Pre - IMAZ

Participating in an Ironman is actually a multi-day process.   The "event" typically starts at least 3 days before the actual race day.   There is an area that is normally referred to as the "Iron Village"  which is really just like any expo you would have prior to a race.  

In this area there are all of the sponsers of the event and their booths, food stands, athletic wear stands, the bike mechanic/store tent, the registration tent, and the empty transition area for the race.   CT and I arrived on the Thursday prior to the race.  The first thing I did after checking into the hotel was to walk down and register.   The main thing it does is give you all of your transition bags, timing chip, and race number.   You also get this cool bracelet, which you have to wear in order to access any of the "athelete" areas:

It was at this point, when they put the bracelet on, that my heart began to race and I thought "Oh shit!!  Am I actually doing this???"

Alittle later that day, I met up with our friend, Mike (who also did IMAZ this year), for an easy 3 mile run.   He was kind enough to slow down to my pace and show me the first 3 miles of the run course.  

Needless to say, by 8:30pm that night, CT and I were sound asleep.   Friday started early with a practice swim in the Tempe Town Lake with my friend Julie.  She did IMAZ last year and had all kinds of tips for me on the swim.   It was nice to have a buddy to swim with, as the water is very murky and it is hard to see once you are in it.   It was also good to test out the wetsuit and get acclimated to the cold temps of the water! 

After the swim, we mosied over to the Ironman Store and bought some shirts that I could wear once the race was over.   Later in the day I went for a quick bike to make sure everything was in working order. 

Saturday morning started with another swim.   This time I was on my own and 10 minutes into the swim I started thinking about how much we probably looked like big seals in our wetsuits.   Good thing there aren't any sharks in the Tempe Town Lake!   After the swim I went back to the hotel and grabbed all my gear.   Unlike tri's of shorter distances, it is required to drop off your bikes and gear the day before into the transition area.   Being the IM virgin that I was, I made sure to take lots of pictures!

Saturday evening ended with an awesome pasta dinner with friends, which was the perfect way to relax and fuel up for the next day! 

My stats for the week:

Mon:  Rest

Tues:  2800 swim, 45 minute run

Wed:  hour on the trainier

Thurs:  30 minute run

Friday:  30 minute swim, 45 minute bike

Sat:  20 minute swim

Getting Ready

5 days until IMAZ!!!  I am in my final week of preparation and getting ready for The Race.   It is funny, everyone is asking me:

•  "Are you ready?"  Umm, yes!  I hope so, if not, then what the hell have I been doing all these months??  
• "Are you nervous?"  Heck yea, however,  I am nervous before every race.  I still have trouble sleeping the night before a 5k and this only takes 30 minutes or less, so of course I am nervous prior to a race that will potentially take me 14 or 15 hours!!   I don't expect that I will sleep much the night before - sorry CT!
• I am especially nervous about the swim.   Not the distance, this I know I can do, but all the people.   Although watching the swim start is my favorite part of the race, participating in the swim is an all together different matter.   You are out there with 2000 other people all trying to get to the same destination, arms, legs, and various body parts flying in every direction!   And, IMAZ is an in-water start, which means we have to be in the water, treading, before the race starts, no standing on the beach waiting until the gun sounds!  I am just hopeful I can get behind my friend Mike and draft off of him for the first 1/2 mile or so to get clear of all the people.   I wonder if he would be upset if I just grabbed his foot and held on for dear life? I figure I am pretty light, plus I will be in a wet suit that floats pretty easily! 
• "Are you excited!"   Yes!!  I cannot wait to cross that finish line and hear them say "Ann Kurtenbach, YOU are an Ironman!!"   That really what has kept me going all these months and I envision it in just about every run that I do! 

So, the rest of this week is really just about getting ready and packing for the big trip.   Packing for an Ironman is alot more challenging than just a simple running race.   Mainly because I have to pack for all 3 events.  Not only do I have to bring running gear, but I also have to bring swim gear, biking gear, and any nutrition that I want to have with me on the course.   It is kind of difficult to know what to pack up ahead of time because I am not sure what I will want/need out on the course!   Here is what I am thinking so far.

