2 hour run

My longest run prior to my HIM had been 90 minutes and I was sore beyond belief (quads and legs) after my HIM so I imagined I'd need serious recovery time if I went over 90 minutes again. I was a little freaked out at all the training time I lost out on last week so I decided to go for a 90 min run yesterday and shoot for a full 2 hours if I felt good enough. I had no problem with a 2-hour run and it is still blowing my mind a little bit that I ran that long. It was super overcast and cool and I think that's the reason it worked so well. I followed the run up with a tropical ice-bath which is radically different from those north of the border, I assume. First off, bathtubs just do not exist here. I've never seen one anywhere in Mexico. I assume some really touristy places might have them but I've never seen them.

So I headed over to the pool, restaurant and dive shop and got my favorite waiter's attention to bring me the paper, a cup of coffee and a bag of ice. I sat myself in the foot bath for the pool (to clean off your feet before getting in the water), donned my sweatshirt and sat in the ice water. But since it is rather warm down here, it was just cold water. Maybe next time I'll try 2 bags of ice. It certainly was not the horror that everyone writes it up to be but it was coldish water.

Today I went for a short (28 min) run and had no soreness and no stiffness. I had tried to swim earlier but between work, the rough seas, and the pool cleaning, I was never able to get a chance. I'll have to double up one day this week to get it done.

a side of HFTU

I spent the last week (6 days) in the hospital with my son. It is very common here to have at least one family member stay with the hospitalized person the entire time but not really that necessary in the private hospitals here. As Jesse isn't quite fluent I wanted someone there the entire time until he was stable and also since I have a little medical background (from work) and these were totally new doctors to us I wanted to make as sure as possible that he was getting the correct care (as best I could determine). I was able to get a ride and run in on Monday but that was the very last workout I got in until Friday night when I was able to get a quick run in while Jamie and the kids came to sit with Jesse for a bit. Jesse came home yesterday afternoon and we both went right to sleep. So today I need to try and catch up a bit. It is storming a bit so no ride but I can run and probably swim (stormy seas make for hard swims but empty the pool normally so it should be a win-win either way). In the picture, one of his meals. Hospital food is really Very Very Excellent here - always fresh - never packaged and always whole.

I keep reading on the triboards about how everyone's workout are getting postponed or wiped out due to Hurricane Irene and all I can think of is, "welcome to my world." All summer we have tropical storm after tropical storm roll through and the seas are not the safest place to be. My alternate is a pool which is either 10m or 12m long and mentally draining to put in a workout. Biking during storms is very dangerous as when the summer rains come down, most cars will actually pull over to the side of the road and wait out the deluge. When it rains, it dumps so hard the visibility is none. Running during storms only brings out the snakes and crocodiles along the path and rivers of water (I run between the jungle and the beach), but if I waited out each and every storm I'd never be able to train. Tropical storms don't compare to the strength and destruction of a hurricane (though they are what hurricanes are made out of) but they are just as disrupting.

Course those north of the border do have winter to deal with (where it is possible to dip below 12C apparently! The HORROR!!!) and I will be the first to admit that if I had to train below 15C I don't think I'd ever go out. I'm already suffering at 20C and can't imagine month after month of that kind of insanity.

So now I need a little HTFU to get my ass out there today as a week (I literally have not been home since Wednesday) of sitting in a recliner in a hospital room somewhat messes with your motivation in getting back into the swing again. I tend to be either 0% or 100% involved in training - once I back off to 0 it is hard to get back to 100 again. And ick, how I hate training in that tiny pool. Sigh.

xmas in august

OMG, I have to laugh at how "Mexican" I've become - down to the no smiles in pictures. :)

We recently had some mail shipped down and a mule delivery (and another mule delivery this Saturday). It is JUST like Xmas, actually BETTER because we actually get more than Xmas. :) We got mail, I got shorts and 3 new (to me) running tops, 3 DeSoto tri tops (I only wanted one and have already someone waiting to take the other 2 off my hands in Cozumel) and MAIL! We have had a TON of credit card fraud and had to cancel 2 credit cards so we have been waiting for the new ones. I even had my folks buy some stuff for me as I couldn't wait for the new cards to arrive (so the package would get to my mule). I also got SWIM SUITS! I've been using tankinis to swim in up to now and wondered if a "real" swimsuit would make a difference. Dunno about time but it is sweet to have a "real" suit and I love the patterns!

AND the recent muling brought Expresso flavored GU, Caffe Latte flavored Perpeteum, 2 boxes of chocolate Powerbars (for Jamie), 2 sunglasses (safety glasses but they ROCK for cycling), Jesse's new laptop (and my backup for work/travel) and electrolye tablets. I tried out the GU on my brick yesterday (65km ride + 48 min run) and I must have taken it way too late in the bike/too early run as I got a bit sick to my stomach about 1/2 way through the run. I'm up to 2 scoops of Cytomax per bottle now on rides but had ordered the Perpeteum before I was able to handle the 2 scoops of Cytomax (and despaired of ever being able to handle anything on the ride).

I took an unexpected rest day the other day and by the end of the day I was depressed (without knowing it). I just felt really OFF and wrong. I always feel this way on a rest day, but I had no options for workout any of the 3 sports. Next day was a 72 min run and although it was incredibly hard (I'm getting faster) I felt So Much Better afterwards and realized I'm more than a little bit addicted to my training. My running is coming along, getting faster, and I'm staying healthy. I'm happy every time I get a swim in as if the sea hasn't been stormy then the pool is full of tourists. I hit every swim the past 2 weeks and I'm very happy about that. This week will likely be a wash as my eldest is in the hospital with a pneumothorax and today I've already missed swim and run.

Going well

The last couple weeks I've stuck to the bike schedule on my plan and finding my legs aren't quite as dead as I remember from HIM training. Next week has only 3 hours for the bike on schedule (my guess is it is a recovery week) and I already know that isn't going to fly. I'll need to do at least 5. Running is going well - I'm bumping up to 24, 48, 72 next week and hit 3 hours 40 min this week of running. So far, the injury gods have left me alone and I really think it is all due to the BarryP plan.

