was walking, so my shuffle looked like a run. Now my new goal was to break 14 hours. My garmin was dead, so I didnt know how much time I had, but I knew it would be close. When I got to the last section and saw my family I heard Mike Reilly say Rachel Ryerson from Houston Texas needs to hurry in order to break 14 hours. I looked up and had about 20 seconds left and the crowd went crazy. I sprinted as fast as I could (which was probably a 10 min pace at this point) to try to break 14 hours. I knew the best part of the race would be the finish chute and I wanted to be able to slow down and enjoy it, but breaking 14 hours became my goal, and to do that I had to kick it up a notch. I didnt even hear my name announced as I crossed the finish line, but some nice lady was there to catch me and help me walk around and wouldnt let me go until I found my family and they agreed to take care of me.
Finally able to run - bloated stomach and all.
Giving my grandmother a kiss in the middle of the run.
"Sprinting" to the finish.
Realizing that I was about to finish this thing and trying not to cry.
Finishing with just a few seconds to spare
I dont know if it was because the mental image I had of what the ironman would be like was basically a death march, or if I was delirious from lack of sleep, but I enjoyed every minute of this event, and never really got to a point where I felt like I couldnt go on. Even at my worst and sickest, I still was having a great time. This is a huge testament to the volunteers and people cheering out there (especially my family and friends) because they really made this event and kept me going. Any memory of the pain I experienced passed quickly because on Sunday I was begging Chris to let me do this race next year. Congrats to everyone who finished IMTX! Now I am off to enjoy my last day of full rest before I ease back into things tomorrow. No more eating crap and drinking wine every night.
May 27, 2011
Pre-Race and Swim
The whole week leading up to the race was a nighmare for me. I am not very good in the mental department and I kept having visions of not finishing the bike or getting so sick that I had to pull out of the race, things like that. I was even dreaming about the race nightly and walking up sweating. The mental game is a tough one and I need to get better at it when it comes to racing. Chris and I got to Houston on Wednesday night and headed to my mom's house. I had a complete day off on Thursday so after checking in at the woodlands, I did errands, watched Khloe and Lamar and basically tried to keep my mind off the race. Most people stayed in the Woodlands Wednesday and Thursday nights, but I wanted to stay away from the excitement of it all until the very last minute to keep my nerves away.
Friday AM Chris, my mom and I all drove up to the woodlands to do the bike and gear bag check ins and I had conversations with some very nice people. Most of whom were from places like NYC and were petrified of the heat we had in Houston. We nervously chatted while walking to drop the bikes off, and the rest of the day I spent relaxing in the hotel room and getting things ready for the next morning.
People who say you can sleep the night before your first ironman are lying! I tossed and turned until about 2:30 AM when I finally decided to get up and get going. I checked Facebook, ate and got everything ready and woke up the rest of the crew so we could head down to the race site at 4:30. The walk from the transition area to the start was about a 30 minute walk and I tried my best to just remain calm. I got marked and ran into my coach who I had never met in person. I was so glad I did because she gave me some great last minute advice that I used the entire way to keep me going.
The swim start was sort of a cluster f**k. I was one of the first in the water and had planned to stay to the outside and take a longer line into the first buoy so I could stay away from the mass, but it took so long for everyone to enter the water that I was actually in the middle of a huge mass of people. I got elbowed by some guy in my face and my nose and lip were bleeding so I had to stop and tread water for a while so I could calm down and start moving again. Other than swallowing massive amounts of nasty water, the swim was without incident after the start. The hit to the face cost me some time, but I was also slow because I didnt ever want to push too hard. Not knowing what to expect for the day, I didnt want to die at the end of the bike or run because I had a pushed too hard to have a great swim. So I kept it conservative and was about 10 minutes off what I was hoping to do.
Looking over at Chris wondering what the hell I am doing and thinking I really should pull out and go back to bed instead of doing this crazy thing.
The start - Im in there somewhere
Friday AM Chris, my mom and I all drove up to the woodlands to do the bike and gear bag check ins and I had conversations with some very nice people. Most of whom were from places like NYC and were petrified of the heat we had in Houston. We nervously chatted while walking to drop the bikes off, and the rest of the day I spent relaxing in the hotel room and getting things ready for the next morning.
People who say you can sleep the night before your first ironman are lying! I tossed and turned until about 2:30 AM when I finally decided to get up and get going. I checked Facebook, ate and got everything ready and woke up the rest of the crew so we could head down to the race site at 4:30. The walk from the transition area to the start was about a 30 minute walk and I tried my best to just remain calm. I got marked and ran into my coach who I had never met in person. I was so glad I did because she gave me some great last minute advice that I used the entire way to keep me going.
The swim start was sort of a cluster f**k. I was one of the first in the water and had planned to stay to the outside and take a longer line into the first buoy so I could stay away from the mass, but it took so long for everyone to enter the water that I was actually in the middle of a huge mass of people. I got elbowed by some guy in my face and my nose and lip were bleeding so I had to stop and tread water for a while so I could calm down and start moving again. Other than swallowing massive amounts of nasty water, the swim was without incident after the start. The hit to the face cost me some time, but I was also slow because I didnt ever want to push too hard. Not knowing what to expect for the day, I didnt want to die at the end of the bike or run because I had a pushed too hard to have a great swim. So I kept it conservative and was about 10 minutes off what I was hoping to do.
Looking over at Chris wondering what the hell I am doing and thinking I really should pull out and go back to bed instead of doing this crazy thing.
The start - Im in there somewhere
May 24, 2011
I am an IRONMAN!
I know I am about 3 days late with this, but I finished Ironman Texas! I am going to do a full race recap (dont worry, it will be in parts) over the weekend since I am traveling for work right now, but overall I had the best experience of my life! I loved every second of the race and never once thought that I wanted to sell my bike to the stranger on the side of the road in the middle of the ride and quit triathlon for good. Going into it I thought the swim would be a piece of cake, but after a really bad start and busted nose and lip, it was the worst part of the day. And my nemesis, the bike, is now my friend and I really had no issues on that portion of the race. So I guess it really is true that you cant predict anything in an ironman. I wasnt sure what to expect since it was a first time event, but it was amazing - the directors did an excellent job! The volunteers were out in full force and couldnt have been more amazing. I made sure to chat them up all along the way and thank them even when I felt like crap, and it always made me feel better. The spectators were out there even after dark and there were a few parts along the run where the fans were standing outside of the bars cheering well into the night. I am ready for my next one (and if Chris lets me, I may even do IMTX again).
I had some great pieces of advice that I used throughout the day that really helped me cross the finish line:
1) No matter how bad you feel, you will always get better and no matter how good you feel you will always get worse. This was my mantra throughout the first half of the bike and first 17 miles of the run when I was so nauseus I couldnt get anything down.
2) Take it one step at a time and never think about what is next. When I was on the bike I would not let myself even think about the run coming up. If I had, I think I might have quit altogether.
3) The race is a just three long training days put together. First a long swim, then a long ride, then a long run. All of them I had done before with no problems.
4) SMILE - even when I felt like crap, I smiled and it always made me feel better.
I only got through this with lots of support from my family, friends, virtual friends and my coach (who rocked out a 2nd place finish at IMTX!!), and of course, most importantly, Chris. He has put up with my crap, taken care of me, cooked my meals, cleaned my clothes, set up my powertap, made sure I got to sleep early, taken care of the dogs, and made sure I was able to function on a daily basis, and for all of this, I am so grateful. It means so much to have someone who supports my crazy habit! Oh, and he is in the process of making a video of the whole event that I will post! Seriously? What a bad ass!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
