T - 9 Weeks to Ironman Chatty 144.6

T - 9 Weeks to Ironman Chatty 144.6

Another week is done! 

The week started off good.  Snap shot of my weekly training:

Monday - Rest

Tuesday - 2,500 yard swim - 1 hour bike

Wednesday - 5 mile run with speed intervals

Thursday - 2,400 yard swim - 35 min speed work

Friday - Rest day

Saturday - 17 mile run

Sunday - 70 mile bike

My swim felt good, my speed work was really good and then my long run was not what I am hoped for at all. :(  My 5 mile run on Wednesday with speed intervals felt so good that I was on a high the rest of the day!  I couldn't wait to get to my long run on Saturday.  But that good feeling quickly died Saturday when at mile 13 of the 17 I developed bad cramps in not one calf, but both of my calves!  In all my years of running, I've never had cramps in both legs at the same time!  It was debilitating.  I could barely walk a few steps without one of them locking up and putting me in a stand still trying to breath deeply until it passed.  One time I literally had to sit down and rub my calf until it stopped hurting.  It was as hard as a brick!  Another runner ran right by me and didn't even ask if I was ok!  I wanted to trip his butt.  Then a guy walking his dog came by and he stopped and asked me if I needed help.  I so wanted him to help me up because I didn't know if I could stand up without cramping again, but he was walking a huge pit bulldog.  It was all he could do to hold the dog on the leash and the man was very muscular and fit looking.  But that dog was all muscle and he was trying to pull the man.  The way the man was doing all he could do to hold the dog away from me made me fearful so I told him I was fine.  I didn't want none of that dog. LOL  

I walked from mile 14-17 to finish.  It was all I could do.  Two of my friends were there doing a short brick and had asked me if they could come pick me up.  I told them no that I would make it.  In hindsight I wish I had let them come get me!  My calves are so freaking sore!! They did wait on me and walked back and met me with pickle juice and a ice cold rag as I finished.  They are two of the BEST friends I could ever ask for!!! Krista and Frank have been such blessings to me during this journey!  I can't thank them enough! 

If someone had captured a picture of me... this would have been it.....

So what causes muscle cramps in runners?  Well, according to runners world:

Leg cramps from running are typically caused by overuse, muscle strain or dehydration. Running too far too quickly and without sufficient training or warming up can quickly lead to thigh and calf cramps.

So as I usually do I have analyzed and analyzed what went wrong. LOL  I ran 16 at the beach when on vacation and had no issues.  I thought I did everything as usual and as I'm supposed to do.  But looking back, I may not of hydrated as well as I normally do on Thursday & Friday.  We implemented a new payroll system at work and I spent most of those days trying to get the new data into reports I have to have done on Friday.  I worked many hours without getting up from my desk so I may not have filled my water bottle enough.  AND then on Saturday I felt good so I changed up my program and instead of doing my normal jog/walk intervals I've been doing on long runs, I ran 12 miles only walking a couple of seconds when my watched beeped at the mile mark.   

So I think my lesson here is make sure I hydrate!! Especially in this dang south Mississippi heat! and Stick with the program!  Guess we'll see in 2 weeks when I have 18 miles to do.

I was worried about my 70 mile bike on Sunday, but was able to finish it.  My calves didn't hurt while riding only when we stopped and I had to walk. LOL  Now if we had rode hills that might of been a different story, but we rode on the trace and took it easy.  Jennifer and I had both had a tough Saturday and both had faced some cramps so the easy ride was just what we needed! 

I did take me an ice bath when I got home.  Boy it felt good! 

But my calves are still super sore! This morning when I got out of my bed I wanted to say ouch, ouch, ouch all the way walking to the bathroom.  They'll be no running for me today or maybe for a couple of days until this soreness calms down! :>)  I'm very thankful today is REST day!  I'm trying these today on my calves.... sure hope it helps.  My calves have NEVER been this sore!  I'm sure everyone in the office thinks I smell like a really old person.. ha... but who cares if it gives me relief!

The countdown continues!

Until next week....

T - 10 weeks Ironman Chatty

Now is the time my heart starts to skip a beat when I look at how many weeks it is until the big day! Even when I'm running long distance when I get to that 10, 9, 8, countdown till I'm done, I begin to get excited. :>)  

I ain't gonna lie and say it's all excitement... it's also a little worry... a little bit scared.  However, each day I'm praying for God to give me health, strength and endurance to finish this task.  That's all I can do.  I must leave it all at his feet and trust him whatever the outcome will be.  It's hard.  Some days I'll start visualizing the finish line and start thinking about how I'm gonna feel when I cross that finish line.  I tell myself I'm gonna feel like superwoman.  I'm gonna feel amazing.  And then it hits me that I'm probably going to feel so tired.... so over it... so about to collapse after swimming 2.4 miles, biking 116 miles, and running 26.2 miles!  AND... then I have to almost slap myself out of it and tell myself .... ONE DAY AT A TIME!! Don't worry about the future.  Just think about today! 

