Goodby Maryland Hills

I've had approximately 6 weeks training in Maryland and now it's time to go home.

My training here is always challenging because of the hills that I never have at home on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Every single day that I had bike training to do it was brutal. The stupid hills never got any shorter or less steep. If it was a good day, meaning I was not tired at the start, I was able to manage the hills a little better. But it was always tough. The first 30 minutes each bike ride was the hardest part of the ride. The road I was on was a continuous climb and I was never warmed up for it. The only thing that kept me pushing myself was the fear of crashing. I HAD to keep pedaling no matter how hard it was or how bad I felt because the alternative was not an option.

There were hills that I always had to walk a portion of. But on the last day I made it all the way to the top without walking.

The weather for the most part has been agreeable except for last weekend when I had a 5 hr bike ride to do and it was in the 100's. Staying hydrated was an issue and I'm sure I was in distress for a large part of it.

Swimming in the Meadowbrook Pool is my favorite thing to do in Baltimore. It is a beautiful facility and the training there is great. I might consider moving to Baltimore just so I can swim at Meadowbrook. I've met some wonderful people and renewed old friendships at Meadowbrook. Even though the distance, several 3000 meter swims, was challenging, I love the challenge. My arms never got tired but I get tired all over. :)

Most of my running has been on the NCR Trail. I've been focusing on form lately. I never run fast but I'm trying to not 'just shuffle' along. It seems the older we get the less we pick up our feet when we run, so it looks like a shuffle. I'm focusing on improving that. I think if I don't shuffle I actually run faster. Duh!

Training volume is increasing weekly. That's okay. That's the only way I can do this. What seems like an impossible thing to do actually becomes very possible. What was impossible a few months ago I can now do regularly. It's amazing how that works.

When you start to get that feeling of Fitness it is great. I can really feel the difference. I'm feeling that now. I enjoy working hard. My body is adapting and I can do so much more volume now. I still have a way to go, but I'm making steady progress. The body is an an incredible machine.

We'll be driving the next two days back to Tex so I'll get a little rest. But I suspect I'll be back on my bike Thurs acclimating to the Texas heat and humidity.

Stan and I entered a race to be held in Sept in Dallas. I'm doing a half ironman and Stan is doing a sprint. That will be a good test of my conditioning for Hawaii. I hope I tear up the course... it's FLAT!

Until next time...

Ironman training update

It's been 5 weeks, I think, that I have been training in Hunt Valley, MD. I'm losing track of time.

The days just sort of run together. Each evening I check what my training plan is for the next day. Then I check the weather. I also consider my energy level and sync it with my training plan. I'm going to get it all done, but I need to figure where I will need the most energy and what will be the easiest or toughest part of my day. I consider my cycling sessions the most important. Swimming is the most fun, and my runs are on a beautiful Rails to Trails path that is mostly shaded.

The volume is picking up but is not an issue yet. Cycling the hills is the biggest challenge. That is where I need the most energy. If I'm a little bit fresh I can climb some of the easier hills a little better now. But the steep and long hills are still giving me problems.

One of the things I am learning as I ride my bike each day is where and when to shift. The trouble comes when I am in my easiest gear and not anywhere near the top.

I've been employing some simple mantras on some of these challenging hills. I say to myself, "I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay". My breathing is so heavy at these times I start to feel anxious. I'm trying to accept the slower cadence and harder effort.

I think I have made a discovery about myself. I don't like the slower cadence and the slower pace so I spin up the hill in an easy gear. If it's a tough hill it won't really be spinning. I'm still pushing hard on the pedals and I'm moving very slow. But there is a 'sweet spot' as my coach says where my effort is just about right for the challenge. If I'm in too easy a gear, it actually takes more energy than if I have some resistance. I'm learning to feel for that sweet spot.

We are only here for two more weeks, so I feel the need to focus hard on every single ride to get the most out of my opportunity here. When I get home there are no hills and I will be focusing on distance and time.

Swimming I love the most. We swim in Meadowbrook pool, possibly the best pool on the East coast. That's not to say the swimming is not hard work, but I love the challenge. There is an indoor and an outdoor 50 m pool. It is bulkheaded into several 25 yd lanes plus still several 50 m lanes.

Meadowbrook is a huge facility. They sponsor a great swim team (North Baltimore Swim team) with all levels of hopefuls, a summer swim camp for young kids and open areas for people who just want to have fun in the water and always open lanes for members. I can always find a lane to get in my swim workouts. One of the things I love about Meadowbrook is the number of Seniors that are good swimmers and swim regularly. Everyone I have met has been extremely friendly. I'm considering moving to Maryland just so I can swim at Meadowbrook. :)

I have done a couple 4 hr bike rides, 2000 m swims are the norm and I have to talk to myself and focus lot on the 1.5 hr runs.

