Five for Friday

1.  Sister Madonna Buder, Oldest Woman to Finish an Ironman  Sister Madonna Buder is so inspiring, becoming not only the oldest woman, but the oldest person to finish an Ironman with her finish in Canada.  If you have not read her book, The Grace To Race, I highly suggest it.  

2. Controlling migraine through diet:  I have checked out several books from my local library about controlling migraines naturally.  I have been having a lot of them lately and, well, I just don't have time for that.  I am very interested in using diet to reduce my incidence of migraines as that is something I can easily take control of.  I am hoping to have all of the books finished by the end of the holiday weekend.  I will then take a week to form a plan, based on the information gleaned from all of the books and implement it the following week.  I hope this works...

3.  I won a pair of Oakleys!!!  I entered a raffle from Amanda at RunToTheFinish to support Run10Feed10 and I won!  I chose the Drizzle sunglasses.  I LOVE them!!! 
I also won Love Grown Granola as part of my prize package.  I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the granola as I have heard wonderful things about it (and it's gluten-free!).  I can't wait to try it!

4.  Why I Also Almost Died During the 2012 New York City Ironman Triathlon  A good article about listening to your body and symptoms of distress while training and racing.  I had never heard of SIPE (swimming induced pulmonary edema) before this article. 


5.  My Rev3 decision:  And finally, I have decided to not go to Ohio to compete at Rev3 Cedar Point.  I decided that although it would most certainly be fun,  the potential after-effects on my body when I am not prepared are more than I want to deal with.  After last year's half-iron it took me a good 6 weeks to recover... it was miserable.  Better to not completely trash the body and be able to have fun another day! 

Have a great weekend!!!

Rev3 Wisconsin Volunteer Report

Writing my last post about whether to race at Cedar Point or not reminded me that I still hadn't written my Rev3 Dells volunteer report!

Because I'm a bad blogger and took very few pictures, I'm using one of Rev3's :) (Photo from Rev3 website)

Saturday:
We arrived in Wisconsin Dells on Saturday afternoon, shortly before my first volunteer shift was scheduled to start.  We popped into the resort to check-in even though we couldn't get in the room yet.  (Everything was under my name, credit card, etc...)

View of our resort from the lake.  Don't my in-laws look happy to be there? ;)

That afternoon I was signed up to volunteer at packet pickup.  I had the second shift that day which was also the last opportunity for athletes to get their packets.  I was quickly trained and set up with a box of packets.  I was surprised that there was never really a huge line.  Athletes must have planned ahead with most of them checking in earlier because we never had a back-up of more than a couple people.  All the athletes were super-nice and very understanding if I had to direct one of their questions to someone else.  I even got to help check in a few of the pros- including Richie Cunningham! 

After my shift was over at 6pm, I was anxious to get back to our condo and get something for supper.  I was starving!

Part of the reason we got a condo was because my mother-in-law and I both have dietary restrictions.  Having the condo allowed us to be able to eat all together while meeting everyone's preferences and restrictions.  We had a great meal that first night of grilled salmon accompanied by veggies I had picked from the garden the day before - carrots, onions, zucchini, eggplant, and fresh salsa!

Sunday:
I woke up early enough Sunday morning to make some coffee and watch the swim start.  I had planned to go down to the actual start, but the road I tried to take didn't go through because of a private beach.  But I discovered that the swim went right past our resort's dock!

Sunday morning was perfect.  Overcast with a calm lake. 

This provided the perfect view and a nice non-crowded place to enjoy my coffee!  There were several others watching from the resort's patio or from their windows.  It was a great place to spectate from. 

Pro men swimming just in front of me. 

I watched the two waves of pros and all of the half competitors start.  I went back up to our room to get more coffee and continued to watch the Oly swimmers from our patio.

After the swim was over, I got ready to do my own run and headed out the door.  I found a road away from the triathlon course, without too much traffic, and put in my scheduled 8 miles. 

After my run I had some lunch, played with my family at the waterpark for a half hour, then headed over to the finish for my second volunteer shift of the weekend.

This time I was at the finish line.  I worked with the same Rev3 staff member that I had the day before, Kelly, so I was immediately comfortable in my new position, handing out medals.

It's interesting to see people's reactions upon finishing from that perspective.  Some of them are elated, some exhausted.  Only one was grumpy.  One of the awesome things about Rev3 races are that they let your family/support crew cross the finish line with you.  It was fun, and sometimes emotional, to see little kids crossing with their Mom, Dad, or in one case, I'm pretty sure it was Grandma!

Here's the official Age Group Recap Video.  The back of my head makes a cameo at about 9:13.  Don't blink or you'll miss it!



I had an awesome time volunteering at Rev3 Wisconsin! The staff and other volunteers were wonderful. Rev3 really puts on a great race! I wish I would have been racing, but really, if you can't race, volunteering is the next best way to get in on the action!