Sometimes I wonder if Ironman races are made up of people mostly like me.  I read so many stories of people with hardships that complete an ironman.  I wasn't an athlete when growing up.  I didn't play softball or basketball like many of my girlfriends.  I didn't even start running until I was almost 40 years old.  So it gives me hope when I read all these stories about people with many hardships completing the ironman race.  I feel I can do this if I can just get to race day this time.  :>)  I really think God knew that last year with the swim being canceled that I would not have been satisfied or felt like a real ironman so he saved me from that race till this year.  

So how is the training going?  Well last week I had 3,400 yards to swim.  I don't know if it was due to the fact that I didn't swim the week I was on vacation or just the long distance, but I felt like my arms were so heavy.  I questioned myself the whole time..... asking things like... Are you sure you can do this??  I just wanted to kick myself.  Then Saturday rolled around and I had a 40 mile bike.  I was excited it was a short one... Yep.... 40 to me at this point is short.. hee hee    But boy I could tell I had not rode outside on hills in 2 weeks!  They kicked my butt.  I still had a good bike time averaging 17.7 mph, but my legs were over the hills. :>)  

Then today, Tuesday, I had 2,500 yards to swim and felt great!  What a change.  So yes, I have to remind myself too that every workout is not great... we ALL have good and bad workouts.  But a bad workout is better than no workout any day!

This week is a long weekend.  I have 17 miles to run and a 70 mile bike on tap for the weekend.  The 17 mile run is going to be interesting if we don't get a break in this heat and humidity! 

So for last week - week 11 this is a snapshot of my week:
Monday - 2,200 yard swim
Tuesday - 1 1/2 hour bike
Wednesday - 45 min run
Thursday - 3,400 yard swim
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 40 mile bike, 2 mile run
Sunday - 8 mile run

So for this week-- week 10 this is a snapshot of my week:
Monday - Rest Day
Tuesday - 2,500 yard swim - 1 hour bike
Wednesday - 5 mile run
Thursday - 2,400 yard swim, 35 min run
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 17 mile run
Sunday - 70 mile bike

It's time to really store up that hay in my barn!  Time to get those positive thoughts flowing in my head.  Time to believe! Time to have faith! Keep moving forward. :>) 

Ironman - T-12 weeks, vacation week & I turned 53!

Time is flying by! I'm starting to see the end of this training coming very fast and I'm beginning to get excited & scared all roll into one!  12 weeks till race day.  Do you know how fast that will fly by?  Just 3 months! YIKES 

This week I also had a planned vacation.  I haven't had a simple vacation in awhile.  I've been doing a lot of runcations.... destinations in which I had a race planned.  I was looking forward to some downtime from racing and also some downtime from work!  I researched the area in which I was going for a pool where I would be able to get in my swims.  I knew even on vacation that I would have a workout schedule.  However, when I got my schedule for the week I was surprised to see this note from my coach:

This week is AT YOUR LEISURE!! (except the 16 miler - that's a key session). But otherwise, easy, relaxing week!! All workouts can be swapped around or completely ignored ;)

But for those of you that know me well, you know that I planned to get in every workout.  I love to have all "green" on my TP.  LOL  I get down when I miss a workout.  I know... call me crazy.  :>)   However, I did miss my 2 swim workouts due to having a flat tire and me not checking the pool schedule to make sure of the times it was open to the public.  GRRRRR ... At first I was aggravated so much about missing my swim, but after a couple of days I finally convinced myself it was OK.  Heck, my neck & shoulders actually needed a break.  I've been really tight in that area and having a ton of what I call a crick in my neck.  Could be work.... could be sleep.. or could be swim...   who knows... but it felt better the week I was off on vacation. :>) 