I know how important all this is right now. It will increase considerably so like going to school, it's important to learn this years material because next year you will build on what you already know... assuming you know it.

Today has been a rest day. I have learned to rest on rest day. I can't do the work next week if I don't take a break one day a week.

So until next time...

Ironman training

I did another two hr ride today with three hill repeats.

It wasn't as hot today but I'm being extremely careful to stay hydrated. Since the hills are so difficult for me I sure don't need my strength jeopardized by being dehydrated. I think I did pretty good today. That's not a statement of great improvement but just maybe I'm getting a little accustomed to the effort required.

There is one hill I still cannot ride all the way to the top. It is brutal. Not only is it steep, it is long. Just when I think I can make it, I crap out and have to stop. I am breathing so hard, I'm sure I am at my Max heart rate.

Yesterday, while I was resting halfway up this hill, a young women, sort of plump, came by on her bike, so easily, just riding along. I'm busting my butt and she looked like it wasn't tough at all.

I did the three hill repeats up a hill called Ivy Hill. It goes straight up into a residential area. It doesn't look like much at first but then it gets really steep. I start out going pretty fast and barely make to the top at a crawl. When I reach the top, I stop as quickly as I can with what little strength I have left and breathe! It's takes me a couple minutes before I can ride back down the hill and do it again. I hope to be able to conquer this hill and move on to a more difficult one before long.

One of the things that would help me a lot is to weigh less. I'm working on it.

Later this afternoon, I did a 2100 m. swim. I thought I might be tired but I did well. I worked hard for all of it. After a warm-up and some drills, I did 6 X 200 pull. I pull using the freestyle and with rubber tubing tied around my ankles so that I cannot kick. I love doing this. It forces me to maintain a strong, steady stroke. I think my shoulders are getting stronger

Tomorrow, an easy day.

Talk at ya later.

Ironman training

For the benefit of my friends that want to follow my training progress, I have decided to keep a 'sometimes log' for their entertainment. :)

Today I had a 2 hr bike ride scheduled and a 30 in run. My husband, Stan, and I are here in Hunt Valley, MD so that I can get some hill work. Where we live in Tex on the Gulf coast it is very flat so I need some hill practice. Obviously, climbing hills on a bicycle is not one of my strong suits. I

I have been coming here for several years for hill training so I am familiar with some of the roads near our Condo.

There are no easy or moderate hills here. I just jump right in and attack the hard hills. Needless to say, I am struggling. Some hills that look easy are not, some that look really steep turn out to be not too big a deal. And some I have to walk. I'm trying to get strong enough to eliminate the walking. Climbing a hard hill leaves me breathless. My heart rate is near it's max and I am gasping for breath. When I recover I go at it again. Sometimes I have to stop and rest.My HR returns to something resembling normal and I go on. Sometimes I am afraid I will not make it up the hill before I crash. If the wheels aren't turning around, the bike will fall over!:) The thought terrifies me.

But flying down the hill is a lot of fun. I frequently come down hills at 28-32 mph. I really have to focus when going that fast. The other day a deer ran across the road in front of me when I was going about 28 mph. Also, it is very wooded in some areas. The trees cast deep shadows on the road and it is hard to tell the shadows from a pothole or large crack.

I consider a 2 hr ride a moderate ride, but the hills make it tougher. There are no flat spots. So I am either going up at a crawl or flying down, switching gears constantly.

It's been pretty hot lately, in the 100's. Hydrating is crucial. The least little bit of dehydration will affect my ability to ride hard. I'm not real good at getting a drink when I'm climbing or when I'm going downhill so I need to practice that.

Today's ride was tough but I may be getting a little better.

Also planned was a 30 min run on the NCR trail(a rails to trails path) popular with cyclists and runners near our Condo. It was over 100 deg. when I finished my bike ride so I figured to do the run later when it cooled off. It never got cool enough to make a difference so I ran the 30 min in 100+ temp.

I'm a little tired tonight but I'm okay.

Tomorrow another 2 hr bike with hill repeats( riding up a steep hill several times) and a swim.

I will fill you in on the details tomorrow.

Eagleman 70.3 Triathlon

The Eagleman 70.3 triathlon was my first national caliber triathlon with tough competition. Sunday, June 13, I finished the Eagleman 70.3 triathlon in Cambridge, MD for the 11th time. A 70.3 is exactly half of a full Ironman triathlon, the distances being 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run.

