Now to just clean and prep my bike, organize and pack my race bags, stay fueled and healthy for 2 more days, and try to stop obsessing about whether I am getting sick or not!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Ironman Check-in: Done!
Now to just clean and prep my bike, organize and pack my race bags, stay fueled and healthy for 2 more days, and try to stop obsessing about whether I am getting sick or not!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Ironman Arizona Tracking Information
On Sunday morning at 7:00am MST, I'll start the race day that will take me until sometime after sunset to finish. I am hopeful for a significant PR over my previous IM finish (14:59:02) and while I have some goals in mind I can't give you anything more definite than that. It's a very long race day and you never know what might happen along the way. I can only hope that I stay positive and keep moving forward no matter what!
If you are interested in tracking on race day, there are a couple ways to do that.
#1 Go to Ironman.com on race morning and there will be an orange-y box right up front with Ironman Arizona and a link for the Athlete Tracker. Enter my race number (#329) there! Once I am nearing the end of the run, you can also watch the Audio/Video link in the hopes of seeing me cross the finish line live.
#2 I'll be wearing a small GPS device for the bike and run that will allow you to see my location on course at any time. Go to My Athlete Live and click the Track My Athlete link in the top right. Find Ironman Arizona and click on my name. (For reference, the course maps can be found on the Ironman Arizona site).
Happy tracking, and thanks in advance for the support and cheering!
If you are interested in tracking on race day, there are a couple ways to do that.
#1 Go to Ironman.com on race morning and there will be an orange-y box right up front with Ironman Arizona and a link for the Athlete Tracker. Enter my race number (#329) there! Once I am nearing the end of the run, you can also watch the Audio/Video link in the hopes of seeing me cross the finish line live.
#2 I'll be wearing a small GPS device for the bike and run that will allow you to see my location on course at any time. Go to My Athlete Live and click the Track My Athlete link in the top right. Find Ironman Arizona and click on my name. (For reference, the course maps can be found on the Ironman Arizona site).
Happy tracking, and thanks in advance for the support and cheering!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Taper = Party!
This weekend we celebrated taper in style. First up was a swim race at Tempe Town Lake with Lisa!
Ready to go like a *ninja*
The lake was running around 61 degrees that morning - brrr! But we were victorious! And will be again this coming Sunday...
After that, Lisa was kind enough to host a taper party at her house!
Jen loves kale so much
Lisa loves cupcakes :-)
Lisa's tire changing contest was the hit of the night
All of her IM AZ-bound friends!
I've been going slightly stir-crazy the last couple days but I know the end is near. My friends start arriving in town tomorrow and then it's a steady stream of athletes and spectators coming in every day! Just a *few* days to go!!!!
I've been going slightly stir-crazy the last couple days but I know the end is near. My friends start arriving in town tomorrow and then it's a steady stream of athletes and spectators coming in every day! Just a *few* days to go!!!!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
1 week to race day
Friday, November 11, 2011
Waiting...waiting...waiting...
I wish I had more exciting things to report...just a week of work and tapering going on around here.
I've tried to fit in a little pampering to make this taper less boring - had my hair cut and colored (1st time ever!), got a massage mid-week when my hamstrings were so tight I could barely bend over, and I had my pre-race mani/pedi (+ a facial) today. One might think next week would be better for a pre-race mani-pedi but I knew I was smart about doing it early after the woman cut my toe and I bled everywhere - better to get that kind of stuff over with early! In any event, toes that match your race kit = faster Ironman, right? So I'm good to go there!
The dogs are bored bored bored with me! They want Jeff and Puck to arrive already so they have someone to play with. Stanley is amusing himself with rearranging my bed to suit him.
Max at least had an outing just for himself - chiropractic adjustment and acupuncture!
I've been enjoying the gluten-free bakery and cafe just down the street from my house here.
I did my last long brick in preparation for the race. Out on the Beeline into the wind (this sucks, I hate my bike, stupid Ironman) and back at a speed that was 13mph faster (I love my bike, this race is going to rock). Thank goodness at least my run off the bike was 100% happy!
A little view of last night's full (?) moon rising
9 days to go and the weather forecast is finally looking good for race day!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Still here (and there), still tapering...
Week 1 of taper is done, race day is 2 weeks away! I think this might have been the hardest part, as I was awfully tired and unmotivated this week. And I had a LOT to do!
Stanley and Puck have finally achieved BFF status
So of course they won't see each other for nearly 2 weeks. Because I packed up the world's largest mound of clothing (plus a lot of swim/bike/run gear PLUS a friend's bike and luggage) and hit the road for Arizona with the beardies!
8 hours of driving in rain, 45 minutes of sunshine and 2 hours of duststorm later, I arrived! And then it rained and poured all night and the temperature dropped like crazy. *thinking good thoughts for a warmup* as I'd like to not freeze in Tempe Town Lake...