We went to Cozumel a couple weeks ago to ride the bike route but I've decided I really need to run the run route. It is the run that really has me scared. I figure 1.5 hours (actually 1.25 if all goes well) for the swim, 7 for the bike and 6 for the run and that should allow me to come in under 15 hours. I have a feeling the Veracruz HIM was really easy and this IM will be more than 2xHIM+1 hour (which would put me at 14 hours) so we'll see. I'm starting to come around to the idea that I'll be doing a marathon at the end of the bike and not freaquing out totally at the idea.

I had some swim to make up (from Friday's aborted swim) so I did a short triathlon today - 90km bike, 22 min run and 900m swim. In that order. I needed to get out on the bike early and beat the worst of the heat (32-33C and 65% ish) and the plan called for 1 hour zone 1, 2nd hour zone 2 and 3rd hour zone 1. I was surprised how hard it was to get and hold zone 2 (and honestly I wasn't exactly sure of my Z2 cutoff HR so I'm off to figure that now...) and it turns out I was right around Z2 for the 2nd hour but I had to work to get there. Unfortunately (or not?) I stayed in Z2 for the 3rd hour also - but it wasn't hard at all. :) Must have hit 33C that hour.

I really wanted to experiment with nutrition this ride and did 2 scoops of Cytomax in each bottle for the first time. It worked well enough - I wasn't starving hungry when i got home but took Electrolit and Cytomax (1 scoop) out on the run and before the swim. So, I didn't really eat until 2pm and had 7 scoops of Cytomax, 1250 mL of Electrolit and I wasn't starving. In calories that was only 880 calories and I know I would have needed more to go longer. I'm thinking that for a long brick I'll need 2 scoops/bottle AND a GU each hour. I was also really thirsty and found 4 bottles (3 L) was not enough hydration on the bike. As a matter of fact, I've had countless refills of my 625 mL bottle of Electrolit all afternoon and just now, at 7:30 pm, peed for the first time since 2pm. So a little work to do there too. But it was a good day for getting information.

We had hopes to head down to Laguna Bacalar this weekend but girls got sick and Ellen got injured (horse) so we're home for now. We had hoped to do a mini-vacation each weekend of August and will try for Bacalar next weekend. I have a huge itch to swim in both the laguna (site of OWS competitions) and Cenote Azul.

Pretty happy with the training so far - now hoping for calm seas tomorrow so I can get my swim in. Picture is rainfall seen from the car ferry heading home from Cozumel.

Cozumel preview

IM Cozumel is closed (as per Slowtwitch). We had already decided to come over to the island as one of our mini vacactions (we'll also go to Bacalar (Cenote Azul), Boca Paila (after the 10K in Tulum next Sunday) and Merida during August. We can't leave for many days at a time due to my work constraints and the girls' horseback lessons so we'll do long weekends.

We decided to head over yesterday afternoon but go figure, showing up 15 minutes before the ferry leaves (car ferry) during vacation month is actually a laughable event. The ferry guy suggested showing up at 3:30 for the 6pm ferry. I had planned to work as soon as we got to Cozumel but decided I'd blow off work and suggested we head to La Floresta for some fish tacos as Jamie and I had not eaten at all and had a 40km bike ride we'd just finished. The family didn't have to be convinced at all and we stuffed ourselves silly at lunch. Jesse (who is intent on breaking every teen boy stereotype there is by never eating anything) had 3, I had 2, Ellen had 3 (camaron, much smaller than fish), Jamie had 5 and Sissy had 3. Thus sated we headed home so I could work a tiny bit, get the contact info for the house we were renting (I'd previously forgotten it) and headed back to the ferry terminal. We're pretty much used to just showing up and doing stuff so it was a bit weird to plan to be somewhere at a specific time, and we managed not to go too insane waiting. At 5:30 we got our ferry papers and at 6:00 we were still waiting to board for the 6:00 departure. It ended up being over an hour late and we got to Cozumel at 9pm instead of 7:30 pm. The owner of the house had given up waiting on us but he was quickly located and came by on his bike, showed us in and around and even called us later with the clave for the internet. SWEET! Unfortunately, there are only 2 king beds instead of 1 king and 2 twins so I'm not sure this will work for the IM. Boys will NOT share bedspace with ANYONE so I'm thinking for tonight we'll have to find some colchones for them. At any rate, Jamie and I provisioned up with Ellen this morning. We have water, cawfee, breaky and enough to last the kids until we get back from our ride. Because we're circumventing the island today, loop 1 of 3 for the IM in November. I'm really glad we came over now - I was starting to wonder on ferry last night. Kilo has been a great traveler and he is such an easy dog it isn't funny.

It's not the sharks, it's the PELICANS!

I finally figured out my run plan for IM training. I only do BarryP (as it has kept me injury free all year and after 2 years of constant injury, I'm a TOTAL convert) but that is a LOT of running (frequency) so it took some juggling to get it in there. And I wanted to add some longer runs towards the late middle of the training.

I finally got off my butt and started looking for accomodations during the IM as our usual place now has a very territorial cat and our dog would not be welcome. We're going to head over to the island this weekend and check things out and have a nice vuelta of the island. Looking forward to it. Next weekend is the Tulum 10K (or an unofficial Sprint in Cancun) which reminds me to register before the inscription bumps up (until today you couldn't register). ARGH. I have been looking EVERYWHERE for info on this 10K and until today there was nothing published. I now find that inscripciones were open June 1 and the fee is already up to $200. Yuck. I'll still do it though. :) So typical here.

So the other day I finally manned up and got in the sea water. I really dislike swimming in the sea, especially after being "dogged" by that damn cudda, so I'd try to finagle a way to get in the 10-12m pool before cleaning and definitely before hotel patrons strolled over for a dip and kept getting kicked out for maintenance. Since Jamie requires that I do not swim solo, swimming in the sea in the early morning doesn't work out very well. So last week I started running early morning and swimming afternoon when my babysitters were awake. Finally got some distance in. I really don't worry about sharks much but my last swim SOMETHING was hitting my feet intermittently. There is little debris in the sea and I couldn't figure out what it could be until after the last "hit" I saw a pelican heading skyward. Apparently my slow 2-beat kick looked too much like a fish to that pelican until he got close enough to see the leg and body of the large animal and aborted dinner.

