Fathers Day is approaching

Well this weekend is Father's day and I'm feeling happy I have my dad and so sad for those that are missing their dad.  My uncle passed away this week and my two cousins will be without their dad this weekend. :<(  AND my mother-in-law was put in the hospital last night.  She hasn't eaten much this past week and been very emotional according to Gary's friend that goes to check on her.  Gary feels it's father's day coming up and she's depressed missing Jim.  Now here we are 16 hours from her worrying about her.  Then there's Taylor, Gary, Kyle and the girls that will be missing Drew this weekend. 

Oh sweet Drew!

Oh how I miss sweet JIM!

It's just a sad time for so many.  

So many post on Facebook with people missing their dads.  It makes me grateful that many years ago I took the step to try to form a relationship with my dad.  I wasn't a daddy's girl.  I didn't grew up talking to my dad or doing anything with my dad.  I can barely remember saying two words to my dad as a child.  Yes, he was around.  He worked hard to support all 5 of us kids.  He just wasn't the type dad that many of my friends had where they all sat in their dad's laps or went to their dad for advice.  I was so envious of so many of my friends.  I do have many fond memories of my dad growing up.  My parents were never church going people, but on Sundays dad usually had the old time gospel music on the radio playing and many times he'd be playing his base guitar.  Now his fingers are so deformed from arthritis that he can barely play.  I begged him to get his base guitar out for my mom's 70th birthday recently just to show all the grandkids.  He actually did it and I LOVED seeing him with that guitar in his hands. 

If you have or had a special relationship with your dad... cherish it!  If you didn't or don't still today.... maybe you too can take a step to try too.  

It wasn't until I had kids of my own that I got this really deep desire to tell my dad that I loved him.  He had a bad heart attack and had to have quadruple bypass surgery.  I think as we age we think more and more about death.  I just had this deep feeling that I needed to somehow tell him I loved him.  So one day all of us were at my parent's house where we often were every Sunday for lunch until the family grew so big it's hard to feed us all. LOL  Anyway, I stayed after everyone left helping mom clean up, but I was also building up the courage to hug my dad and tell him I loved him.  I nearly left without doing it because my heart was beating so very fast.  I was a nervous wreck.  But I did it.  And let me just tell you.... it broke the ice between us!! 

My 50th birthday!  So glad that 30 years ago, I took that leap to form a relationship with my dad. :>) 

He told me he loved me and since that day, we always hug each other and tell each other we love each other.  We may still not have long lengthy conversations where he advices me or tells me much of anything.... He's a quiet person... doesn't really talk much to anyone.... but I know he knows I love him.  

All my siblings! 

And my dad can even be funny when he wants too.... him with my kids

My dad in his dad's old truck with mom and all the kids.

So if you are missing your dad know that I'm praying for you.  I pray you have wonderful memories to cherish.  If you are not close to your dad, but would like to be.... take that leap.  It will be hard, but I bet it will be worth it. :>)  

His love... FISHING!

Happy Father's day to all the dads out there.  And THANK YOU to the dads that truly take the time to get to know each one of their children.  Whether it's a date night with your daughter, a fishing day with your son, or whatever it might be... You are AMAZING.

 

Tour De Burger (bike ride) 6-10-18

What better way to get in a long ride than by doing a event bike ride?  I don't like to ride on Sunday mornings because I miss church, but sometimes that's when the rides / races are that I need for training to get me ready for Ironman. 

When Lisa, my coach, told me about Tour De Burger I had never heard of it.  Which it was only the 2nd annual ride (I believe).  It's hosted by the Gulf Coast Bicycle club.  It was going to be on the hills in Stone count, so definitely a ride I needed.  

Here's a pic of the rolling hills.  They roads in Stone county are so NICE!!! Most are newly paved!  Not much traffic at all on the ones we rode on.  I was told that since that 67 rode was put in that it cut down on traffic on many of these back roads.  It's beautiful country side and there is only 1-2 dogs that sometimes come out.  One guy had to kick one pretty hard.  Thank goodness I didn't have any come out on me.  

They offered a 20, 30 & 50 mile loop starting at Danny's Ironman Corner and followed by burgers from Danny's grill.  Jason and I who are both training for Chatty and also use Lisa as a coach had 70 miles on our schedule to ride so we parked at Sunflower church which was about 10 miles from the Tour De Burger start and rode to the start, did the 50 mile loop and then rode back to our cars to get our total of 70 miles for the day.  

