We come home from Timex Camp with all these goodies. We all realize just how fortunate we are that we have all this help, not only from Timex, who makes it all happen, but from other incredible companies like Sugoi, Orbea, Powerbar, Training Peaks, Shimano, and more. Being a girl, I am super excited about our first ever somewhat cosmetic sponsor (no, not Sephora, but fingers crossed for next year) SBR. SBR will keep my hair from turning green. In addition to shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and chlorine-stench-hiding lotion, SBR threw in Trislide. It’s an aerosol form of something that some other little company makes that I have a tendency to rub on my achilles before long sock-less runs, or around my neck before venturing out in a wetsuit.. you know the one I’m talking about.

It’s early in the season, and a giant box has just arrived from K-Swiss. I’m just home from camp, and freshly motivated by all my lean athlete friends with their low-alcohol tolerances to get back into training after an 8-to-10-pound off season (a new personal record!) I am ridiculously excited to try out the K-Onas, because they have the Japanese flag on them and I am obsessed with all things Japanese, and I sit on the edge of my bed and spray-lube my feet. New shoes always need a little breaking in, and I don’t think I’ve owned socks in years, so I make sure to really spray them up good.

The shoes are on the kitchen counter. Boxes and boxes of glorious new running shoes:

The kitchen floor is tile. I tend to walk fast, especially when trying to sneak a run in between taking the kids to school and going to work. I head for the shoes, thinking only about how great the first run in new shoes is, and suddenly, I’m ice skating in Hawaii. And then I’m horizontal. The worst thing about falling alone is that there’s no one there to laugh at me, and words really can’t explain how funny it was when I slid into the fridge like it was home plate. Or how much it hurt.

There is a lesson here, I swear. Keep the Trislide in/near your shoes, and apply only immediately prior to putting those shoes on, people. There is a reason the bottle says CAUTION: EXTREMELY SLIPPERY. Also, don’t walk in front of my fridge, it’s still slippery there. The eight year old went down hard about an hour ago, while sneaking into the fridge for chocolate he wasn’t allowed to have. The good news? No blisters. The stuff works like a charm.

For the first time ever, I took two months off. OK, the first time in my 4 years of triathlon and running stuff. Here are the top 10 pros of a taking a true off season:

1. My youngest has stopped accidentally calling me Daddy.
2. I look a little less like Lawrence Taylor due to delt atrophy.
3. My hair is more yellow, less green.
4. I really want to get out and run hard/bike fast.
5. Sleeping in when hung over.
6. Nothing hurts all the time.
7. My bike is new, all over again.
8. Ten toenails.
9. Sunday mornings at the skate park before the big kids get there to laugh at the lame mom.
10. No spandex for eight whole weeks.

And my top ten cons:

1. Sounding like Jack Palance in City Slickers when I run.
2. Falling off my bike sidewards when trying to climb a steep hill. On my street.
3. Everyone at the pool failing to recognize me.
4. Getting dropped and dropped and dropped again.
5. The pain of getting into a too-tight splish.
6. Looking like a sausage in said splish.
7. Having to put my head between my knees at the track.
8. The saddle ache starting 20 minutes into a ride.
9. Re-sensitization of the nose. I can smell my workout clothes again. Sometimes before I even start training.
10. A guy on a mountain bike passed me on a hill. Wearing jeans.

The last mile..

I think, well hope, I’m not the only one who gets ancy after sitting around for a week or ten days after Ironman, eating bonbons and peeling sunburned skin off my shoulders. While I understand the need for the body to recover, I also think some of the theories out there about just how long recovery takes are extreme. Made up by someone who wants to keep cyclists off the road, or wants to win the local 10k a month after Kona.. and is trying to trick you into staying home!

The whole one-day-off-for-every-mile-raced that many marathoners use seems extreme to me. 26 days off is not going to work for me. 140.6 days off? No way, Jose.

I had a chance this week to swim with Andy Potts. He raced well in Dallas 6 days prior to kicking butt at Kona, his first Ironman, so I thought I would ask him about a little plan I had brewing in my head and how best to recover. He said to alternate hot and cold tubs to repair the muscles. But not all of us live at the Oly training center, Pottsy. So he said ice baths are good. And then he said that when the muscle soreness of Ironman is gone, and you feel ready, throw in a hard run. If the pain comes back after, you were not adequately recovered.