I'm learning to listen to my body - the last 2 rides before today were hard, PR rides and today I put on the brakes and rode SLOW. It was actually hard to ride slow. I worked on cadence and got bored but my legs thanked me. Thursday's ride will thank me. I'm not sure how it was possible but just before heading out on Sunday's ride, I clipped in and immediately fell over. I've got good road rash (gravel) and am soaking with tea-tree oil to stave off infection.

I think I finally have a handle on the training and am looking forward to seeing what happens in the next weeks.

Day in the Life

I can't believe I haven't updated in so long! I finally threw caution to the wind this week and got in the water. I still have that damn ear blockage but I'm done waiting for the TM to turn right side around. Everyoneceandawhile I think I can hear but then it is gone again.

So I decided to do a DOTL. It's not super accurate because I forgot various times throughout the day but this is a pretty standard day. I'm the first one up and Jamie and I have been sleeping in the recamera with the girls since we tore the trailer apart. I tend to be eaten alive by mosquitos so after the first bloody night I strung up curtains around our bed. Ellen sleeps on the floor and we have STUFF stacked everywhere.

I normally get up, get online, start downloading work and then head outside to the kitchen to start a pot of cawfee. To the right here you can see the almost complete absence of trailer, pouring calica (fill) and the surrounding block to form the base of the floor of the new area (bathroom, recamera and office). To the left is the kitchen before the destruction which will be brought about by the family throughout the day. The kids are responsible for nightly kitchen cleanup so this is how it is left when they are done. Pretty nice, eh? They do good work.

So I gets my cawfee and works until Jamie wakes and we then watch the tour. How much depends on how much work I have. When the tour finishes for the day Jamie heads to the kitchen (girls are likely still asleep, but not always) and makes cawfee and I keep working. Today is a ride day so when I find a good stopping point we get ready for a ride while the girls do some schoolwork. All my riding and running stuff fits in this drawer. We've become more Mexican in our clothing habits and both the girls and I can fit all our clothes into 2 drawers. Big drawers, but 2 drawers. Ellen takes only one. Boys probably take 1 to 2. Jamie is the clothes horse and I have no idea how many drawers he'd need.

We have pretty much only one choice in ride, either north or south, and traffic is always less south so we head down to Akumal and back for our ride. This is our (short) bread and butter ride. We have a medium (58-60km) and a long (90 km) but this ride is standard for us and we do it 3-4 times a week. We have our favorite sprint areas (living on a flat peninsula any rise is the road is a "hill" and serves for sprints. By the time we get back the laundry is either ready to be hung or brought in, but that's not my job - I head back to work in my makeshift office (recamera) until construction gives me a real office. It has been a bit cramped but I'm finding I really enjoy having the kids around all the time. I was really isolated in the trailer office and I'm wondering how much I'm really going to enjoy being way over there again (once construction is done) after enjoying their company all day here in the recamera.


After eating, someone else doing housework and me working some more it is time to take the girls to horse lessons. Sissy is sick so it is just Ellen today.



















The drawer of run and bike. Nike tempo shorts, Target socks, Champion bras, tops, 1-2 bib shorts, and 5-6 jerseys. I have to be honest that I'm pretty sure I have more in a duffle somewhere.

I was supposed to go for a run but I'm so used to bricking my rides (and I ran out of time in order to get Ellen to her lesson) that I totally forgot to run when I got home, but instead worked a little more, ate and went to bed. I just finished week 1 of IM training and just like with the HIM I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to do the workouts in the middle but will just have to trust the training. Like the HIM, I'm padding the cycling a bit again. Now to hunt down mozzies before heading off to bed and starting it again tomorrow.

glory days

I'm convinced that these are my glory days. I swam competitively as a kid and even did a triathlon when I was around 25, but these 50s? They are the glory days. I'm in better shape (or senile, either one is really a very good possibility) than I've ever been and stronger than I've been. And looking back at the beginning of this month, I'm thinking, those were my glory days BECAUSE I'M STILL NOT WORKING OUT!!! I can't swim (had to blow off the Aguas Abiertas at Bacalar this weekend) due to the ear, and the chest gunk is Just Now starting to fade. I'm not alone - the entire family (except Ellen - go figure on that one) got sick and Jesse missed the last 2 weeks of school. So it hit All of us Very Hard. But dayum, are my glory days over? Will I ever hear again on the left side? Will I ever NOT be dizzy? I can't ride because of the dizziness and today I decided I'd run. Except I forgot to check the weather. Tropical disturbance and waves of storms chased through all day. So, maybe tomorrow? This picture is from the HIM - apparently there are supposed to be lots of pictures of me (I guess I was the only broad with braids as the photographer commented that he recognized me because of the braids) and this is one freebie. I was looking through pictures today and feeling nostalgic for the glory days of 3 WEEKS ago and boy, I really need to get out more. Tomorrow to run. Or buried in a tropical thingie. Actually this tropical wave is supposed to organize in the Bay of Campeche and I'm hoping good thoughts for Texas.

crawling towards the light

For the first time in 11 days I'm looking forward. This sickness has totally hammered the entire famdamily except Jamie and Ellen. Sissy has been in bed for a week, Jesse is missing all his exams (and on the 4th or 5th day of school missed), Pike might be coming out of the woods today and even Kilo (the dog) has been off. Maybe just because nobody has been well enough to walk the poor guy. I had an appetite 2 days ago. I had energy the day before yesterday. Yesterday sucked but today I'm starting to feel good again - and just in time as I have a (forgotten) open water swim competition this weekend! Ack! I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about that as my left ear is totally blocked with blood behind the tympanic membrane. Docs at the clinic are stymied and gave me a last ditch dose of dexamethasone yesterday to see if that would help but it doesn't seem like it has. We have all been dozing and recovering for what seems like the entire month of June, but I know I did a triathlon back at the beginning of the month so it can't have been a month, but dayum, it sure feels like it.

I had visions of going for a run yesterday but the dizziness (from the ear issue) made it difficult to walk and then I had a little tiny relapse of the "sickness" so that was out and then I passed out for my daily nap(s) and that was that. Today I'm hoping for a run. I need to get on my bike. I've lost 3 kg (which is good) but it is probably all muscle mass. You know your priorities are weird when you're not happy with weight loss (even though it is a "good" thing) because it is likely muscle mass. I still have 3 kg I'd like to lose before I decide what I want to weigh and I know I have it to lose but I HATE losing that muscle I worked so hard for.