It was a beautiful morning.  I actually watched heat lightening in the dark clouds on my very early morning drive to Stone County.  I actually wondered as the lightening danced around and lite up the sky if we would get to ride.  But once daylight hit, there was no more lightening.  I was glad because I really didn't want to do another long bike ride in RAIN. :>)  That 100 miler in the rain really was a bummer. 

Right before the ride.

I believe there was around 60-70 people so we had a nice group.  Jason, who is faster than me, got up front with a group of guys that were all fast.  I managed to keep them in my sights for several miles and I looked down and I was averaging close to 20 mph so I knew they were getting it.  Soon I lost them, but caught up to them at the first rest stop.  They had not yet pulled out.  Jason and I chatted a minute.  He told me that at one point they were doing like 25 mph!  Yep.. they are FAST!  Plus you can draft in a bike ride and they were taking turns being the leader.  I haven't drafted much because it's not legal in ironman races and it also kind of scares me when you are in a big group and like 6-8 inches behind each other.  If one person does something wrong, you could take down the whole group.  YIKES.  

As we left the rest stop I rode off with them for some reason. I stayed in the back and drafted off the last guy.  It wasn't long though till the distance between me and the last guy got wider and wider when we hit several hills.  Plus my head was telling me there was no way I was going to keep up that speed another 25 miles. ha  So I backed off.  One of the guys slowed down and came back and told  me to get behind him and he'd pull me.  I told him to go on back to the group. I couldn't keep up that pace and I would be fine riding alone.  Yep, I looked back and no one was behind us that I could see.  LOL  

However, after awhile a guy came up behind me.  He told me he was with that fast group and they had left him at the start and he hadn't been able to catch up with them.  We started chatting how we were alone riding.  So he asked me if I could draft and told me we would take turns drafting off each other.  So we did for about 10 miles.  He had done Chattanooga so we got to talk about that.  He's advice on Chatty was for me to run some hills.  I think it's neat that every time I meet someone new that's done Chattanooga Ironman they all have a different opinion and tips.  Although most say bike hills.  :>)   None of them have said anything about the swim other than the river is so nice.  I guess they are all swimmers. :>)  The swim part is what I worry about most.  :<>)

I ended up having the fastest mph pace for a 50 miler than I ever had.  PR for me. :>)  I can tell I'm getting stronger each day.  I think that's what gets me out of the bed on the days that I really don't want to get up and do another training session.  Two years ago when I was training for Augusta half ironman which is 56 bike miles, I hoped to finish under 4 hours.  I finished it in 3:43 for the bike.  But today at Tour De Burger... I did 50 miles in 2:45!!

WOW  Talk about an improvement.  I do think I'll have to slow down and pace myself for the full ironman.  I don't think I can ride that fast pace for 116 bike miles.  Guess we'll see over the next 15 weeks how my training goes.  :>) 

My burger after the ride.   Boy it was good!

This ride was so much better than my 65 mile ride with Jason the other weekend where I fainted!  I hydrated on my drive, I paid close attention to my nutrition while on the bike riding and felt great!  It really helps if you do what you're supposed to do. :>) 

So that's a wrap.  I leave next week for Hawaii!  I haven't ran in 3 weeks.  YIKES.  This PF is really an awful thing!  It's better, but still there.  I'm hoping I can somehow manage to pull out the 26.2 miles at the Kona marathon in Hawaii.  :>)  It's their 25th anniversary of the race so it should be so much fun.  I'm beyond excited!  

Happy training to you! Keep pushing.  There will be days you just don't want to get up and do another run, swim or bike.  But trust me... it will pay off.  I have those bad days too.  Just because you see my post of finishing a ride or race doesn't mean it's always fun and good.  There are days I just don't want to...... but the voice inside me tells me to get up anyway and usually within a few minutes of getting into that swim or bike, etc.  I feel so much better. :>) 

Love, D

Heatwave Oly TRI 6-2-18

Heatwave Oly TRI 

The 2018 Heatwave Classic Triathlon is entering its 33rd  year of existence. This year’s race will be held on Saturday, June 2, 2018, with a start time of 7:00 a.m.

This year’s race will consist of a ½ mile swim in the Ross Barnett Reservoir, a 27 ½ mile bike ride along the scenic and historic Natchez Trace Parkway, and ending with a 10K run along Ridgeland’s heavily shaded Multi-Use Trail.