In the two days I've been here, we've been busy! I drove to Tucson on Saturday for the Trisports.com Garage Sale where I scored all sorts of awesome stuff at super-duper discounted prices. That gave me a chance to see Jen again and have lunch with her and her kids! The beardies and I had some fun walking around Old Town Scottsdale last night too.
Today I had enjoyed NOT having to change any clocks (Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time)! I had an hour run to knock out this morning - at this point that feels short and I was done before 9am, even with dog walking and breakfast and a lot of Facebooking first. Even though I'm feeling a bit of the fat-and-moody taper thing going on, my run pace was awesome, which gave me some confidence that it'll all come together on race day. I had plenty of time to hit up the hardware store, get supplies, and build a fence around the one non-puppy-friendly plant in our yard in preparation for Puck's eventual arrival in town. I even lined up a pre-race tuneup for my bike for this week so that it's ready to go come November 20th.
Anyway, obviously not anything too exciting going on...lots of resting and eating right (kale is my friend) and waiting. The activity is going to pick up around here as next week approaches (taper party *whoop*whoop*) so I'm getting all the down time I can now.
Stanley and Puck have finally achieved BFF status
So of course they won't see each other for nearly 2 weeks. Because I packed up the world's largest mound of clothing (plus a lot of swim/bike/run gear PLUS a friend's bike and luggage) and hit the road for Arizona with the beardies!
8 hours of driving in rain, 45 minutes of sunshine and 2 hours of duststorm later, I arrived! And then it rained and poured all night and the temperature dropped like crazy. *thinking good thoughts for a warmup* as I'd like to not freeze in Tempe Town Lake...
In the two days I've been here, we've been busy! I drove to Tucson on Saturday for the Trisports.com Garage Sale where I scored all sorts of awesome stuff at super-duper discounted prices. That gave me a chance to see Jen again and have lunch with her and her kids! The beardies and I had some fun walking around Old Town Scottsdale last night too.
Today I had enjoyed NOT having to change any clocks (Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time)! I had an hour run to knock out this morning - at this point that feels short and I was done before 9am, even with dog walking and breakfast and a lot of Facebooking first. Even though I'm feeling a bit of the fat-and-moody taper thing going on, my run pace was awesome, which gave me some confidence that it'll all come together on race day. I had plenty of time to hit up the hardware store, get supplies, and build a fence around the one non-puppy-friendly plant in our yard in preparation for Puck's eventual arrival in town. I even lined up a pre-race tuneup for my bike for this week so that it's ready to go come November 20th.
Anyway, obviously not anything too exciting going on...lots of resting and eating right (kale is my friend) and waiting. The activity is going to pick up around here as next week approaches (taper party *whoop*whoop*) so I'm getting all the down time I can now.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
It Takes A Village
Another reason I am so happy to have reached the taper - Ironman training feels like the most self-absorbed thing you can do. All this me me me time planning the workout, making up bottles, cleaning up after working out, recovery eating...and then all that time spent alone doing the workout. It's enough to get sick of being in my own head!
These first few days of taper have been nice just to get a handle on all the crazy stuff going on at work, try to catch up on what happened over the last week or two with friends, and attempt to nail down everything for the trip to Arizona. Oh dear, the prospect of packing up an Ironman's worth of gear makes me want to cry.
Even though so much of Ironman is alone time, I can't truly do it without the support of my husband and training partners, but also by the camaraderie of friends, even ones I can't train with in person due to distance. The daily Facebook chatter and texts with Lisa and Jen help keep our nervous energy in check - we are all so damn excited to get on with this thing! *clap*clap*
I'm also SUPER excited to see Alex and Susan again, as we all tackled our first IM at AZ 2 years ago and signed up again last year. It just means more in this journey to do it together!
So anyway...yep, this is taper - a whole lot of energy and anxiety and worrying about what is to come. 2nd time around and there's no mystery about how hard the race is. Just planning and waiting...
These first few days of taper have been nice just to get a handle on all the crazy stuff going on at work, try to catch up on what happened over the last week or two with friends, and attempt to nail down everything for the trip to Arizona. Oh dear, the prospect of packing up an Ironman's worth of gear makes me want to cry.
Even though so much of Ironman is alone time, I can't truly do it without the support of my husband and training partners, but also by the camaraderie of friends, even ones I can't train with in person due to distance. The daily Facebook chatter and texts with Lisa and Jen help keep our nervous energy in check - we are all so damn excited to get on with this thing! *clap*clap*
I'm also SUPER excited to see Alex and Susan again, as we all tackled our first IM at AZ 2 years ago and signed up again last year. It just means more in this journey to do it together!
So anyway...yep, this is taper - a whole lot of energy and anxiety and worrying about what is to come. 2nd time around and there's no mystery about how hard the race is. Just planning and waiting...
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