Doctor is going to make a house (or palapa in our case) call today - no fee whatsoever (as she's still chasing down my particular problem) and we'll see what she says about the ear and the competition this weekend. If nothing else, maybe Jamie and I will just take a drive down to the beautiful laguna Bacalar for the day and pick up my t-shirt. Sigh. There is also a triathlon on Puerto Morales (sprint) I'm eyeing in a week or two so I guess that's another sign my mojo is on its way back.

Hammered

I was pretty sore (quads) a couple days after the HIM and after sitting in a car for 2 days I was sure I saw edematous ankles, but now I've got dengue-like body aches, fever of 38.5 (101+), gunky chest and the energy of a nursing home resident. After my fever decreased this morning I treated myself to some Tylenol which magicked away the horrific body aches and head-in-a-vise headache, but I'd like return the liquid shit that seemed to come with it. Is there another symptom I'm missing here? I've never had so many symptoms of so many illnesses (dengue fever, flu and gastroenteritis). I had hoped to be back training again by now.

Good thing IM training doesn't start until July.

Day before triathlon and triathlon

Saturday morning I was up early and working and decided to forego the planned swim of the triathlon as we'd found out the night before that not only had the bike course been changed but that the swim would not start from the island (due to unanticipated early turtle nesting) so there ended up being no swim familiarization anyway. When I was done working for the morning, everyone but Jesse (as it turns out, the smart one) headed down for package pickup. I had No paperwork whatsoever, not even my emails but somehow my mind remembered my FMTri number and they located my information and package. If you hadn't affiliated with the national triathlon federation you needed to pony up an extra $100 ($8USD) and affiliate for the day and fill out all kinds of computer stuff and the wait for that was rather long, but I just needed to photocopy my ID (FM3) and hand it over for pickup which inlcuded....SALT TABLETS!!! The girl handing them out acknowledged that they indeed, were NOT available anywhere in Mexico so they must have imported them. With the forecast for 38C for the day I was over the moon and Very excited to get such a treat.

We ended up timing package pickup with the first junta previa and since the meetings were obligatory I headed out for it (at a different hotel from entrega de paquetes) while Jamie, the girls and Pike hung out at the beach at the first hotel. The meeting was super long as the first order was a long drawn out apology and explanation for not leaving from the Isla de Sacrificios. I was okay with it and it seemed like most were and then there was the bike re-routing explanation and once we got to the run route explanation (don't think there was a change there) I pretty much understood the bike route. They said they'd let us know if the swim was clockwise or counterclockwise the morning of the event. They'd wait for the capitania del puerto to decide which would favor us best. It was a long meeting with lots of questions and that is where I found out they were Very Serious about no drafting and that Jamie would not be able to hand me Electrolit on the course BUT they would have Powerbars and GU for the bike and run. Except they really didn't. Luckily, I had accidentally planned for that.

I tried taking a nap in the midafternoon and I'm pretty sure I got some sleep in as I had been getting up at 5am to work and going to bed at 10pm or later by this day it was really catching up with me. I know your taper week is supposed to be a resting and hydrating week but mine was pretty much the opposite. That night as Jamie and I headed out for dinner (the kids stayed in the hotel) and found The Best pastor tacos we've ever had I got hit with incredibly awful stomach cramps and diarrhea and I was worried enough for the next day that we headed for a farmacia and got cramping meds.

I then had to figure out what I was going to wear for the triathlon. I really wanted a swimsuit for the swim, bib shorts and jersey for the bike and shirt and shorts for the run and got everything together. I had purchased some wide elastic and sewed it to make a belt for my first sprint triathlon in March and pinned this to the elastic of my shorts to change into in T2. I wasn't sure if there were bathrooms at transition for changing so I brought a large towel along just incase. I filled my bike jersey pockets with the salt tablets, a cliff bar and 2 GUs along with a CO2 cartridge and probably more. I refrigerated 2 750 mL bottles of 1-scoop Cytomax and got to bed.

I was up at 4:45 am without any alarm. I made coffee and completely changed my race wardrobe and dropped the swimsuit and bib shorts for tri shorts and a run top over a running bra. Jamie was up a little before 6am (transition was open from 6am to 6:45) and we squeaked into transition at 6:30. there was absolutely No Place to put my stuff - the ladies on both sides of me had taken all the space. So I put my bike shoes in front of my bike, hung my sunglasses and helmet on my bike and left 2 bags of my stuff directly under my bike and behind my bike and headed out of transition to the beach. We had to get out behind the sets of breakers to see the course and I finally decided I had pretty much the gist of the course and as all the women started together (and dead last) I'd just follow the waves of men ahead of us. The elites were off first and while I didn't see any women there were apparently 2 elite women in there. One finished just over 5 hours, the 2nd in 5:25ish (and I beat her bike time).

I'd had a cliff bar back at the hotel around 6am and since I'd actually tested this nutrition on my very last brick at home I knew it would work and was happy with the choice. I tried to swig some Electrolit, expecting a very hot day but had to leave it all in transition. The swim wasn't bad once we got past the breakers and I think I swam through 2 waves of men before exiting but my time wasn't all that hot (41 min) and I know I swam way wide for open water. I thought I had taken a short cut (direct line) at the base of the triangle (300 m) but maybe I was actually way off course. Hard to say. It was GREAT to have the swim over and one part finished and done with. Bike was next.

I ran into transition (not far from swim exit) and took off the run top which had chafed me badly under each arm and stepped into my bike jersey and headed out. While on the swim someone had dumped all my bags of stuff on the ground under my bike and taken the towel (we weren't supposed to have backpacks or any bags there but I had no room to put my stuff so I left everything in bags) and I figured I'd figure out the run stuff in T2 and headed out on the bike. It turned out I was 21/68 women and I thought sure I'd done better than that so definitely room for improvement there.

It apparently had rained HARD during the swim and the roads were very wet and full of large deep puddles. I found it impossible to keep my HR under 150 for the first 18km lap and durin gthe 2nd couldn't keep it under 140 so I just gave up and in the headwinds took it easier and tucked tight on the downhills. I ended up averaging just under 30km/hr at 3:01 for the bike. Exactly where I'd hoped I'd be. Jamie was on the course for at least the 1st lap and maybe then 2nd and then headed to the hotel to get the kids. I saw them the 4th and 5th laps and drank both water (1L) and poweraid along with the Cytomax I'd brought and 1 Cliff bar I'd brought and took 1 salt tablet at one point thinking I'd save the last 2 for the run. I never saw those again.

