Taking Endurance to a Whole New Level

Today, I need to introduce the five people that read this blog to Chris.  He's a fellow AKPsi'er, and has been hiking the Appalachian Trail for the past 4 months.  I was reading his latest post and these girl scouts told him he was amazing.  A lot of people think doing an Ironman is a great accomplishment.  I won't deny that.  But what about hiking 2184 miles from Georgia to Maine?  Now THAT is effing amazing! 

He's been on the trail for over 4 months, his new nickname is Tarzan, and he has less than 300 miles to go.  Imagine hiking almost a marathon every single day!  And having to bring 6000 calories and your shelter with you on your back.  No volunteers to hand you water bottles.  Although, through his posts I've learned about "trail magic" where locals or day-hikers leave food, beer, and soda for the thru-hikers.  He doesn't have Special Needs, but he does have designated places where he replenishes supplies with the help of his family and friends.  The DNF rate is 75%.  Only 1 in 4 will finish.

If you aren't familiar with the route, here's his introductory entry about the Trail.

http://hike2012.blogspot.com/2012/02/welcome-to-my-appalachian-trail-blog-i.html

Pretty darn amazing, huh?

To Vineman or Not to Vineman

It's a question I've been asking myself for at least 3 months.  Do I want to do it?  As I have said to a couple of people, there is a difference between being committed and being interested.  I was "committed" to IMAZ.  I  am "interested" in Vineman.  


One of the challenges of the Ironman sanctioned races is they sell out quickly.  You sign up 9-12 months in advance.  A lot can change in that time.  I signed up for Vineman not knowing I was going to get engaged or be planning a wedding.  That I was going to move.  And, that I was going to start traveling outside of California.  The way I look at it, every time I travel to Dallas or Minneapolis, it's anywhere between 16-20 hours of door to door travel each week.  Plus, I still have to put my 40 hours of work in on top of that 20 hours of travel. The 2 hour time change doesn't help.  


I'm not trying to make excuses.  But I have had to ask myself why it was so much harder this time.  And, the travel schedule and life changes are definitely part of the reason.  In addition, I never recovered from Ironman burn-out.  I know a lot of people just like to jump right into training for the next race.  But I want to go to Zumba and hip hop and yoga and join a gym again.  I'm tired of things like "2' @ Z3 and 30" @ Z4, RI 3'.  Repeat 5X).  To be fair, I really do enjoy my proscribed workouts.  I just am tired of the structure.


Realizing I'm burned out from the "structure" and not committed as I should be to training for this event, then what am I doing?  I'm being stubborn.  I'm caught up in having too much pride to not do something that I set out to do.  Nick keeps saying, "Vineman is always going to be there.  It will be there next year and the year after."  Coach Dave says the same thing.  But, I truly sat on the fence.  A straight 50/50 for so long.  Finally, Sedonia asked, "If you go there and just cheer us on, how will you feel?"  My answer was "disappointed."  Which pretty much told me I'll be putting on that wetsuit on Sunday morning.  


Vineman is in 6 days.  I can swim 1.2 miles.  I rode the course last month and the 56 mile bike was fine, although noticeably slower since I have lost strength/power.  But the run will be a challenge.  The whole day will be a challenge, no doubt, but the run will be part of the day where I ask myself why I bit off more than I could chew.  My friend Robin says, "The Half IM needs to be respected."  Yep!  And, I did not respect it.  At least I can admit it.


Yesterday, I took some time to write my race plan and my pre-race report.  I met with Coach Dave this afternoon and I have 2 goals -- a PR for T1 and T2!  I laughed out loud.  I guess since this is my first 70.3 it will technically be a PR in all 3 disciplines.  But in comparison to how much training I put in last year, it will not be my best day.  The other piece of advice he gave me was to think of this event as 10 hours.  Most people, including myself, have a time goal in mind for every race.  Personally, when I don't meet those goals, a little goblin takes over in my head spitting out negative thoughts.  Even for little Tri For Fun, I have a time I'm shooting for and at the point where I realize I'm not going to meet my goal, the little goblin starts to visit.  I didn't have the goblin so much at Ironman because all I cared about was midnight.  When Dave told me to just start knocking minutes off 10 hours, instead of shooting for 8 or 8.5 hours (and getting upset if I don't make those times) I thought he was a genius. 