The weather forecast for Sunday was possible thunderstorms at 7 AM, at race start and again at 11 AM. I was mentally prepared for rain but not for the announcement of no wetsuits. The rules state that wetsuits are not allowed if the water temperature is above 78°. The Choptank River was 80° Sunday morning. No discussion!

I've done this race when it was so cold we put on our wetsuits just to keep warm before the race start. I've done it when it was pouring down rain in the morning and I didn't want to get out of the car. I did it last year when the heat index was 108°. But this was the first year the water was so warm that wetsuits were not allowed. I didn't hear a single complaint although wetsuits are a boon to the weaker swimmers and one can expect their swim times to be faster in a wetsuit.

The Choptank River feeds into Chesapeake Bay and is unpredictable. Sunday morning the tide was going out creating a strong current. The race starting time was postponed for 15 minutes.

My age group started 5 min after the Pros. Fifteen minutes wasn't enough time for the tide to finish going out so the current was still strong and it took me forever to get to the first orange buoys that marked the first turn of a triangular course. I don't usually feel the current so was unaware that I was going slow. When I exited the water over an hour later, I thought the clocks were off because of the race delay. I didn't realize that the time on the time clock really was my accurate time! It was rumored that during the night the wind had blown some of the buoys 200-300 yds off course. It was a long swim!

I ran to my bike for T1, quickly putting on my helmet, sunglasses, cycling socks and shoes. My feet had sand and grass on them but I was so upset that it was taking me so long, I didn't take the time to brush the dirt off my feet. Fortunately that is not a big problem when on the bike.

The 56 mile bike ride was windy and it was heating up. It seemed like the wind just followed me around. When ever I changed directions, the wind did too. I saw speeds of 17,18,19 and 20 mph. I also saw speeds of 13, 14 and 15 mph. Living on the Texas Gulf coast, I train in windy conditions all the time. But when I train I'm not racing and usually at least part of my ride is with a tail wind. No tail wind today! I felt like I was riding into a headwind all the time.

I finished the bike ride in over three hours. Going into T2 I was tired and couldn't bring myself to run to my bike rack like I usually do. I was upset with myself for not running but my legs simply would not go. When I got to my racking spot I just stood there and tried to figure out how I was going to get my bike back on the rack. My arms were tired and the bike felt heavy. I think I must have been a little mentally confused. (Probably a little dehydration there and I was aware of it). I have done this over 100 times but my brain just would not click.

Transitions are supposed to be automatic but I was trying to remember what to do. Take off my helmet, put on my running cap, take off my cycling shoes put on my running shoes. I had two small bottles of Red Bull in my shoes and I put them in the pockets of my running jersey. The plan was to consume one at about one mile and the other at the turn around.

Finally I got moving to the run exit. My legs were killing me and I was pretty tired. I saw Coach Troy greeting his little girl and I yelled at him. He had just finished and I still had 13.1 miles to go.

Starting the run is always hard and that is why we practice bike to run transitions. It wasn't working today. I've been practicing race walking so I started with a fast walk. It was already afternoon and the temperature was heating up. It wasn't long before I started feeling the sand and grit in my shoes. I felt like the princess and the pea. The tinyest grain of sand or piece of dead grass can wear a hole in your foot. I eventually had to stop, take off my shoe and clean off my foot. I felt so much better after that. I walked the entire 13.1 miles using my race walk. I'm actually getting better at the race walk than I am at the run. But it was a long, hot 13 miles. I have the sunburn to prove it.

At 8 miles I saw my main competitor. She was behind me by 2.5-3 miles but that wasn't much of a confidence builder. Last year she passed me at three miles from the finish. So I knew she was back there and coming after me. I couldn't let up a bit.

Tired and sore I finally crossed the finish line. I won! I was offered the only slot to Hawaii in my Age Group and I took it.

Now I have a little time to recover from sore muscles and then some hard training this summer to improve my climbing skills and running.

I'm pumped up and ready to train hard. I love Hawaii and it is such a privilege to compete with the best in the world.

The Dangers of Dehydration

Last weekend I called 911 because I couldnd't stop my husbands bleeding. Stan had come into the house to tell me he was bleeding. That was an understatement ! He was bleeding so much I couldn't see where he was injured.

I first tried to stop the bleeding but there were multiple injuries. So I called 911 and the paramedics were here in a few minutes.

The paramedics weren't as concerned about the blood as they were about his state of mind. They began asking him questions and having him perform simple tasks. I recognized immediatly that they were checking for stroke. He passed all those tests but was confused and didn't know what day it was, how he got hurt or who the President was or the fact that he had run 10 miles that morning. They informed me they were lifeflighting him to the Herman Hospital Trauma unit in Houston because of a possible brain injury. They declared his loss of memory and unexplained loss of consciousness was their concern.

