The Day Before Ironman Arizona

Usually the, "What the hell was I thinking?" creeps into my mind somewhere toward the end of a race I'm feeling underprepared for. This time, it has been my constant companion since boarding a plane for Arizona. Ok so, I know nerves are normal. And that's when you have prepared. But in my case, the last couple of weeks - heck, the last couple of months the fact that I boarded a plane and even showed up in Tempe in the first place has me really questioning my sanity.

So here's what happened in the last two weeks. For a week I was "couldn't crawl out of bed if I wanted to sick." Yep. Sick. I never get sick. Ever. But there I was in bed without the energy for much besides sleeping which I did averaging about 12-14 hours per day. If that wasn't enough, prior to that I burned out my juicer. When 75% of your daily nutrition comes from one machine and it goes down, your life is affected in a big way. Then finally, once I had a new juicer and had gotten over what ever bug had me down, I went in for a final massage a week before I was scheduled to leave for Tempe. I almost skipped this appointment because, I wasn't really having any physical issues that "needed" addressing for the race. Mind you there are always things you "can" work on if you are a symmetry freak like me and so there was that one thing that I could get looked at with my right IT band. To make a long story short, the massage antagonized the same spot on my knee that the bicycle pump at Longhorn 70.3 had smacked. So great. Now I can't walk, or tie my shoes, or bend my right leg and thus from that point on there was no more cycling or running. Not that there'd been a lot anyway because of being sick.

But. I got on the plane anyway. The human body is really an odd creation. When I tell you that I woke up Thursday morning and couldn't walk down a flight of stairs without pain, I would not be lying. I also would not be lying if I also said that on the flight from Austin to Phoenix, I could almost feel my knee healing. I got off the plane in Arizona without a hint of the prior pain or stiffness. A miracle.

Anyway, so here I am on the eve of my first Ironman. Nervous, doesn't seem to cover what I'm feeling. But what I do know is that no matter what happens out there, I'm going to keep moving forward. See you all on the other side. ;)

Today's Running And Thoughts About The Boulder Running Company

So the idea for today's run was 30 minutes easy. Of course easy is relative when you are dealing with becoming used to how your body responds in a new environment. It has been 9 years since I was in Boulder last or at altitude unless you count the 30 feet needed to travel from the street to the second story in my home in Austin. The run wasn't what I'd call brutal unless 28 degree temperatures and 5000 feet elevation is new to you.

Being from Austin, I'll consider it new.

It was the oddest sensation. My legs felt like they were actually stronger than normal. But my heart and lungs were another story altogether. I couldn't get my breathing in line. I wasn't hyper-ventilating, but I felt off. This was manageable. My heart rate was another story, however. It was just flat out high. It has been high since I got here. About 5 to 8 beats. I'm not sure this is altitude related and I know I wasn't sick when I left. But it could be the fact the heat runs constantly, which isn't the case at home, and sleeping somewhere conditioned air is blowing over you the entire night. I'm going to try this again tomorrow and maybe I'll fair better.

I'm not usually one to dismiss a retailer and perhaps the fault here is mine. My expectations in a city with a community like Boulder's may just be too high. I'm not going to belabor this but I was very disappointed with my experience at the Boulder Running Company store located on Pearl Street. So here's what happened. I walk into the store and find some socks. The socks I brought from Austin were not working too well at keeping my toes warm. I asked the salesperson about the socks I was looking at and he could not tell me anything about them other than what he read to me from the packaging. He did say he didn't think I would need the pair in my hand because he thought they were for people who ran a lot... Ouch! Apparently I don't look like I run a lot. Even though I'm wearing a pair of Nike Free's.

It gets better. So once at the counter I ask the price of the Polar Foot Pod (the device you attach to your shoe to tell you how fast you run - a pretty fancy pedometer that syncs with the Polar watches). He hands me the Polar Foot Pod after scanning it for the price and then proceeds to tell me that while these Suunto monitors are good Garmin's are the next wave in technology. Ok, I'll admit he may have been right about the Garmin but what was that about Suunto? I was asking about Polar Foot Pods, the register that gave him the price was displaying Polar, I'm wearing a Polar wrist watch... You get the picture. Needless to say I left the store vowing never to come back (I wouldn't want that guy trying to sell me shoes) and to find out where the true runners in Boulder get their stuff.

In Boulder For The Week...

So I'm in beautiful Boulder Colorado for the week. Even the 18 degree temps when my plane landed this morning in Denver wasn't enough to keep me from being exited. I'm gonna start tomorrow off with a run. We'll see how things progress from there. Maybe I can find a yoga class somewhere. Any suggestions?

So Today...

I'm back in Austin and working out. It doesn't get any better than this. I follow my routine no matter what so, today that meant a tempo ride on the bike at my planned 70.3 pace and effort. I was supposed to ride for an hour and a half but I don't think I'm fully recovered from my trip related stress so I stopped at an hour and five minutes. I didn't feel bad per se, but I could feel the stirrings of leg cramps which says to me my diet in D.C. was less than optimal. That is no surprise. While I was in the nation's capital I noticed that though there was an impressive array of restaurants, the quality of the food wasn't what I was used to finding at home or in the Bay Area. So I was forced to make some compromises concerning both the quality and the quantity of the food I chose to eat. Add to that the stress of air travel and you have a formula for an injury if you aren't careful. Plus I hadn't been on my bike in almost 10 days.

But while I was riding I felt stronger as far as the effort I was able to maintain. I think this was evidenced by the heart rate numbers I was seeing. I was able to keep an average pace of 20.5 mph with an average heart rate of 150. This is about 7 beats lower than the last time I did this tempo workout and it was about 5 degrees hotter. So I'm not complaining. I'm pretty sure it was all the walking and hills and in D.C. that did it. I guess I need to thank Marci and Ryan from Salt Lake City for running me into the pavement for this improved fitness. "Thanks guys. You rock!"

After my ride I made it down to Jack and Adams to pick up my packet for the race this weekend. I just want to say, when you have good swag, you almost assure yourself of your race filling up. Jack's Generic has good swag. Decent tee shirt, cool SweatVac running cap, and organic coffee. Sweet!