Saturday was designated Volunteer Day for LLS, at the San Francisco Oyster Fest. Let me tell ya... it was fun, but not as care-free as you would think! Leanne, Margarita, Sandy & I were of about 100+ volunteers who came out to Fort Mason, giving up our day to pour endless pints of Guinness, Harp Lager, Smithwick's Irish Pale Ale, and Kilkenny Cream Ale (and yes, our Black & Tans); and work the front lines for tips, all to benefit the Cause.
The surprisingly chilly day was filled with a good share of politics, camaraderie, a little bit o' drama ~ and naturally, Sandy and I making the best of the situation at hand and rolling with the punches. We were on our feet for a total of eight consecutive hours, toughing it out [arm warmers on, arm warmers off ~ depending on when the sun decided to show], sharing a pint or two 'neath the truck, and putting on our smiling faces into the late hours of the afternoon in an effort to raise some more buck for the Society. All in all, a fun day, but took more of a toll on our minds and bodies than expected :) With that said, however, we raised a total of $10,662.06 in those eight, consecutive, committed hours! Thanks to all who came out and threw some change into our tip boxes! Every dollar made a HUGE difference!
Sunday, I woke up feeling fatigued and with zero motivation. Had a bit of a twinge in my left hip flexor, too. Coach Mike's excursion to Pacific Grove for an open water swim (with the otters) and long run was cancelled at the last minute, which made it even harder to get myself out of bed to workout solo. Thankfully, after a chat with Sandy, she helped me to break down the workout into smaller chunks, which seemed much more manageable. So off I went! Out the door at the generous hour of 11:30 a.m. to conquer the "OYO" (on your own) training day. I managed to swim my required 2000 yds in the pool and then went on to immediately complete a 7-mile run out on the Iron Horse Trail in San Ramon [shout-out to Mentor Tim from the Marathon Team whom I "ran" into, while he was completing his longest walk of his training season ~ 21 miles! Seeing him out there on his own too picked up my spirits, when I felt myself getting tired. Can you imagine? Walking 21 miles? I've got to hand it to our Walk Team!]. The training day, though successful, wasn't pretty... I was tired, and covered in salt and chlorine (despite the shower rinse during my transition) ~ but again, they never said Ironman training would be pretty. I was just so relieved, and proud of myself to have done all of that on my own ~ something that seemed so daunting to me, and the least of what I wanted to do that morning. Note to self: Need to remember to hydrate much more after swim. And for tempo runs, be sure to stock up on the salt tablets. Went to bed on Sunday still with a tight hip flexor. Woke up with sore quads = more salt / electrolytes needed in general.
Monday was my designated PTO day from work (which I would have needed anyway, after the last couple of weeks I've had at the office). It was originally intended to get in the 80-mile ride on the Vineman Course, that the rest of my Team had done on Saturday, while Sandy and I were volunteering. Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't agree with our plan, and it was expected to rain all day in the Bay Area. Alas, Sandy and I did what we do best ~ and improvised :) Thanks to Coach Mike's alternate plan (thanks?), he set us up with a Triple Brick (3x brick).
A segue on the definition of a "brick", particularly, of the bike/run variety:
"Bricks refer to training on two disciplines during the same workout, one after the other with minimal or no interruption in between, just as you would do in a race. By doing a series of short repeats you also switch sports (and therefore muscles used) several times in the same workout. You are practically teaching your legs and body to switch as fast as possible and as efficiently as possible between two very different kinds of effort. When you stop biking and start running, the legs feel “strange” and heavy (this is why they call these workouts bricks!) and the heart rate goes up, as our bodies try to switch the blood from flowing into the muscles used for biking -- to those used for running. This feeling is more pronounced at the start of the run and usually the legs get better as time passes - although probably never as fresh as those you have when you run without biking before it. Brick workouts help shorten the time our legs take to start feeling more normal, thus allowing us to run better and faster. It is not uncommon to experience cramps when starting to run after biking, especially if you are not used to it. As usual, listen to your body and slow down if you feel a cramp coming. A carbo gel and water will also help if you are experiencing cramps due to the decrease in muscle fuel."
So with that said, Sandy and I were to do three bricks. One after the other. And let me just say ~ it did a NUMBER on us! (You can take that as a good or bad thing; depending on whether you are one of our Coaches or a friend/loved one who cares for our mental sanity.)
Because of the rain, we did our bike segments on the trainer (which is arguably more challenging than on a flat road or regular bike ride, because of the resistance and power intervals you have -- you're basically pushing harder and for a longer, sustained period of time). 10 mins of one-legged drills; 30 mins of spinning at an average heart rate of 155-161 bpm; and with three rest intervals in between ~ made up our first hour of the bike. Our run actually consisted of a few hill repeats, thanks to Sandy's lovely neighborhood in Marin. Our 10-min rain run proved rejuvenating and surely woke up our calves.
Lather, rinse, repeat. Anger and delirium set in by the middle of our second bike segment, as we dreaded our third set, and the rain got heavier past the protective overhang in our spin area. But we coached and encouraged each other through it, blasted the tunes, and hydrated and fueled along the way. Our second run had us doing a slight negative split (i.e. to run the second half faster than the first), which was good ~ probably an indication that we were ready to get this done and over with.