"The die is cast"


"The pearl is in the river"


"What's done is done"


"Here goes nothing"


I am quite curious as to how the day is going to turn out.  The only way to find out is to do it.  

Couer d'Alene Video

Every Ironman has a story.  And every participant out there has a story.  Here is the official video from IMCDA highlighting just a few of those stories.  It's just under 30 minutes with the first 8 minutes focused mostly on the pros.  Then it gets into the age groupers.  Nick made the video around 13:50.  


The last five minutes is my favorite...

His & Hers

I haven't exactly been one of those bride-to-bes counting down the days until we tie the knot.  But yesterday a friend sent an email saying, "3 mos away....are you getting excited?"  The first thought was, "Of course!"  The second thought was "oh my goodness, it's 3 months away!"  Although there is a big "to do" list of the major things that is slowly being worked, it's about time to start paying better attention to the calendar and working on the details.  


I have a couple of random "his and her" type shots taken over the past year.  In honor of getting into the double digits countdown....


Helmets -- I'm Luke Skywalker.  He's Darth Vader

Bike trainers set aside after a workout

Yoga mats

Bike shoes

Wetsuits after a swim 

We both needed new endurance suits

Hydrating.  His is the pink one.  Ok, not really.

IMCDA Spectator Report

This is my second post in the past 2 weeks of watching a race and not actually doing the race!!!  I am definitely a better cheerleader than competitor.  It's a long entry.  It was a long day!


Sunday was Ironman Couer d'Alene.  Several former teammates were competing this year and we wanted to show them all the support they gave us at Ironman Arizona.  So we headed up to Spokane and drove to Couer d'Alene, Idaho.


About 14 of us rented a pretty big house about 5 miles from the city center.  On Saturday, Nick and I met Sedonia at the lake.  Most of the athletes were doing their practice swim.  Coach Dave put a swim on the calendar for us, considering the large body of water readily available.  It was a double-cap and earplugs required kind of swim with a 56 degree water temp.  

Being dorks and taking pictures with cap and goggles!

My hands always feel the shock of the cold (more so than my face), but after about 5 minutes, I surprisingly got used to it.  After the swim we went to the Volunteer Meeting and then walked around downtown CDA for a bit.

There are 5 mooses downtown!

A friend from college lives there so he took us to a really great restaurant about 25 minutes outside of town on the water.  

Amazing views on the other side of the lake

Coolest gas station we've ever seen!

Our favorite discovery of the day was Moose Drool beer.  We coined it the Coca Cola of beers because it just had that zingy feeling to it!  

My second favorite discovery was a huckleberry lemon drop.  CDA has huckleberry everything.  And, huckleberry is DELICIOUS!!!

We were up super early on Sunday.  We all volunteered for morning shifts so we could spend the day cheerleading.  Phil had bodymarking.  Dana was sunscreen.  Nick was a bike handler.  And, I was in the Women's Change Tent.  

The Swim
Since I was a volunteer, I had access to Transition and got to see friends before they headed to the water.

Rachel, Jim, Kristy, Luis, and Sam

It was cold.  It was drizzling.  And it was windy.  For those that were in the water, they all said the first loop was ok, but the rain and wind came during the second loop, which also made the water choppy and even colder.

The Change Tent
Meredith Kessler was the first woman out of the water and into the tent.  Typically the pros do not want to be helped as they have their own system.  But every single one of them asked for help.  They were all freezing and couldn't feel their fingers and needed help buckling helmets, getting on arm warmers, etc.  I learned Meredith wears socks AND shockingly she had her shoes in her bag.  I just assumed the pros leave their shoes attached to their bike.  She was so gracious and appreciative of our help.  I mentioned that I watched her win IMC two years ago and I couldn't wait to watch her win today.  She gave a big thank you and ran out.


I was waiting patiently by the door at 7:55 because I knew Sedonia would be coming up any minute.  Like clockwork, she came rounding that corner a minute later!  She had a red mark on her left eye where she got kicked.  She went black and blurry for a little bit, but pushed through it and was the 3rd female out of the water.  I stuffed her pockets, opened her water, fed her electrolytes, and she was out of T1 in 3:22!  All, I could think about was how very cold she was going to be!