To Rev3 or Not?

As soon as I got the go-ahead to run a few weeks ago, I jumped on the chance to switch my race registration to Rev3 Cedar Point half.  I was super-excited to be able to get my half-iron back on the schedule for this year.  But training and motivation haven't been what I'd hoped since then. 

So now I have a decision to make.  Do I go to Cedar Point and just try to finish or do I just stay home? 

This will probably be my last attempt at this distance for the next few years.  I have decided to step back and take care of the nagging health issues that have been bothering me this year rather than attempting to limp my training through them. 

PROS
The registration is paid for.
I will get to meet some of my "internet friends". 
I will get a chance to complete my goal race distance for 2012 and my second half-iron.
I haven't raced at any distance since March and I am itching for a good race.
Rev3 puts on an awesome race! (I volunteered in WI.  They are a class-act!)

CONS
I am not well-trained and it would be a challenge to just finish.
I am traveling by myself.  Have you ever finished a difficult race where you knew no one and had no support crew?  I have.  It sucked. 
I could use the time to work on the house we will be moving into this fall.
I would be spending a good amount of money on a race that I would be doing "just because".  
After my half last year, it took me a good 6 weeks to recover.  I am at a lower level of fitness this year so my recovery could potentially be quite long and difficult.  

Advice?  Thoughts?  Virtual kick in the pants?  

Training Log Aug 6-12

Only one workout to report this week.  While hiking last Sunday, I was stung by a couple wasps.  Monday and Tuesday I had a migraine, followed by a low-grade fever on Wednesday and Thursday.  I think these symptoms were a reaction to the wasp bites.  This Monday, eight days after being stung, the sting sites welted up and became quite itchy.  At least this week, they (so far) are not impeding my workouts!

Friday and Saturday were packing/travel days for Rev3 Wisconsin Dells!  I was supposed to race the half at this venue, but because of my injury this summer, transferred my registration to Rev3 Cedar Point in September.  We opted to go to Wisconsin anyway, since my in-laws had plans to stay with us there.  Everyone had fun at the resort and waterpark and I worked two volunteer shifts at the race.  A race volunteer report will be coming soon! 

My only workout this week came on Sunday morning between watching the swim and working my volunteer shift.  An 8-mile run/walk.  It was scheduled as a run/walk since I'm building up pretty fast in order to get ready for Cedar Point.  I don't want the stress reaction or the tendinitis rearing their ugly heads again! 

I wanted to stay off the race course during my run, so I found a not-too-busy county road that had a good 2.5 mile stretch between main roads and ran back and forth.  I managed to get a few rolling hills in, so that was an extra training bonus. 

The first mile felt like death (probably due to feeling sick all week?)  and I was worried I wouldn't make the 8 miles even with the walking.  Luckily, after about a mile-and-a-half, I started to perk up and continued to feel better the further I went.  I still felt strong as I finished up, greatly increasing my confidence for my race in Cedar Point.  It may take me longer than I would like, but I WILL get there!

First Annual Hall Lake Challenge

I've been pretty much a total slacker on my swimming this summer.  I've been trying to get out once a week to do an open water swim with the Fairmont Multisport Club, but even that is sometimes challenging (sick Liam, sleeping Liam, no one to watch Liam...).  Knowing that my half distance triathlon was pretty much out for August didn't help. 

But, regardless of not being able to bike or run, I did have this event to look forward to:  The First Annual Hall Lake Challenge!  A 1.4 mile point-to-point (as in straight across the lake) open water swim.  I even conned the hubby into swimming :) 

This was a really small event- like 17 swimmers small.  Each swimmer had their own non-motorized escort boat (this was a requirement).  In addition, there were several motorized boats lining the course in case of an emergency.  All of these boats were manned by volunteers- THANK YOU volunteers!!!

We got started with a short organization meeting, met our escorts, and had a little time to warm up.  Soon it was time to get this inaugural event underway!  It was a time trial start, with swimmers going off every 30 seconds.  The first swimmer to go got quite a bit of applause...I imagine the poor last person to go had very little fanfare at all.

Because this was such a small event, they used the buoys from their triathlon a few weeks before and there were only two, dividing the lake into 3 portions.  The escort boat really helped out with sighting.  The boats were directed to stay on track, and only chase after their swimmer if they got too far away.  This worked great as I had my boat stay on my breathing side so I could just sight the boat with each breath, rather than having to sight ahead for a buoy.  

Now remember, I have been a slacker.  I got tired quickly.  I don't think the buoys were placed accurately at 1/3 intervals either so that made it mentally hard when I got to the first one and saw my split was far slower than I had hoped.  But by the time I got to the second, with a faster split than the first, I knew that the buoys weren't evenly spaced and I felt a little better.