I felt pretty good about the race on my drive to Jackson on Saturday morning even after the past weekend's fainting episode.  I drank my water with tailwind on the ride and ate a piece of peanut butter toast.  I was remembering nutrition today!  However, I always hate swimming in the Reservoir.  It's always choppy and I'm afraid I'll meet an alligator.  But I knew I needed the open water practice.  Swimming in the pool is just not the same as swimming in open water.  And even though this would be my 13th TRI, I still get very nervous about the swim!  I know for those of you that don't do these type races, you probably don't understand that, but trust me... you'll hear several TRI athletes tell you they all hate the swim.   Many of us are afraid of that open water swim.  If you get tired on a bike or running, you can stop and rest.  There is no stopping in open water.  It's either drown or swim.  

First thing I notice is they've changed the swim course from previous years.  Everyone is out by the water talking about it.  The water at this point seems calm to me so I wade out and swim for a few minutes.  My coach says try to get in the water before the race if possible.  Feel the water.  Taste the water.  Relax those nerves.  So I did and I felt good except the first buoy looked forever out there and there were no Kayaks out there with life guards out there yet and the race was starting in 5 minutes!  

We started in number order and I was number 41 so I was up front.  I didn't like that because I knew there was going to be many fast people swimming over me as soon as we got in the water.  And sure enough.... they did.  I got swam on, kicked, hit by an arm and I swallowed a boat load of water each time.  One time I got so chocked that I had to turn over on my back and try to cough it all up.  I literally thought I was going to drown.  Which only set in panic.  I hate panic!  Panic can kill ya!  I kept telling myself to get a grip and breath.  However, my breathing would not get regular.  I was in full panic mode and to top it off I was not even at the first buoy yet!  I could barely see it.  We were swimming directly into the sunrise and I could not see anything.  My heart was beating so fast and my breathing was awful.  I had to do some deep talking to  myself and I finally made it to the first buoy to turn.  All I could think about was this was only a 1/2 mile swim and I have a 2.4 mile swim coming up for ironman and I was struggling bad.  It was probably my worst swim ever!  I was mad and so disappointed.  All the laps I've been putting in the pool and my good swim back in April at the Tradition TRI meant nothing at this point.  I was struggling bad!  I kept telling myself to not quit.  I finally made it back to shore and was so dang tired from my panic attack!  Took me 30 minutes!  Last time I swam at this race I did the distance in 20  minutes.  I was also furious at myself.  

If you've never seen the movie Chasing Mavericks... I highly recommend it.  And this saying is from the moving and so TRUE! 

Once on the bike, boy I pushed it.  I was taking out all my anger on the ride. :>)  I looked down and I was averaging between 19-20 mph.  I was like... I might not can swim today, but dang it I can bike.  I ended the bike ride with an average of 18.8  mph.  We hit a hard headwind for several miles.  I was excited about my pace on the bike.  But all I could think about was the dang swim!! 

I wasn't running due to my PF in my right foot, so I waited for them to let me back in transition to get my bike so I could go home.  I took this picture while waiting.  Only picture I got because I only had one friend at the race and she was just starting her run and I didn't hang around for the finish.  

My watch saves my bike miles in 5 mile increments... need to figure out how to change  that.. ha 

 It was a quite drive home.  I went over and over the swim.  I don't know why I let panic take over.  Not every race is good.  We ALL have bad races..... bad Workouts.... we must choose to put that foot forward and move on.  We can't let our disappointments define us.  Some might quit and not do another open water swim.  As for me, I have 3 more before ironman so I'm praying each one will be better and I'll get stronger.  I know swim is not my best event.  So I must push forward and practice!  

Happy training to you and don't quit after a bad day!  Remember.... "The only way you are going to have success is to have lots of failures first.".  

D

Why is it so hard to write about failures / disapointments?

I think often people shy away from talking about their failures.  I know I do.  Maybe we don't like admitting them to others or maybe we just don't want to think about them.  Failures / disappointments are hard.  I think we have two choices.  We can either let those failures / disappointments become our fuel or you can push them deep inside and try to let them not constantly pull at your soul.  I choose to let mine be my fuel.  I won't let them get the best of me.  

I have two that happen to me recently and I've been in a funk about them.  I've been beating myself up for days and today I told myself that enough is enough!  Everyone has some battle they are fighting inside.  Trust me... their social media post may seem all happy and sweet, but no one is perfect.  Everyone has something going on in their life.  Many are fighting cancer, jobless, homeless, and many are buried in grief.  So I also beat myself up for letting my small insignificant disappointments get me all down and depressed the past few days.  One of the reason I like to write this blog is because usually after I write something and hash it out, I feel better.  So here goes..... 