Twenty minutes later was when the mayhem began.  By this point mostly everyone was doing full changes and they were all freezing.  Many of them were shaking so badly, it looked like they were having a seizure, which made it very difficult to dress them. I literally saw blue lips...multiple times.  One girl told me she was going to be sick.  The only thing I had for her to throw up in was her T1 bag.  So I held a bag while she vomited.  The smell almost made me throw up myself.  I asked for a new bag and another volunteer told me there weren't any and I had to stick her things back in it.  ARE YOU JOKING?!  I went outside, dumped her vomit and then had to put her wetsuit and wet clothes in the vomit bag.  I refused to put her non-swim stuff in the yucky bag and hid her belongings until I could find a another bag later.  


Overall, I really enjoyed the change tent.  Ideally, it would be nice if Ironman only let people that have participated in the sport volunteer for that station.  I saw several volunteers trying to put arm warmers on upside down or not understanding the products that were coming out of the bags, which just slows the athlete down.


The Bike
I found Dana after the T1 cutoff was over and she said there was a rumor that someone drowned during the swim.  Her captain then went to ask the medics and they confirmed it.  I was disturbed and I was angry (I was already annoyed with Ironman on other things going wrong that day, which I will have to write a separate post on later).  There are spotters.  There are kayaks.  There are rescue boats.  He's in wetsuit.  How can someone drown???  We went to get food in the volunteer tent and were sitting with some people on the rescue team and were fishing for information, but it was obvious they didn't know anything.  They did say they brought in about 100 people from the water.  Later the press reported a man had a heart attack and was pronounced dead at the scene.  And, then later the press recalled that statement and said he was recovering at the hospital. Thank goodness!!!  I just could not get the icky feeling out of my stomach for those first few hours and just had way too many scenarios running through my head about the entire situation.  

We watched a few pros start their 2nd loop (mind you, it's only 10am!).

And, then drove out to the bike course.  On the way, we saw Sedonia approaching Mile 50.  Unfortunately, she couldn't hear us screaming at her or the cowbell because Dana forgot to roll down the window.  And after that cowbell, we couldn't hear anything either!  ;)  We pulled over around Mile 75 and I put on my sparkle skirt, cartoon hands, and got out the signs.  

People don't want to cheer for you, if you don't smile.  But we loved all those that did.  We got to see a bunch of friends out there and we even got to see Sedonia on her way back up the hill.  This time she heard us and yelled, "You guys are crazy!"


The Run
After lunch we head back to the corner and all the super athletes are running by looking like they are on fresh legs despite having just ridden 112 miles.  I get that they are fast and in their "zone."  But if these people appreciate the support, they show no acknowledgement whatsoever.  And, I wasn't going to waste anymore energy on them.  I gave up and went for a walk.  I knew that in another hour or two, the people that actually would want the support would be ready for us.  First and second place male finished just as I was approaching Sherman Ave.  I figured Meredith Kessler would be in less than an hour so I hung around there until she came through.  

I headed back to our spot and got out the signs.  By this time in the day people smiled and laughed and gave high fives (actually high fours to me) and actually acknowledged that there were spectators on the course.  It was time to refuel with a 5pm snack and some huckleberry ice cream.  Eventually, we headed over to the grandstands to wait for Sedonia.  

We saw her three times on the run and we knew she had a tough day.  The bike course changed this year and most people commented that it was harder than expected.  They never got a break.  They'd climb and get to a flat with headwind.  And then they had to climb some more.  Sedonia came running through and we went to meet her on the other side.  She was not feeling well at all.  

Making a bed for herself on the sidewalk

I got to help TWO people vomit in a bag that day! :)  I told her how pretty her hair was after 140.6 miles.  That's what she remembers.  ha ha.  Nick convinced her to get to the med tent.


Back to the grandstands to watch Jim and George come in. We refueled again with some soup at 10pm (seriously, we have learned our lessons being out there for 18 hours in the past as spectators) and headed to toward the last aid station.  By this time of night the sun has finally gone to bed (the beauty of CDA race is the sun is up at 5am and doesn't go down until after 9pm) and the hobbling and shuffling is rampant.  

9pm and still light out!

I talked and walked with a whole lot of people.  And, saw the fireman.  I think this is his 9th Ironman.  He walks the entire marathon in his full uniform to raise money for two Firefighter related charities.  It is an extra 30lbs and the suit gets upwards of 130 degrees. 

Hanging out at the last aid station, we saw Lori, Elise, Emily, Sam, and Kristy pass through.  We then ran (yes, I ran in cartoon hands while carrying 2 signs) all the way back to the grandstands to see the finish.  