The bike really was very good. I didn't suffer at all and I did not let 1 single female pass me from any age group. I was very happy with my bike portion but I was really worried I had not left enough for the run. I knew I'd worked hard - not ridiculously hard - but hard and I was shocked at how high my HR had been because in training I had to work So Hard to get it that high and during the race I just could not bring the intensity down at all but it wasn't really hurting. I guess that means I trained well.

When I came into T2 I had an amazing sight - 3 racks of bikes, mine, the one to both left and right were EMPTY! I'd beaten at least 3 age groups of females into T2. I grabbed my run shorts, stripped off my jersey, put on my run shirt and ran to the bathroom to change and tentatively headed out for the run. I knew it was going to hurt and it was a huge question as to whether I'd actually be able to do it or not. I had not gone further than 12 km in training and this was going to be 22 km. I was scared.

My plan was to Gallowalk - 9 min run and 45s to 1 min walk. I spotted a guy in front of my coming out of T2 who was shuffling quite a lot like I was and I wondered if I should just shuffle with him or Gallowalk but after 3 Gallowalks I had left him quite solidly behind me. I expected to start feeling worse and worse but by 30 minutes (5km ish) I was feeling better than expected. Not great by any stretch but not like I was going to die and I started thinking I just might be able to finish. I kept looking for "U" on calves but never saw one the entire race. I was sure I had one of my age group ahead of me but wasn't sure. I kept to my 9m:45s and found that not only did the promised Powerbars never appear on the bike leg but that the promised GUs never appeared on the run leg. Luckliy I had brought 3 GU with me just in case and stashed them in my bra coming out of T2.

The rest stations along the run were heaven. They had pretzels, coke (not defizzed but I drank 2 anyway) rasins (I was afraid to take these that they'd give me gas), ice, Poweraid, water, oranges and bananas. They had a fire truck throwing a DRENCHING shower at one end of the course. They had a water tunnel at the other. On the 2nd lap the rest stop volunteers poured ice cold water in a shower over you if you so desired. There were private citizens along the course with ice cold baggies of water, gatorade, oranges, other drinks, coke and incredible spirit. They MADE the run course. Towards the end of the laps there was one guy who was VERY LOUD and YELLING at you, encouraging you, calling you out by number and what an inspiration. There was one family with empty water bottles filled with rocks shaking and yelling "VENGA VAMOS" and encouraging us. By the 2nd lap I really looked forward to all the little groups of people yelling for their own athlete and the rest of us as well. By the 2nd half of the 2nd run loop I knew I was going to finish. I decided to stop run/walk and just run but stop in the rest stations to pick up ice and poweraid. I had to stop taking in liquids a couple times on the bike due to sloshing but paced myself well enough on the run that I never got bloated or sloshing tummy thankfully but I really wish I'd had more solid food available. I did take pretzels 3-4 times on the course hoping for the salt to kick in.

Jesse ran the last 6km wiht me (in CROCS!!) and talked me as I shuffled along. Sometimes he walked while I "ran". I was very happy to be done as those last 6km my hips were KILLING me - I'm used to running on non concrete and this was all concrete and asphalt. Plus there was the lack of training and distance. So my first 1/2 marathon was at the end of a triathlon. :)

I finished in 6:22 and ended up winning my age group. We never were able to find the prize ceremony but honestly I was very happy to finish, to win my AG and to have my family around to celebrate with. I could not have asked for more. But honestly, an IM is TWICE this? ACK!!! NOW i'm REALLY worried!

Got to Veracruz and only stopped by each and every military checkpoint.

We got stopped by all but 2 military retenes but I was thankful for the 2 that they were actual military retenes and not fake retenes. Pike was rather bothered that we were constantly targeted by the military for revision and we had a good discussion about the drug trade and why it would make sense to pull us out of line for revision. I was a little apprehensive (to say the least) going through Cardenas, Tabasco but we had no problems going through. I won't say why but Google might give info. I was pretty sure I spotted spotters along the road into Cardenas though.

The road was quite familiar from our previous journeys through this area and looked forward to the pineapple plantations of Veracruz but by the time we got there we were too worried about finding a hotel in Veracruz to stop for the glorious cold juice. This is a usual stop for us and as pineapple is pressed fresh from the field and iced, it is quite a treat on a hot day. When we had left Frontera I had looked up the hotel we'd planned to stay at on Google Maps and found they located it nowhere near the beach (and thus the triathlon route) but way in the middle of the outside of the city. The hotel website, however, showed it much closer to the beach and specifically said it was on the street name of the malecon (Google locating it on the same street name in a radically different location) so we were not sure if we'd have to find a dog-friendly hotel once we got to town or not. Mexican sineage is challenging at a minimum and were it not for our "friends" in the black truck we might still be on the road. We were very happy to find that our hotel was, in fact, right on the malecon and the projected triathlon route. Well, except not really.

We quickly got rooms on the THIRD FLOOR and headed out to find something to eat. Jesse was hoping to revive an old (ridiculous) tradition of KFC on some traveling nights and off we headed for the worst the Coronel had to offer. It was truly The Worst Chicken in the world and even the coleslaw (what I had to eat) was only barely edible. Jamie and I then headed out for water and breakfast supplies and we were in bed by very late o'clock.

On the road again...