First disappointment... or maybe I should say huge MISTAKE... and maybe some other athlete reading this will make sure they are taking care of their selves especially now that summer has hit us!  My ironman coach had arranged for me to meet up with a guy on the coast for a 65 mile bike ride.  He is also doing ironman Chattanooga so she felt like it would be good for us to train and get to know each other.  I was excited to find someone local doing the race and I was also nervous.  He was a guy and guys are usually so fast.  So I was very nervous about keeping up with him on the bike.. especially on the hills we would be riding on.  I've ridden them before and the course is not easy.  It's very challenging.  I got up at 4am to drive to the coast to meet him.  My stomach was nervous so I only drank my cup of coffee and a piece of toast.  Normally I would hydrate with at least 8 to 16 ounces of water mixed with tailwind.   I didn't...  WRONG DECISION.  Always hydrate before a race, long ride, etc. 

Jason, who I was riding with ended up having 2 flats and a hole in his tire all within the first 3 miles of us riding.  So we went back to his truck for him to go home to get another tire.  We had originally said we would do a 25 mile loop and come back to the cars to refill water bottles, but now the plan was changing.  Jason was going home and he left me to ride with Jeffery a friend of his that he had invited.  I wasn't sure exactly how far Jeffery and I were going to ride while waiting on Jason.  All of this kind of threw me off on my nutrition.  I didn't drink much out of my water bottle on my bike because I wasn't sure of the route and if we would come back to the cars to refill.  So I kind of conserved on my water..  WRONG DECISION.  

We did a 12 mile loop and then Jason was back to join us. Now it was a little after 9am and we should have been 2 hours into our 65 mile ride, but we were just really getting started.  I had not eaten anything since 4:45am when I left the house and only drank a little water.  I'm not sure why I didn't eat when we meet back up with Jason before starting off.  My mind was in a fog.  It had actually been in a fog most of the week.  It was a bad week with many memories of Drew's last week with us.  I think most of started when I watched a show on TV that had a death in it and all the memories came flooding in my mind.  Then I was nervous about this ride for some crazy reason.  Everything was just off in my brain.  We took off pretty fast.  I was averaging 20 mph keeping up with them.  I told you guys are fast. LOL  It was good for me in that it pushed me hard.  However, it was getting very HOT and I was not drinking no where like I usually do (in hindsight... yep, I've analyzed it a ton!) plus for some crazy reason I had in my mind that one PB cracker was around 50-60 calories.  My nutrition for ironman on the bike is to eat 50-70 calories every 30 minutes.  Well, one PB cracker has only 30 calories and I think I only ate 4 the entire ride.  I burned over 2,600 calories on the ride!  Needless to say when we stopped at a stop sign around mile 50 to wait on cars, I started feeling very strange as we were standing there.  I started getting very sweaty, dizzy and just didn't feel good.  So I quickly took a GU.  I had almost forgot I had them also in my bag!  The guys were talking and their voices started getting more and more faint and then next thing I know... I'm laying on the ground!  Yep, I fainted!  I have NEVER in my life fainted or felt that way.  It scared me so badly.  The guys were super nice and made me sit and drink for awhile until I felt like I could ride the last miles back to the cars.  They even told me that I could set the pace and they would follow me.  :>)  It seemed like forever getting back to the cars because my mind was going crazy thinking about what just happen.  It really scared me!  I've rode 100 mile bike rides, done half ironman distances, ran several marathons and never in my life had I felt the way I did right before I fainted.  So I'm here to tell you..... DON'T FORGET YOUR NUTRITION!!!  Don't let nerves or anything else get in your way of taking care of your body.  We are in the summer months and heat is an issue.  I did nothing the rest of the day but rest, eat and drink.  Also saw this post on fb which totally hit home with me... 

Lesson learned for me!  I felt like such an idiot!  I've been doing all kinds of races and long runs / bikes and never fainted until now.   So please take care of yourself also!  
Enjoy the summer workouts....but please HYDRATE. 

So I felt like a complete idiot on this day.  Fainted in front of 2 guys I had just met! Hopefully by me sharing my experience it will help others be more aware of the issues with not hydrating and eating proper nutrition while doing summer long workouts. 

My 2nd failure / disappointment recently I'll talk about in my next post on the Heatwave TRI.  

Until then..... Keep calm and HYDRATE. 

D