So me and my children went to Destin for the week beginning on Saturday.  Had a flat tire literally the moment we arrived into town! What a bummer!  We did have a little adventure getting it changed.  The first guy that offered to help made me and Erin very uneasy.  He was all tattooed up and had such a foul mouth.  He used cuss words in his regular speech.  I heard the F word many times!  And I have nothing against tattoos... my daughter has 3.  I just wonder about people that have them from head to toe.... like is any of that ink going in their body?? ... is that safe??...  I know... weird thoughts... but I have them.  :>)  He tried his best to help.  At one point I saw him jumping up and down on the bar tightening the lug nuts!  I told him and then he starting looking up youtube videos on changing a tire.  I knew we were in trouble then. Ha   Erin called her brother to find out where they were at ... they were in a different vehicle ... and told him to come help mom. :>)  He showed up and a young kid from Madison, Ms came over to help, who ended up having an impact wrench in his tool box.. THANK GOODNESS... so they got the tire changed.  I offered to pay them for helping, but no one would take any money.  The first kid with the foul mouth told us and I quote.. "I've been in prison and shit so I figured I'd give back to society by trying to help".  LOL  Here's a few pictures of our adventure:

The first few days were beautiful, but extremely hot and humid.  It wasn't even pleasant to sit out on the deck to drink your coffee in the mornings so you could watch the waves.  It was like an oven when you opened the door to walk out at 6am.  GEEZ...   The water however was so clear!!  It was the prettiest water I've seen since Hawaii.

Sunday we were all tired from the travel on Saturday due to the HEAVY TRAFFIC.  It was bumper to bumper almost the whole way going 20-30 mph!  So we spent most of the day at the beach on Sunday. 

We played a little football and pong ball.  It was a nice day.  I got in a run early that morning and boy was I soaked.  It was so HUMID & HOT.   

Monday was my birthday.  53! Where has the time gone!! Seems like yesterday I was turning 35! 

We rented a pontoon boat and went out to Crab Island for the morning.
Girls didn't like early morning wake up and took a nap on the boat. ha

We couldn't stay all day because we had my daughter's dog with us and needed to get back to the condo to let him out to the bathroom.  He was no trouble except that we could not be gone long from the condo.  He had to be let out to the bathroom every 4 hours or so and we couldn't take him every where we went.  That was aggravating.  Dogs aren't allowed on the beach and there were only a handful of restaurants that allowed dogs.... and you had to eat outside on their decks where it was HOT.  We learned a lot having a dog with us for the first time on vacation.. hee hee   I didn't do any workouts on Monday.  I took my birthday off.  I did have to check on my tire that afternoon to find out if it could be fixed.  The tire store said it couldn't be fixed.... had to order a new tire.  That took up most of my afternoon because driving 2 miles from our condo would take you 30-45 minutes due to the traffic! We did go down to Sandestin Baytowne for dinner.  We ended up having dinner where there was live music and the guy was so good!  I really enjoyed it... plus my kids picked up the tab. :>)  

Here are a few pictures from Crab Island.. the water was PERFECT.. Great Birthday!: 

The rest of the week was full of showers off and on.  We'd have sun a few hours and then rain.  Captured this nice rainbow after one afternoon storm.  Tropical storm Barry was brewing. 

By Thursday double red flags were going up at the beach.  The waves were so bad you could not get in the water.  I did however finish my book on the beach while the kids went to ride scooters.  This is a great book! 

 Boss getting his ride. :>)

They did stop on the scooters long enough to come grab a beach picture with me.  That's the reason they aren't in swim suits. ha  Every day I wanted beach pictures and by the time we got around to take some the storms would roll in and everyone was running back to their condos to get out of the lightening. 

We even had dinner at the Paula Dean restaurant.  I had never been to one so I decided we would try it.  

One night we went down to Harbor walk and talked Brett into letting a man draw him and Whitney.  It was a lot of fun watching and the guy did a great job! 

And of course we had to go to Louisiana Lagniappe to eat one night.  

We played dominoes a couple of times and of course Boss was in my lap! AND we learned that Brett is very good in MATH!  He surprised his sister!  Playing with double nines can really add up when several are on the board that count. :>)  

Brett has the sweetest girlfriend.  I'm glad she came with us.  I hope he treats her like a queen always. :>)

One day I even talked Erin into doing 2 miles with me. :>)  I'm trying to get her motivated for the half marathon later this year!

I ended up getting in 22.7 miles of running and 65 miles on the bike for the week.  No swim, but that's ok... it's back on this week. :>)  Count down continues... 11 weeks till race day! 

It was a nice week away from work.  :<>)

P.S. the only thing I wanted to do on vacation that I didn't get to do was watch the Blue Angels! I had planned to go to Pensacola on Friday to watch their show, but due to tropical storm Barry there was a lot of question as to whether or not they would be able to fly so we didn't make the drive.  I heard they only flew a limited show due to the weather.  Maybe next time I'll see them. :>)

The Shark Run - Flora Bama 7-4-19

The Shark Run hosted by Harley Sports on 7-4-19

our race shirts. :>)

A 4th of July adventure.  When registering you had the option of picking either the 4 mile road race or the original 4.5 adventure run (mostly on beach).  Of course I picked the adventure run. :>)  I thought all my friends would also be doing the adventure run, but I found out right before the race that they all picked the road race. LOL   We've all ran on the beach and know how difficult it can be so they all said they were not doing that again. :>)   I almost changed to the road race that morning, but decided not to go to all the trouble.  