(picture is at the Tabasco border where the military asked for car papers but I told him we didn't have them, had FM3s and the permit was valid. He gave a cursory glance at the permit and waved us on)
So in order to get to the HIM in Veracruz I'd either have to try and figure out shipping the bike, pay upwards of $1200 airfare for the family and rent a car or we'd take a 2-day drive. Drive won out very easily. The girls weren't all that happy about missing out on horse-riding time (as their lessons are on the end of the week and weekend but Jesse was happy to miss out on some of the more boring classes. Pike was looking forward to a change of pace. So pretty much everyone was looking forward to the drive. I had thoughts of leaving super early (like 5am) to get most of the drive done early in the day but Jamie had remembered that the last time we drove to Frontera (our first planned stop) we got in sometime in the early afternoon and didn't really need to leave all that early. So it was only left to find an internet solution so I could continue to work. Telcel has been advertising their G3? USB stick for a good year now so I figured the bugs would have been worked out by now and thought it would allow me to work while on the road. Unfortunately, Jamie and Jesse were never able to either get the red tape worked out (turns out they wanted a CURP as I'm not a Mexican national to register the USB) or availability worked out to purchase one, so the afternoon (like 5pm) the day before we planned to leave I headed into town to get one. (picture above is lunch stop in Escargeca Campeche) Chedraui had one but they wouldn't register or activate it, the Telcel distributor next to Chedraui did not have the stick but they could register one if they had one to sell but she located one at another distributor and we headed off there. (picture to the left is of the Tabasco/Veracruz border where there was a multikilometer backup southbound - you can see in the background)

It only took about an hour to purchase, activate and register but I FINALLY had internet and could work as we drove. I was up at 5 am next morning to get some work in before we left and we were finally on the road at 10am. We drove through many fires in southern Qunitana Roo and upon hitting the state line (QRoo and Campeche) we passed through an Aduana stop which I don't ever remember hitting before. Course it has been a few years since we've gone out that way so it is possible it isn't all that new. Unfortunately she wanted our car permit paperwork - the permit itself visibly portrayed in the correct spot on the front window was apparently not nearly good enough - and when I told her we didn't have it she had us pull over. I told her we had FM3s (though mine in in tramite) so the permit didn't really expire but she said she wanted to see the paperwork that we'd actually purchased the damn thing. If one thing I've found, patience is really key so instead of getting upset I just had Jamie pull over and I brought over his FM3 and we chatted a bit and she decided that I really did just need to go to Cancun next time I was there and get the paperwork. We were off to the next state border. (picture to right is not forest fires but "controlled" (questionable) sugarcane harvest fires - quite normal here. This completely obscured the roadway - there was NO visibility under out of the smoke.)

Work was going rather well - there were a number of dead spots where I had no internet but anytime we were at a new town I was able to either upload or download. Work was also a bit slow and I was able to keep up with no problem and I was really happy about that. Somewhere in Campeche the car's vacuum pump began going out (again, Jamie had the foresight to bring a spare as we seem to be going through vacuum pumps like air) and braking became difficult (i.e. no power assist). We had stopped in Escacega for tacos but were getting quite hungry again by the time we finally rolled into Frontera - some 12 hours after leaving home. It was a Very Long Day of travel. We quickly hit our favorite taqueria for 20 pastor tacos for $80 and giant tortas for $20 and by the time we were back at the hotel it was 10pm or so. We had a kingsize bed and a double and we got 3 in the king, one in the double and two on the floor. (to the left is the island the HIM was supposed to leave from in Veracruz. down and to the right is the truck we spotted along the road in Tabasco and them leading us, unknowingly, through the roads of Boca del Rio to Veracruz city)

I was up at 5am again next morning to work as the day before I'd used an entire month's worth of bandwidth between downloading, uploading and roaming charges and got about 2/3 of a day's work in by the time we left (again 10am). We had a shorter drive that day to Veracruz and somewhere in Tabasco state we found a black truck full of tri bikes following a little while car loaded down with more tri bikes - they both carried Campeche plates. They were doing about 120km/hr though and we watched them head out down the road. We were hoping for a 6-hour day that day and took the cuota the whole way. Expensive but definitely got us to Veracruz in good time. I wasn't sure exactly where the hotel was as Google Maps was giving very conflicting information to the hotel website. Incredibly, right when I was trying to figure out which way to go in the maze of Veracruz streets I spotted the black truck and white car and told Jamie, "FOLLOW THAT TRUCK" and enjoyed stress free meandering through the maze of Vercruz/Boca del Rio streets. We finally lost them very close to the malecon and Jamie had to completely round a glorietta in order to try again at hitting a street but it was an easy journey. (picture to the left is Jesse and Sissy racing Kilo at the beach across from our hotel)

I was so nice being on the road again and once I figured I could get a day's worth or work by getting up super early, working 4-5 hours and then working again when we got to the hotel I realized the USB stick was never a necessity in the first place.

ONLY 38!!!

New prognostication for partially cloudy and high of THIRTY TWO (heat index 38C)! The race is ON baby!!

oooh, I'm getting antsy and scared

i keep watching the Veracruz weather and they seem to be running 5-10 degrees (Celcius) higher than we are (YIKES) except my thermometers are running about 5 degrees higher than WUnderground so who really knows. Well, I do know one thing - I'm pretty scared about the heat. I tried a last 3-hour ride on Thursday or Friday or something and just about died. I decided to try Real Food (pancakes) for nutrition and they SUCKED and it was 34C and apparently 43C with the heat factor or whatever they call it and I came home and totally bailed on the run. So today I had a 40km ride planned and very spontaneously decided to make it 60km and bricked a 1-hour run onto that. Except, I didn't actually PLAN any of this and it was 33C 65% (no clue on the heat index but Jamie's thermometer on his cycling computer (in Luddite) said 109-111 F so who knows.

So I bought about 400 mL of Gatorade and took in 1.4 L of fluid but still lost 2 kg of weight so that is a 3.7 L (or kg - isn't the metric system NEAT?) net loss over 2 hours (1.7 L/hr) which is pretty much not so good as I'm pretty sure I can only absorb about 500 mL/hr. And it wasn't really all that hot today (compared to other days) BUT I was feeling pretty fresh off the bike and quickly slammed down a GU (as I still had not eaten anything yet) and headed out for a run using an old bottle of something I found in the fridge. Really, very much a very bad idea with absolutely no planning. You know where this is headed, right? About 30 min into the run I started bonking. Headed home, got a can of coco water and another GU and headed back out. I stopped at about 1 hour 4 min (and about 9+km) and walked it in. Jumped immediately into the sea and cooled off but was still really dehydrated and even after 1200 mL of Electrolit, 500 mL of soy milk, much more water, coffee, etc., I've only peed once all day long. Still slamming the liquids even now at 9pm.

