Day 11

 Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. Today that meant getting my long ride in miday. Normally one would prefer to rise early & get it done prior to the heat of the day. But life doesn't always care about one's "training" schedule. So, @ noon, with the blazing ball of fire on our backs, temp 100 degrees, humidity 80%, J. S. & I headed out on our TT bikes for a 3.5 hour ride. I tried to drop my core temp before the ride by drinking lots of fluid, forgoing coffee today for a frozen strawberry lemonade from McD's pre-ride.
 We were ok for a while. One of my favorite roads that I have a love/hate relationship with is Cohuttabeaverdale road. I love it one minute & hate it the next. No shade, black ribbon through chicken farm country. It kicked my butt today. @ the 2 hr mark I pulled up under a tree for shade on the verge of heat stroke. Nauseated, crosseyed & spent, yet 1 1/3 hrs left to go. Not used to spending this long on my Uberhund bars, the muscles in my neck & back were rebelling. To make matters worse, I had no Endurolytes.
But, there were clouds on the horizon, so we rode towards them in hopes of finding cooler temps & before long we were riding headlong into a storm. I said a little thank you prayer. Even though I was already broken from the heat, the relief of the storm gave me just enough of a break to finish our ride. J.S. was in the same boat. We were suffering!
Once back to the car we quickly changed for our transition run. Ooops! I forgot my running shoes! Oh well, I ran in flip flops.
Whew! We did it!

Days 6 -10.

Day 6,

A portion of Cherokee Valley Rd

I'm lucky to have a friend to train with. We were able to get out on the TT bikes for a "long ride". We rode 2.5 hrs on a Saturday morning & our route took us through some of the tornado stricken areas around Apison. The land has been reconstructed by an act of God. There are driveways leading to empty lots where houses used to stand. Forest has been destroyed like a lawn mower cut it all down. People lost everything. Some people are rebuilding. But the recovery process is not even close to over.

Day 7,
Rest day. Quick swim & am tempted to join the LBS group ride for some intense riding, but decide not to last minute. It would be an unscheduled ride, definitely out of my zones & probably off the charts. But it would be fun. Instead, compression socks on, TDF on the big screen, I rest & try to entertain the kids best as possible.

Day 8,
12 hours in the ICU followed by a 1 hr quick recovery ride with my husband. We are lucky that the sun doesn't set until almost 9 pm.

Day 9,
Long run day. This is only my 2nd "long" run, scheduled for 50 minutes. While the kids are at swim practice, I slip away to get it done. Pleased with not having to take any walk breaks, I glance at my Garmin 40 minutes into the run & want to cry, I am sooo slow it hurts! But, you have to go slow, in order to go fast. Later in the day, I catch a quick recovery swim & call it a day.

Day 10,
Early ride with J.S, my cohort in IM training. My day is off to a rough start. The  Tassimo pours my coffee without a cup under it, my fault. I have a flat tire awaiting me in the garage, air it up & hope it holds. Get to the meeting place, or what I thought was the meeting place to find the tire did not hold. Drive back home & change the wheel, not the tire for the sake of time as JS is waiting on me & realize I had gone to the wrong meeting place in the first place, we had spoken of meeting at the VM, not the school! Oh my, can I go back to bed & start this day over please?

J.S. & myself pre-ride

Once the ride is underway, things get better. We pedal the 30 mile loop 15 minutes faster than it normally takes. Faster is always more fun.
Quickly grab the swim bag & a non-fat sugarfree vanilla latte & it's off to the pool. Kids in tow. The swim workout takes 1 1/2 hours! The Sports barn pool is hot, it's 98 degrees outside & it's time to eat! I plan to take the girls out on their scooters later tonight while I run. That's a 3 a day.
This is a challenge for me. For the last 2 years, cycling has been my focus, so workouts consisted of a bike ride. even if it was 4 hrs long, it's still just 1 workout & 1 thing to plan for. This Ironman training stuff takes multitasking skills, especially when the kids are out of school & with me almost constantly. Good thing they like to swim.