We had arrived at our third and final set of the brick. My left knee had a bit of a twinge ~ and it was hard to determine just which muscle might have been pulling on it. I stretch my IT Band religiously so I wasn't sure if that was the cause. The only way I could get through this last hour on the bike, was by not thinking of the whole thing. I had to break it down into pieces. After the drills, I had ten minutes to push it. Just ten. Focusing on the ten and doing what I could to get that heart rate up and keep it there. I worked up an enormous sweat, that I couldn't even tell anymore what was perspiration on my dri-fit shirt, and what was left from the rain. I was drenched! A couple Tropical Punch Shot blocks. Water. Spin. Push. Sweat. I just kept repeating like I was a machine.
Then, Sandy would call "Five minutes!" It gave me a hint of relief, but in no way told me I was home free. "Keep steady at 155," I would tell myself (making sure my heart rate wouldn't drop). It really taught me a lot about how to control my heart rate, reaching threshold, holding back to conserve energy, and pushing it back up after the recovery periods. After five minutes of recovery, I started another 10-min piece, bumping up that heart rate again. Another 5-min recovery, and one more big pull.
It was then that I thought about reserves. Stores of energy we keep that many times, we don't even realize are there. They come out when we least expect them. My body (not just my legs -- we're talking lower back, abs, arms, shoulders) were throbbing at this point. We were coming up on 3 hours and 45 minutes of training HARD [I know we've done long workouts before as a Team, but the effort level; exertion rate; and overall quality of this training day was of a whole new caliber]. My body ached, my mind got impatient, but I pulled out WHATEVER reserves I had in me, and as I looked on the Garmin during the final minutes of our last bike segment, it read something like 16.7 mph and 165 bpm -- numbers that are really high for me, and especially at the end of a workout like that. It assured me that I had the strength and ability to go hard and to negative split. I remember the song Sandy had on her playlist. It was Jennifer Lopez's "Let's Get Loud". It's a total party song that if I weren't in pain and drenched in sweat, would have gotten up, danced and sang to. But instead of taking my focus off the task at hand -- which was to finish strong, I thought about my finish line at Louisville. Finish lines end with a party. Especially at Ironman races. They end with blaring music, and for a minute, make you forget how late in the night it is. Finishers are given a HUGE celebration for the hard work, mental and physical exhaustion they've been put through, and the brand new feats they've reached ~ despite all the obstacles. Now... the completion of a triple brick is hardly the equivalent of a huge party. But it surely deserves a celebration of a new victory. And I was coming up on this moment (regardless of how endless those last two minutes of the that power interval seemed). As soon as Sandy said, "Transition to run," I calmly stopped spinning, threw on my running shoes and ran my final set of short hill repeats under the rain.
Tired, soaked and sore, we scaled the top of our last hill and completed four continuous hours of our triple brick (and nearly 40 miles of riding for me; a little more for Sandy). We did it!!
After taking in my recovery drink, a hot shower, and a sorely-needed deep tissue massage (discovered major scar tissue in my hip adductors and partially in my glutes; very loose IT Bands though!), I said my goodbyes & celebratory thanks to my partner in crime, Sandy ~ and headed back home to the East Bay. Unfortunately ran into some traffic on the way home, but nothing could take away or shake my level of satisfaction & fulfillment from what I had put myself through that day.
[*Note: All photos, though inserted throughout the story, were taken after the workout. There was no sandbagging taking place during the four hours of exercise.]
This morning I woke up with some pretty evident twinges of pain, a little bit of the "penguin walk" once my feet touched the floor and I walked around the house to get ready for work. But instead of being overcome with complaints or regret about what I put my body through, instead I felt proud. It will probably sound masochistic to many of you, but I felt like I "earned the pain". Like I earned the opportunity to feel what my body is capable of. What it can do, how far it can be pushed, and how quickly it can recover. Of course I plan to "actively recover" this evening with a swim, and do light workouts this week to let my body fully recover and repair. And this probably sounds like the extreme of positive thinking and looking for the so-called silver lining... but I feel so fortunate to feel what I do at this very moment.
It's becoming bittersweet all of a sudden, now that we're counting down to race day, and thus, the end of our training season. Seeing all our hard work come to fruition -- fantastic. Preparing to say goodbye to the training program we loved to hate for 9 months -- tough. Because of this experience ~ the highs, lows, and literally -- blood, sweat & tears -- I've gotten to see what my mind and body are truly capable of, and I'm sad to think about the experience ending. I've found I'm MUCH more motivated by goals, and having a race or event in mind to work towards. The routine of going to the gym "just because" has never really motivated me. And yet, being exposed to such a tough swim/bike/run regimen has basically given me the body, sharpened mind, and mental skill set I've always wanted, and now I'm not so sure what'll happen next after August.
We'll see what becomes of my fitness "plan", but until then, we gear up for the heavily-anticipated "Race Phase" of our training, where my Teammates training for Ironman Canada (IMC) and Ironman Louisville (IML) take on a new direction from those training for Vineman in July. Since we (IMC/IML-ites) have an additional month of training, our programs will differ slightly but will no doubt be more challenging, demanding ~ but as I always say, equally as rewarding and fulfilling.
...On to Recovery Week!
***
Week #27 Workout Summary:
Swim: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Bike: 6 hours and 30 minutes
Run: 2 hours and 0 minutes
Core/Strength: 0 hours and 30 minutes
Total Workout: 10 hours and 30 minutes
My Fundraising Progress to Date: $8,201
ok, my favorite part is knowing those are the "girls' pints" LOL! You are a rock star!
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