The Finish
There was a huge group running just before the end.  Mike Reilly was trying to bring them in.  He yelled when there was 30 seconds, but we knew she wasn't going to make it in time.  She ran down the finish chute with a sign that said, "Dear Asthma, I Win" and crossed at 17:00:23  He told her that she wasn't an official Ironman, but that she was in our hearts and got the entire crowd to yell to her, 'You are an Ironman!'  And, then one of the other finishers gave her his medal.  She took a victory lap up and down the grandstands with her sign.  Everywhere I looked, people were in tears.  


Here's a video of the last few minutes and what happened after midnight.

DeterMination

Two years ago at IM Canada, I was inspired by the Ironman "DeterMination" shirt.  When we went to IMAZ 2010, I saw the shirt again and pretty much commanded to Nick, "If I cross that finish line next year, you're buying me that shirt."  However, when I saw the shirt at IMAZ 2011, I was disappointed at the color/design and decided not to get it.  Fortunately, the 2012 season brings a redesigned shirt, and Nick bought it for me.  This shirt means more to me than my medal.  And, I hope to keep it forever!

  

QBP

Last week I started a new client engagement at Quality Bicycle Product in Minnesota.  A couple months back when my company first started talking to them, I had never heard of QBP.  I looked at the website and saw they are the largest bike distributor in the United States AND they distribute for practically every brand that I use.  They also have their own brand of bikes -- Salsa, Foundry, Civia, Surly and a few others.  Coach Dave told me that Sports Basement sources all their bike gear from QBP.  And, a few weeks ago when I walked into a local bike shop, there were 5 boxes from QBP being dropped off by UPS.  Law of attraction....


For those that were familiar with QBP, they all mentioned that how much people LOVE working for QBP.  They asked me to go there and see what the Koolaid is all about and report back.  Plus, I have been on a mission to prove to Kerry that there are some companies (that aren't small) and "get it."


My first impression is that there is crap everywhere.  But it's a good kind of crap!


Such as wheels lining the stairwells

Or displays like every Pearl Izumi bike and run shoe or these Lazer helmets

Random bikes all over the place.  I haven't figured out if these have any objective yet

And, bikes you can check out similar to a library system

I did take out a bike last night and rode for about 45 minutes.  It wasn't much of a workout as I was being shepherded by someone who was giving me the lay of the land.  But next week I will know where to go.  And, one of these days I will check out that Pugsley -- it's got a motor!


Some of the really great things about this place:

• Couches and lounges
• Beer.  Enough said.
• Casual dress (like super casual dress)
• Kind of weird to be talking to the CIO who is walking around in shorts, a tech tee, and flip flops
• #1 most environmentally friendly company in Minnesota -- sustainable flooring, no exterior paint, no cups, compost bins, etc.
• Anniversary celebration every month to recognize employees' annual anniversaries with QBP
• "Fire Alarm Mondays"
• Since Monday is their busiest day, other employees, including the CEO, are called in to the warehouse for 2 hour shifts to help pick orders!  Anyone working on the SAP implementation is currently exempt from having to participate, which I am supremely disappointed about. 
• An air-conditioned warehouse with windows and skylights!  
• This job has put me in plenty of warehouses over the years and most of them are hot as heck and smell like stinky armpit.  I was quite impressed with this endeavor of making it a pleasant environment
• The value of "Make it Special for Everyone"
• You want to put a mini art gallery in the place?  OK.
• You want hopscotch outside the front door?  Sure, why not.
• A four square court?  We can put one over there.
• Basically, any idea you have within reason, is generally accounted for
• Locker room with showers, towels, shampoo, soap, etc.  (Note: since not many women work there, every girl has her own dedicated locker).
• The slogan -- Every Butt On a Bike
• All the blueprints, specs, test plans, and training documents I am writing get to say "butt" on every page!
• Furniture made of bike parts
• Many of the tables and chairs are made of rims, cassettes, chains, and chain wheels, to create an artistic piece of furniture
• Free lunch on Mondays if you bike to work

• Lastly, the state of the art warehouse management system.  A computer is operating over 3 miles worth of conveyor belts popping things in and out of the right lanes and queues.  If you're a supply chain dork like me, this two minute video of their warehouse operations is pretty impressive.  
• http://vimeo.com/32586384

Synopsis:  I'm not even an employee and I've already drunk the Koolaid.