BUT, now I have a nutrition plan. I will be doing Cytomax and Electrolit on the bike with GU and Electrolit and GU on the run. And I will not fall to temptation of running off the bike (like I did today) at a good clip, but instead Gallowalk. That was another thing I wanted to figure out today - feeling good off the bike I hit the run at a good clip but after 30 min I was toast and started Gallowalking, so I now know I really need to Gallowalk from the start. I'm still not confident about the HIM but I do know I'll finish. I had plans to actually race (I was hoping to take my age group) but now I'm not sure. I think I'll just have to see.

We'll leave Thursday early and head for Frontera Tabasco and then hope to be staying in Veracruz Friday night. Package pickup is Saturday along with swim practice along the route. I have the hotel figured out and we're within walking distance to Costco and a block from the beach. If absolutely nothing else it will be a nice trip but I'm skeered enough that I kinda just want it to be over already. I'm really worried about their 46C heat index temps. I had hopes for a swim under 40 min (I've been hitting around 9 min for 1000 m in the pool), a bike around 3 hours (under would be perfect and about what I do here) and run of 2.5 hours or so. Not so confident about the run - it will be during the hottest part of the day. The only HIM I've done was likely 25 years or more in the past (can't honestly remember WHEN I did that HIM but it was likely 1984 or so) and all I can remember is that my time doubled would have been around a 14-hour IM so I did at least a 7-hour HIM. I'd really like to beat my 25-year-old self. :)

counting down

So I made another big leap and paid for Fuga (get bank account info from website, go down to bank, deposit entry fee in bank account of hopefully the right entity, come home and email pics of receipt and email personal info, get number, 498, and assume I'm IN!). I'd missed the first deadline for the $1350 price but I wasn't that worried as I was more concerned I'd be paying for an event I couldn't finish. So at the last minute I paid for entrance to Fuga ($1500) and now I'm committed. Or should be. :) I am pretty sure I'm going to have to Gallorun the run. I honestly have NO idea how long the swim is (I could check the site, I suppose) but I'm not worried about it. It should be pretty exciting - we're taken by lancha (or panga or something) to Isla de los Sacrificios...HEY, the swim is only 1900 meters? WOW! I thought it was much further having no idea how far 1.2 miles is...hmmm...maybe that means Ironman is less than 5km swim? That would be SWEET (talk about the ignorant, but I like it that way). Anyway, somehow we're taken to Isla and from there we swim to Veracruz and I've been wondering what to wear. Cause I REALLY want bibs for the ride (90km) and my running shorts for the run (21km). So 4 weeks out and I still dunno.

Um, make that THREE WEEKS out. YIKES! I ran 1:30 today, well, Galloran, just to get mentally prepared for the distance (I'm guessing it will take me 2:15 or more) since I've not yet run (or Gallorun) that far before. Today's run was Amazingly Great and I was so stoned afterwards it wasn't funny. Man, I hope my calves stay healthy.

I finally touched base with the PT and am hoping to get an appointment next week. I really do need to do that. I've been getting more swimming in, even with the hated cudda, and finally figured out to cut each lap short (to just 100m each lap) and that way I haven't seen the cudda lately. Course, I'm not really sure I'm actually getting in 100 m (it could be more or less) but so far it is working to get me in the water. For IM I'm going to need to do 8K/week at a minimum and if the cudda will just stay out by the reef this should help immensely. Pike is still out of the water due to the cudda and the water has been wicked rough. I'm almost hoping for rough seas at the HIM as that is all I'm used to. I'm not sure I'd know what to do with flat water.

I'm in the homestretch now and week before last was my longest in cycling. Next two weeks max out at 4 hours each week (not sure I'll know what to do with all that extra energy) and then around the 2nd or so we'll head out to Veracruz. I've been trying to find an economical hotel with a pool that takes doggies but so far only without a pool. We'll be there Thur or Fri, Sat and Sun nights and I know the kids will need swimming/cooling off or they'll just want to be inside. So we'll have to see. I'm also really glad we have the vehicle we do, which is not at all Cartel-attractive, so the drive should be relatively easy. Oh, I do need to renew my FM3 before we leave and hope to do that next week so it will be ready for state border crossing. You just never know who will want to see your paperwork.

trying new things

So I've been focusing on riding the drops lately. We had a visit from my sisters and my BIL brought a bike mag (actually a SLEW of them! :)) for my husband and I saw pics of pros (well, ads and such) and they were riding the drops. DOH! What a concept! So I've started riding them more and more and getting more comfortable with them. I suspect that they are a savings in the wind but I find I can actually go faster riding the brake hoods (I think I use more of my quad). But I still think it is a good thing and I'm keeping at it.

I had a nice run of swimming until we got tropical storm-like seas and I'm hoping to salvage this week's planned 7000 m with a 4000m hit today. I took the kids to a cenote yesterday and hoped I could do something of a workout there but it is the end of Semana Santa and the cenote was PACKED. So today is my last hope for getting in the water this week. I made a radical change to my stroke from the "S" under the body we learned decades ago in AAU to high elbow something and I can feel a distinct power difference. Unfortunately my swim partner (Pike) is still land-bound due to the cudda that scarred him (not physically) and I'm hoping he'll be back in the water soon. He has a birthday coming up and was certain he'd be getting a Quinceañero this year. I had to be the breaker of bad news to let him know only girls got Quinceañeros. Poor boy.

I've been dodging a GI virus that has had us all down for multiple days at a time but still running sporadically enough to know the bike calf muscle thing is now fixed. For now. I do need to find that PT though and am Going To Call Her on Monday or die trying. It has been heating up; the humidity is finally back, but I'm still able to go out in the heat of the day and workout so that's good news.