I’ve renamed Kona. It wasn’t my race, it was my long training day for the marathon at Silverman, four weeks after Kona. I have been feeling good. Lots of swimming, very moderate running, and a bike still living in its box. So I ran 10 miles at marathon pace yesterday. And I woke up today more sore than I was after Kona. I threw the laundry down the stairs in order to avoid walking down. It was messy, but worth it. I guess I’m not recovered.

I guess it’s another week of swimming in store for me then.. happy recovery, all!

The only person I want to beat at Kona is me. Which I realize gives me something in common with those girls. I will beat the me that decides somewhere around Waikoloa: Screw this ridiculously overpriced torture event, I’m going to drop this bike off at T2 and watch the winners finish from the stands. (With beer and chocolate.) The me that gets bored and chatty as I run through the energy lab, losing focus and making friends to pass time. The me that inevitably panics during the swim start and considers stopping to let the madness go by. If I do the best I can every leg of that race, and stay in the moment instead of spacing out, then I win. Even if some other girl does it faster and tops the podium. Good for her, because she probably had a great day and is ecstatic, and that is all hers.

As always, there are some awesome amateur women racing in Kona this year, many of whom could kick my butt on any given day. My goal is not to beat anyone. My super-secret goal is to beat my time from last year, because why not? If 9:56:19 puts me 12th in my age group, I will celebrate improvement. But I guess that’s not super-secret anymore..

As always, my primary goal is to not die. Seriously, people. It’s an Ironman. It’s a miracle we all don’t die. My secondary goal is to race it. With every ounce of me. I would also like to smile through the entire marathon. And to not do so much math because my math sucks by the marathon anyway.

Out of the water it’s Keith Meyer in the lead with a very impressive 1:12 split.

This is Keith, bib 664 – clearly a waterboy:

Tom Schuler, our big boss at Team Sports, is bib number 1696 and he followed in a respectable 1:26. He’s a world class cyclist, so Keith had better move it. Here he is getting pumped up for the ride:

Ben Harper, bib 1919 and former team manager, who has some skinny arms, made it out well below the cut-off in 1:57:25. Here he is trying to get faster by osmosis, with Andrew and Sam.

My money is on a big comeback by Harper.

I ran into the gorgeous Ms. Balding fresh off of IM China at Hawaii 70.3 this weekend. We hung out with some pretty mediocre triathletes at starbucks after the race. I think they were a little in awe of us Timex gals, since they didn’t really want to talk about their races. It’s easy to be intimidated around Amanda and I.

Hawaii 70.3 is perfect practice for the big show, and it was one of those days where Kona gave all it could. Current and chop on the swim, and whipping crosswinds on the bike course. Couldn’t tell ya about the run course, as I played spectator for that portion, but it was hot out even standing at an aid station yelling.. those poor boys had to spend a whole 4 hours out there in that weather. It must have been so hard for them. My first DNF was a lot of fun, believe it or not, but it’s a long, rather whiny story, so if you want to read it, you can click here. I advise against it though, I think reading about others’ injuries is bad juju.

I kept hearing the music from this movie out on the bike course… I’ll try and keep this short!

The Good:
A new swim PR. In November I started swimming 4x/week, doubling my time in the water. I almost died from the boredom. It paid – took 5 minutes off my time and was out of Tempe Town Lake in 58:43. At the start Maggs and I jumped off the dock holding hands like total dorks. She swam smack into the bridge warming up, winning the dorkier award by a smidgen. It was chilly, and boys were mean to me and aggressively stole my draft until I gave up and swam it alone. It was a pleasant surprise to be told by a T1 volunteer that I was a top 10 amateur out of the water. He was likely lying, but don’t check the results and tell me, I don’t want to know.

The Bad:
The first loop was good. New scenery. Big saguaros like you see in spaghetti westerns. Wind, excitement, that scary disk noise coming from me.. I was thinking 1:45/loop would put me where I wanted to be. My HR was right where the coach said it should be. 1:45 exactly and I was back in town and saw both my parents. Then I had to turn around and go again.. which was fine, but the saguaros were not as exciting the second time around. The wind made me grumpy. My shorts were not cooperating. A bee tried to fly into my mouth. The tailwind on the ride home was nice, but the loop was 7 minutes slower. And don’t be fooled by that word “loop” we really just go out and back, over and over. Loop three was bad, and not in the Michael Jackson way. My HR was low. My shorts were still not cooperating. I was looking for a reason to do a 5+ hour ride and not finding one. My teammate Juli flew by a mile or two out of transition and looked so strong it was inspiring. We exchanged pleasantries in T2 while forgetting to put on our compression socks. She went on to win W35-39 because she is awesome. I finished in 5:29, a new personal worst, and told the nice volunteer they could have my bike forever.