For the most part, I was breathing to my strong side, with my boat on the right.  About halfway across, I had her go to the left side so I could breathe that direction for a while.  If you don't know how to breathe on both sides, I suggest working on this valuable skill!  It was a nice break for the fatigued muscles on the one side and I actually went faster for a while just by switching sides.

But, my weak side fatigued quickly, and I went back to the right.  After a little while on that side, my muscles were just tired all over and I decided to breaststroke for a while.  And found another gear!  Ah, yes...using my muscles in a different way gave them new life and I found myself catching up to and passing another swimmer that I had been trailing at an even distance for most of the way.

I switched back to my normal freestyle stroke for the very end and soon found the bottom of the lake with my hands...I was done!  Extremely tired, VERY hungry, and done!  This was a distance PR for me and although I didn't swim as fast as I would have liked, I swam about as fast as I expected.  All around a success!

Every one of the 17 swimmers finished.  For most, this was a distance PR by a long way!  A couple of the swimmers really only learned to swim freestyle this year.

After the swim, we all enjoyed a picnic in the park with brats and beer (no beer for me, sadly...note to self...bring own gluten-free adult beverage next year).  Liam had a great day (thanks, Mayo family for watching him!) playing on the playground and in the lake.

Again,  a highly recommended event!  Fun, fun, FUN!!!

(All of these pictures were blatantly stolen from the Fairmont Multisport Club Facebook page.  Thanks to Noella for taking pics!)

There's a teeny-tiny yellow buoy in this pic.  That buoy is 1/3 of the way across. 

Each swimmer had a non-motorized boat escort.  Again, THANK YOU volunteers!

Dave, his escort, and Liam.

Me and my escort, Melissa.

Ready, set, GO!

Just after the last swimmer started. 

Hubby coming out of the water.

Me coming out of the water.

I'll take a handshake from Phil in lieu of a finisher's medal any day! 

GOTRIbal Mobile App Coming This Fall!

GOTRIbal's new mobile app is coming this fall, "Racing Around Town".  They haven't released all the details yet, but are offering the chance for people to sign up to get the app for free when they launch the beta version.  (The app will only be free to those who sign up early.) 
This is the description on the sign-up page: "Connections to people like you. Curated expert advice. And gifts from the brands you love."   I don't know anything more than this about the app, but I figure it's free and I love GOTRIbal - I'll try it. 

As a GOTRIbal Ambassador, I would be amiss if I did not share the invite with you :)  Don't worry, this is a no-pressure thing and definitely not a sales pitch.  I get no compensation for being an Ambassador and no one is tracking how many people I sign up.  Just wanted to share something I think might be fun!

http://signup.racingaroundtown.com/


Onward and upward! 

Training Log July 30- Aug 5

This week started off strong, but ended with a big old pile of nothing.  My parents had their farm retirement auction this weekend and I completely underestimated the energy (and time) it would take to help them.   The auction was Saturday, we entertained family and did a little more cleanup on Sunday.  Now on Monday, I feel like I got hit by a truck...tired, a little achy, and quite sunburnt. 

Part of the problem was my nutrition this weekend.  I am fully aware that I could and should have eaten better, but I ate what was being served and what was convenient.  Lesson learned, lets see if I remember it next time. 

Mon: 1.5 mile walk with stroller
Tues: 3 mile run, 30 minute spin
Weds: 64 minute pace workout on trainer
Thurs: 5 mile run on treadmill
Fri:  50 min open water swimming
Sat: Scheduled day off
Sun: Walked around in the pasture with family, but no specific workout.

I am also part of a plank challenge for August.  The goal is to build to a 5 minute plank by the end of the month.  I started on the 1st at 45 seconds, increased it to 70 seconds by the 3rd, and haven't done one since.  I 'm not sure I'll get to 5 minutes, but I can use the core work so I'm sure going to try. 

Trying to be lazy today and recuperate.  I'm trying to get my diet back to normal too, but for some reason I'm craving junk today...Must...Resist...

This coming weekend is the triathlon that was supposed to be my 'A' race this year, Rev3 Wisconsin Dells.  I'm not racing, but volunteering instead.  Looking forward to watching a great race and having a lot of fun with a different view :)

Women Rock!

I LOVE these inspirational banners that will be placed along the Women Rock course!

Women Rock is a new race in Minnesota this year with marathon, half-marathon, and 10K distances. I know several friends that are running this race. I wish I was! Not because if the jewelry, firefighters, or champagne, but because I think it would be amazing to run an all-women's race. I LOVE running races with my girlfriends and I think this would be just like a huge girl's-night-out but in a race. How fun would that be?!?

Check it out at: http://womenrockmn.org/



*** I have no affiliation with this race or their organizer, Team Ortho, nor am I being compensated in any way. I just thought these banners were really cool :)

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