Day 5

Excited to use my Garmin Forerunner 305 since getting the HR strap working, today I went for a run in the woods. It's been 5 years since I've used this training piece, since my last IM. The tech support at Garmin helped me get it working in just a few minutes, making my day.
After a long day spent in ICU skills day & stressing over a test, my mind & body needed a release. But first, I had to watch the Tour...Thor! It did not disappoint. That inspirational ride in stage 13 was enough to get me off the couch, into my running shoes & onto the trail. I loaded my SUP in hopes of hitting the water after my run @ Harrison Bay. It was almost sunset & the full moon would be rising tonight making for an epic start to my weekend.
This being only my 3rd run in months, it was with skepticism that I ventured alone onto the trail armed with Garmin & Iphone. To make things even better, Ryan is Dead was playing through my earbuds. Ryan Adams combined with Grateful Dead live, in my head, in the woods, perfect. Deep humidity, thick forest & fresh air enveloped me. I ran across 2 does with 2 fawn no taller than my knees. We just stared at each other, then kept running in opposite directions.
A storm was rolling in. When I broke out of the woods, the sky was black & winds were blowing. This is not the best paddling weather nor is it optimal for moon watching.Oh well, there's always tomorrow. My mom van made me giggle though, paddleboard on top, Cervelo inside, running shoes, cycling shoes, helmet, paddle, towel...a vehicle for moms on the go!

Day 2

Last week my husband was sick, now my youngest is ill. This also means no leaving the house for training run , ride or swim. So, I bought a Road ID online while watching the Tour. Considering all the time spent training solo, figured it couldn't hurt. got one for my hubby & mom too. "u never know till u try" went on the bottom line. Famous last words I guess.
Lucky for me, my family lives close & dad agreed to watch little sick one for an hour so I could ride. Joined by mom & a friend a quick spin was over in no time.
Later, i squeezed in 2500 in the local pool. Surprised how quickly the swim went by & how enjoyable it was.

Day 3
Still nursing a sick baby. I was able to get in a quick run at dawn. She was reading a book & waited for me to get home before getting out of bed. Nightswimming. Thunderstorms all afternoon prevented my workout until late in the day. Glad Em was feeling better & joined me at the SB pool where she played around in my lane while I swam 2300.

Day 4
Cherohala Skyway ride. We started the day with intentions of climbing for a few hours on my favorite roads. Thunderstorms forced us to turn around mid ride. The ride up to the fish hatchery was a beautiful one though. We rode for about 4 hours, give or take. We spent a good 30 minutes huddled under a tin roof of a local store at the fishing village on the Tellico river. The final sprint for the cars was a ride for our lives, to avoid being struck by lightning. I would post pictures, but I was literally soaked from high humidity as soon as the ride started, & stayed that way the entire ride, so no phone, no pix.

Day 1, Ironman journey begins

MoJo/ (with a demo seat that Im not too sure about)

Ouch my legs! After a weekend of bicycle racing & relaying the bike leg of the Chattanooga Waterfront triathlon (which we won) I started Ironman training today. Hot pink skies met me this morning as I stepped out for my first run in what feels like years (months). I managed to run the full workout, surprisingly, & realized how much I miss running.

   I have been focusing on bicycle racing the passed 2 years, which did not allow for running. (coach says it fatigues the legs & hampers recovery). I love riding, I love riding fast, but not enough to give up running any longer. Ironman Cozumel is a graduation gift to myself. The whole family is going down for a vacation @ Thanksgiving & we are going to start it off with an Ironman race. My 2nd IM. IM CDA 2006 was my first.

  So, 2 a days are back on the calender. Later tonight, I got in the water at the Chicamauga Dam with the Chattanooga Triathlon Club & swam 1 mile in the open water. Kind of a big deal for my first swim in a very long time, at least to me. Finally finding my stroke in the last 1/4 mile, felt like I could have swam 2 miles easy. This was very encouraging.

  At home, my youngest is ill, so somehow I will have to manage how to get my workouts in tomorrow with her sick at home. Sounds like I might actually have to ride the trainer, in July! Ugh.

Well, my legs are sufficiently tired, & it's time to recover. It's been a pretty great day.

Our team that won yesterday