Stan had been using a ladder to repair a board on the house. But he had givn up and put the ladder back. He stores it on it's side in the garage. Our observations indicate he passed out and fell on the ladder, a metal extension ladder.

The whole incident was treated as a life threatening incident. They brought a stretcher into the house, wrapped his head and arm in bandages, strapped him on a backboard and put him in an ambulance. He was then driven to a nearby church parking lot and was loaded into a helicopter for his trip to the Herman trauma center.

Amazingly, I was quite calm in all of this. I knew what had happened. He was tired from his 10 mile run, the 60 mile bike ride he had done the day before and the 10 miles the day before that. He had then gone outdoors to do some repair on the house.

After the paramedics had taken Stan to the helicopter, I drove to the hospital, taking a change of clothes etc for Stan (They cut his shirt off... so he had no shirt). Having never been there before it was quite an experience driving to the Houston Medical Center and finding the RIGHT hosptal and then finding my husband.

I asked questions of everyone I saw. I was on a mission. WHERE Is My Husband?? Help came from the information man in the emergency entrance. He took Stan's name and told me he would find him. I then had to find where to park my car. When I came back, this same man told me, he knew where Stan was and took me to him. Stan was in a trauma emergency room having already had a CT, x-rays and who knows what else. The Dr. was getting ready to sew him up. He had several cuts on his face. Good news was no stroke, no blood on the brain. no broken bones. But the doctors wanted to find out why he passed out. He was given an IV for rehydration, and an EKG. From the EKG they ran four additional tests looking for heart irregularities. The only thing they found was an athletes heart and dehydration.

After several stitches, (His confusion was gone but memory of the accident will probably never come back),and after treating of some bad looking arm wounds, he was released.

Lesson: 2 % loss of fluid in your body can result in a 30% loss of performance. But your athletic performance is not the most important thing. 5-6% loss of fluid causes grogginess and headache, further loss of fluid in your body can result in dizziness. Loss of 10-15 % can result in death.

Stan was probably dehydrated when he started his run that morning. He drinks a lot on his bike rides but he is a heavy sweatter. For every lb. lost in sweating you need to replace that fluid with approximately 2 cups of water.

Thirst is NOT a good test of dehydration. By the time you feel thristy or get that dry mouth feeling you are already starting the dehydration process. As we age our sense of thirst is diminished and we already know thirst is not a reliable test of fluid loss.

It doesn't even have to be a hot day and you can lose fluid when you are swimming.

An interesting observation.... when a dog runs and plays hard he follows up with a huge drink of water, replacing all that fluid right away.

We should be as smart as the dogs.

Fluid loss is not something to be concerned about only when you are exercising. Dehydration can occur to anyone, anytime, anywhere. If you lose weight after exercise, it's not fat loss. It's water loss. Replace it right away.

Those in my family have learned an important lesson. Hydrate all day, every day.

I got in some good training today. This morning I ran for 1 hr. on a trail in Seabrook. At the half way mark I got a drink and walked for 30 sec. Again at 51 min I had to walk for about 30 sec. At 53 min. I walked again for about 30 sec.! I just cratered. It wasn't even a conscious decision. But then I finished the 1 hr run and was satisfied though exhausted. I was pleased that I 'hung in there' but it was brutal. There is lots of room for improvement.

It's starting to feel like summer here. Temperatures are not terribly high but the humidity on the Gulf coast is always high. I was feeling it today. Even though it was overcast I got really hot before I was done. I'm going to have to get used to it. I don't think it's going to cool down any time soon.

After lunch I went to the gym for a swim workout. Today I did some serious stroke work. I alternated a 500 pull using a rubber band around my ankles so that I couldn't kick, and a pull buoy (to keep my legs afloat) for 500m, then a straight 500m. swim... 2X's. Warmed up with a 300 swim. Total distance was 2300 m.

I think I'm getting stronger and faster on my swim. Training this way forces me to have perfect balance in the water and makes my stroke more efficient. Otherwise I will 'flop around' in the water because I don't have the use of my legs to correct my balance. It also makes me swim harder and faster. No dead spots. No wasted energy.

My next big race is June 13 in Cambridge, MD. It's what they call a 70.3 or a Half Ironman. I think this year will be my 10th or 11th year to race there. It's one of my favorite races. Couldn't be because it's a flat course! :) There are only two people in my age group and it's a Hawaii qualifier. First place wins a slot to the Hawaiian Ironman. The other lady has a better run split than me but I have a better bike split. We're about equal on the swim. I'm trying to break up this equal thing and improve my run.

So long for now. I've got to tackle my Spanish. With all the illegal aliens around here I need to learn how to communicate.