The night before my husband and I had rushed to get to Gulf Shores after work.  We got to go eat at one of our favorite places for dinner..... Louisiana Lagniappe.   It was FABULOUS!  I got my usual... the chef's special.  It's not on the menu.  They typically tell you about it when they seat you at your table.  It's fish baked in parchment paper for 18 minutes topped with crab meat & shrimp and then topped with some sauce after it's baked.  It is DELICIOUS!  

Now back to the race... hee hee  

Race morning it was already HOT at 6am!  I meet up with my PPRF group and we got a couple of pictures before the start. 

Also, ran into my friend Mo who lives in the area when I went inside to run to the bathroom real quick.  Say a prayer for her.  Her cancer is back and there is basically nothing to cure it.  She told me she's dying.  I felt so bad.  She continues to run at all the races, which she laughed and said I'll be dog last, but I'm not stopping.  I originally met her years ago at a race through another good friend.  Since then we've always chatted when we'd run into each other from time to time at races.  She is known for the "queen" at the Marine Corps marathon for setting a fast time several years ago, plus she's ran the marathon every year for many years.  My heart just breaks for her that she's dealing with cancer.  Here we are:

She told me she was also running the beach run.  I didn't see her once the race started.  I did see her after the race and she told me she placed 2nd in her age group with her horrible time.    I congratulated her, but honestly I didn't know what to say.  What do you say to someone that keeps telling you they are dying ????  I told her I'd continue to pray for her.  I don't think she's religious.  She's very mad at God and voices that opinion.  So I just hugged her and told her I'd be praying.  I'm praying for her soul.  I can't imagine someone dying that isn't saved.   And she's a good person.  She'd do anything for you.  But we all know that's not what gets you to Heaven.  

So back to the race again...  Boy it was HOT.  They said they had over 1,000 participants.  The first 1.7 miles was on the road.  I was running fast and felt great.  My first mile was 8:36.  I grinned from ear to ear when my watch beeped and thanked Lisa for my speed work run she made me do on Tuesday. :>)   

But at mile 1.7 is where the ones of us that were running the 4.5 adventure run turned to get on the beach.  A truck was parked where everyone was taking off their socks and shoes before going on to run on the beach.  I debated for a minute to not take mine off then I remembered how the last time it took weeks and weeks to get all the sand out of my shoes.  No matter how many times I washed them the next time I ran in them, sand would work it's way in my socks. :(    So I stopped and took off mine and took the time to tie my shoes together.  I could just see the mess it was going to be to find my shoes at the end because everyone was throwing shoes all over in the back of the truck. LOL  

Now the real work starts!  If you've ever ran on the beach then you know how it will really work ya calves!  The water had beat the sand to where you had the choice of either running in the white sand that was so thick and each time you picked up ya foot you kicked sand all up the back of your legs.... or you could run down by the water ..... but the water was washing in so fast the sand was not hard and you snuck down into the sand.  No matter how you ran, it wasn't easy.  Plus did I mention they had people playing sharks along the course trying to grab your flag.  Kind of like flag football.  You had to try to outrun them! Or if they got your flag, you had to get it back because if you didn't cross the finish line with your flag, you were not eligible for awards!  I almost pulled a muscle running from one kid trying to get my flag. :>)   It definitely was an adventure! 

I was glad when it was over.  LOL  The group grabbed a picture out on the beach before awards:

Then to my surprise... I got grand masters! 

 My shark teeth medal. 

It was something fun to do on the 4th! Next year our group hopes to all do the Peach Tree 10K in Atlanta, GA.  I love these crazy people... we are always looking for our next run adventure.. :>) 

Now it's 13 weeks till IRONMAN... time is passing by so FAST!  In the last 7 days I've had 4 runs total 23.5 miles, 2 swims total 5,025 yards, & biked 60.1 miles...  This weekend will be my lighter weekend with bike and run and I'm headed back to the beach for a WEEK.  YIPPIE.  My family is headed to Destin and I hope we have a nice relaxing time.  I need a little break.  Of course my training will continue.  I've already found a pool where I can go swim to get my swims in for the week. :>)  But for the rest of the day I won't be at a desk working... I'll be reading a book and listening to the waves I hope. :>)  

Happy 4th of July to all of you! Hope you had a great one.