The Ugly:
The run, my favorite part! Except there was this funny time warp going on. I was running 7 minute effort, but 8 minute miles were coming out. My heart rate was 20 beats too low. I have a plethora of excuses: my IT band insertion thingamajig, I ate too much on the bike, I ate too little on the bike, it was hot, I only ate 200 cals on the run, the world hates me, it was karma for running over that endangered endemic bird last week, I am a pansy.. pick which ever you like. It was the most difficult marathon of my life. Running past transition six times gave me six chances to use one of those excuses to quit. But my knee didn’t hurt, so I kept running. The marathon was 3:30.. another PW. I could make the report longer with more details – but instead I think I will sum it all up with: That course kicked my ass.

I finished in 10:03, right smack in the middle of my two previous IM times. BUT – it was good enough for 9th place among the women, making it my highest IM placing ever, which cheered me up almost as much as the giant burrito my dad had waiting..

I forgot a camera, so here’s what I’ve got:

My bike, making friends on the rack:

& My last ditch effort at getting faster by osmosis with Michael & Sergio:

The clearance holiday chocolate carried me through to the Valentines Day candy, when I discovered 2 lb. bags of all green peanut M&Ms (practically a vegetable) and by the time those were gone the Cadbury Mini Eggs came out. If only they’d throw a little protein in, I could write them off as recovery food..

But as the season gets rolling, we all know it’s time to start eating better. To fuel our training, not eat for entertainment. Or in my case, as 4pm rolls around and I realize I’ve eaten nothing but crap all day, it’s time to try to make up for it with a healthy dinner.

This Lentil Soup is quick and easy, loaded with veggies, fiber and vegetarian protein, and mild enough that it doesn’t hamper the evening masters swim workout an hour later (yes, I swim. It doesn’t show, but I do it anyway.) Your kids probably won’t eat it, mine didn’t. I found it in Good Housekeeping, as seen at your local dentist’s office.

Red Lentil & Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 medium carrots, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 can (14 1/2-ounce) diced tomatoes
1 can (14- to 14 1/2-ounce) vegetable broth
1 cup dried red lentils
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 bag (5-ounce) baby spinach

In 4-quart saucepan, heat oil on medium until hot. Add carrots and onion, and cook 6 to 8 minutes or until lightly browned and tender. Stir in cumin; cook 1 minute.
Add tomatoes, broth, lentils, 2 cups water, salt, and pepper; cover and heat to boiling on high. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, 8 to 10 minutes or until lentils are tender. Stir in spinach.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (per 2c serving)

Calories 265 Total Fat 5g Saturated Fat 1g Cholesterol – Sodium 645mg Total Carbohydrate 41g Dietary Fiber 13g Sugars – Protein 16g
Source

Kim, my friend Bree’s only goal going into her first ironman this October was to beat her labor time – maybe that’ll have to be your Hawaii goal this year..
I’m just here to link to Bree’s Blog about training for triathlon as a mom and how it changes things. See it here at breeweehawaii.blogspot.com

Hawaii moms – Bree Wee, Ingrid Rolles & me

After a year of goals the new goal is to not have a goal.

I have been warned of the Noise. I’m not sure what the Noise is, though my teammates will tell you it’s probably coming out of my mouth. I just keep seeing Kevin Costner making it all go quiet in some baseball flick. Is the dreaded Noise the year-end wrap-up, the tri-mag’s most-accomplished list, the she-only-beat- me-because-she-drafted blog? Is it the gossip of our sport, catty as a gaggle of freshman girls at prep school? For me the Noise is inside – it’s a matter of over-thinking things. Like when you learn to play Tetrus and play all day until your fingers hurt and then you go to bed and can’t sleep because your brain is unable to stop aligning blocks as they fall from the sky.

The past two years, off season has meant running a couple of marathons for me. This year it means running, biking and swimming when I feel like it, which means my goggles are going to rot under a seat in the minivan. Not talking about it, not thinking about it — no T-word for at least six weeks. This year it’s going to be about letting go. It might suck. It might require my husband telling me to shut up, or a loud ipod – but I’m going to cut out the Noise.
(I shouldn’t be writing this. Or thinking it. And don’t tell Henry I said the T-word.)