I had 7 hours of biking on the schedule this week but was sick for 3 days of it so I did 2 monster days. I'm getting more used to the 90km ride (3 hours) and that went rather well. I was tired at the 70km point but my legs felt really pretty good throughout. Then the day before yesterday I did a 120km ride and rather than heading out the Coba road (from Tulum) to get in the distance, did 2 loops of our medium ride. I really thought the 2nd loop was suck but my water stop was David's store and I realized I could leave Cytomax powder (and maybe Electrolit) there if I do this again AND the 2nd loop was not the mental drain and mess I thought it would be. So that was excellent news. I also managed to average 4:10 for both loops riding time (with an additional 8 min of water purchase and refills) and I found I really needed 4 liters for the ride. I'm also looking into electrolyte replacement as the Cytomax was useless there (at 1 scoop/750mL water). I was quite dehydrated and cramping afterwards. I bricked a 20 min run to the end of the ride but I was in such pain from the neuroma flare I didn't think I could run. Strangely I was more able to run than NOT to - the pain went away running. Dr. Google says I need to move my cleats back and so that's next on the list. So I made some findings with nutrition, found 2 loops aren't completely evil (IM Coz has 3-60km loops so this is perfect for me) and my legs held quite strong for the ride. They were heavy the day after and I'm not surprised as I did bonk on the run (but expected it, I didn't want to deplete my GU so I rode the last hour + run without). All in all a very good experience.

Lastly, the girls have finally decided they're okay with missing riding (horse) lessons so I can do the HIM in a month (ACK!) so that's back on the front burner. I still need to get a USB Telcel stick so I have internet on the road (and can work while we're traveling to Veracruz) but I am almost certain the HIM is back on the calendar. Now I just need to convince myself I can run the 21km at the end. I'm thinking of Gallorunning as I am only at 3 hours/week running with all the sickness and injury. Not sure what to do there. I experimented with a Gallorun my last long (hour) run and it didn't totally suck. I ended up with 8 min run 45 sec walk and that seemed okay. So that's what I'll be working on this month.

April totals:
Swim 14264 m
Bike 857 km, 29.25 hours
Run 10 hours.

Pics are of me on the 120km ride at the XpuHa Maya ruins (background) and the kids at the cenote.

skeered

So my calf hates me. Pretty sure. I went to bed the night before last with a (rather) healthy calf and woke to incredible pain and a knot in my calf I could neither find nor get rid of but one that wouldn't allow me to walk much. I'm guessing I got dehydrated with the GI virus and 650 mL of Electrolit/day didn't do the replacement.

I've never had an injury that wasn't completely debilitating so this one is really throwing me for a loop. I did my swim (longest yet at 3000 m) and figured I'd walk my "run" as I was pretty sure a run wasn't in the leg. I warmed it up for 5 min and took some precautionary jogs and found as long as I went super slow it felt like I could run forever. There was a point I felt would be very damaging and painful (the pain was a great warning sign) but as long as I stayed away from that point (slow) I was good to go.

I checked the stats for last year's Coz IM and there was not one finished in my age group from Mexico. I also checked the top 3 times and each of their splits. Wondering. I think today I crossed the bridge from "just finish" to "do well".

squirts and time off and I'm mellltttting.

So is it possible to lose all fitness in a few days' time? I've been taking rest day tras rest day tras rest day. Getting a lot of work in but reinjured my low hammy/high calf and then got the GI virus making its rounds.

What is it with vehicles that drive in reverse on the carretera? It is so common here it isn't funny but as a cyclist now, it freaques me out each and every time. If they're on the other side of the carretera I'll race them, otherwise try to avoid them.

I have 7 weeks (now) to Fuga (HIM). I'm not sure I'll be ready. I have until the 15th to pay (before the price goes up) and still haven't pulled the trigger on Cozumel (though I'm just a click away from paying right now, 1 tab over).

Summer is in full swing and I'm loving the heat. Jamie, not so much. Rides are now at 30C but humdity has been low this week - 65-70%.

Oh this update sucks - too much GI upset to make any sense whatsoever. But I'm still alive. This week starts 2 weeks of Semana Santa and even though we live at the beach (where everyone heads at SS) I think we might head to Valladolid or Merida for a few days. I have my eye on a jersey over there... :)

pulled the trigger. EEEK!

So family had all but staged an intervention to get me to take a rest day. I posted on BT as well and was told it was most likely a good thing so I figured I'd give it a try. I expected SUPER legs the next day (as it had been around 6 weeks since my last rest day) but really, all I got was lethargy and depression. I hated how I felt the rest day - I kept thinking there was something that was missing and I ate pure crap. AND I didn't even have super legs the next day. So pretty much a FAIL in my book. I did, however revamp my training so I could theroetically take one should it become necessary.

I put 9 hours in on the bike last week and have also been playing around with zones. Well, I've finally figured out what they are and have been applying them to cycling. I'm not much liking that idea. I prefer to ride how I feel and go with that as obsessing over a number is killing my cycling joy. One ride I had to turn off the clocks and immediately it was fun again. I've been piling on the cycling kilometers as the sea has been wicked rough AND we had another shark attack. Decades upon decades of no attacks and 2 in the last short while and you know I'm staying out of the water when it is not crystal clear. However, my arms are getting super saggy and I'm getting worried. Not worried enough, however, to swim a bazillion laps in the pool (10 m pool I think). Jamie and I did another Tulum ride on Sunday and this one was much more tolerable than the last one AND I took 8 minutes off our ride time and 15 min off our total time AND we found a great water refilling spot (abarrote outside the Coke factory).

I am up to running almost 3.5 hours a week and feeling pretty good about that. I am crossing fingers I've hit on my injury solution but still have yet to see that PT. I really need to get my ass out there but it is such a hassle - 1.5 hours just to make an appointment. For now I'm trying to trigger-point roll my legs at least once a week.

I've also been thinking hard about the races to come and have pretty much decided against Guatemala in August. The entire triathlon is in a container port like area, 2 loops for swim, 5 loops for bike and (I think) 4 loops for run. Not the least bit scenic and it really COULD be as Guate has some amazing country. So I think it is going to be Veracruz 5-Junio where it will be a 1st triathlon but on the island reported to have ruins from Cortez (and protected, noone allowed) will be the swim start - we're taken by boat there and I assume swim to land. No idea of the Hotel sede, bike or swim routes yet. maybe a week before the event. :)

Now I need to find my training schedule the kids must have run off with so I know what I'm doing today. I really do need to get back in the water though. Still thinking about the sprint on 17-Abr but at $600 I think I might be saving my pesos for Veracruz instead.

Right now I'm running at about 12 hours/week training and I'm thinking that's a bit heavy but I honestly don't want to decrease it. I hope I'm not headed for burnout.

March numbers:
Bike: 28h 12m 45s - 857.12 KM
Run: 7 hours.
Swim 19,500 m.

Umm, a leetle heavy on the bike there.