The swim:  goggles, ear pugs, inhaler, wetsuit, bathing suit or tri suit underneath.   I imagine I will look something like this: 

T1 bag:  towel, biking shoes, socks, helmet, sports bra, tri suit, arm warmers, inhaler, sunglasses, sunscreen, racebelt for my number, and nutrition (I am thinking 3 cliff block shots and 2 protein bars.   My bike will already be in transition.   We are taking it on the plane with us in a special bike box!  CT is kind of enough to help me take the bike apart and hopefully reassemble it when we get to Phoenix.

Bike Special Needs Bag:  This I am really not too sure of, right now I am thinking a second pair of gloves and some peanut butter pretzels or whatever special food I might like midway through the bike. 

T2 Bag:  running shoes, Livestrong sun viser, running shorts, gu for the run, hand held fluid bottle

My uniform:

Run Special Needs Bag:  headlamp and long sleeve shirt since I will likely be run/walking in the dark

End Bag:  warm dry clothes, camera, phone, and champagne (is that allowed??) 

7 days until IMAZ

So I am starting the final week of the taper period and the countdown until IMAZ.    For many people the taper is dreaded, for many it is a relief!   The days of the long hard training are over, you have more time to do other things, but you also have more time to really think about The Race. 

 I was excited for the taper to start because I felt I was getting burnt out on all of the training and I was looking forward to having some time for some other things.   But, as I get further into the taper, it seems that I have alot of nervous energy and I am just ready to be over it.   On one hand, one week seems like a short time until the race, on the other it seems like an eternity.  

So with all of this nervous energy it is hard to just relax.  So far in the last few weeks I have cleaned out the fridge and wiped down the shelves, cleaned the kitchen, spent a few different nights out with friends, read one and a half new books (I am part way through the second one as I write this) caught up on two different shows that I forgot I had recorded, gone through all of my mail/bills that I let pile up over the last month, cleaned out the inside of my car, got a new phone, baked 2 different types of bread and tried a new recipe (Sweet Roasted Butternut Squash and Greens Over Bow-Tie Pasta) from Liz Brinkman's Oct. 24, 2009 Blog entry.   Today I am going to do my last "long" ride and then try to do laundry, tackle cleaning my room and begin packing.  

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread (the original recipe)

3 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp nutmeg

3 cups sugar

1 cup oil

2/3 cups water

4 eggs well beaten

2 cups canned pumpkin

12 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, lightly grease 1 or 2 loaf pans.  Mix the first 7 ingredients.  Add the oil, water, eggs and pumpkin.  Mix well, then add the chocolate chips.   Pour into loaf pan until 1/2 or 3/4 full.   Bake for an hour or until baked through.

**I have adapted the orginal recipe by replacing the white flour with unbleached white whole wheat flour, replace 1/2 of the oil with 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, reduced the sugar to 2 3/4 cup, and used 2/3 of a bag of  60% cacao bittersweet ghiradelli chocolate chips.  You can also make muffins instead of bread or use small loaf pans (4 - 6 of them) instead of making a large loaf.  Reduce the baking time to 30 to 45 minutes or umtil a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Fall Supper

With all of my extra time this weekend, I decided to make a good autumn supper last night.

 The menu consisted of the following:  

Spinach Salad

Large handful of spinach leaves

1/4 apple thinly sliced (we like fuji and gala)

Small handful of dried cherries

1-2 TBS shelled pistachios

1-2 TBS balsalmic vinegrette

Becky's Beef Stew from "Fix it and Forget-It Cookbook"

1 1/2 lbs. beef stewing meet, cubed

2 - 10 oz pkgs. frozen veggies

4 large potatos, cubed

1 bay leaf

1 onion, chopped

15 oz can stewing tomatos

8 oz can tomato sauce

2 TBS. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp salt

(I didn't follow this recipe exactly, but it is closest to what I made)

Layer the veggies and potatoes on the meat in a crockpot.  Cook 6-8 hours on low heat.   Serve once potatos are soft and the meat is fully cooked. 

Red Wine

Sliced and warmed Whole Grain Bread with Olive Oil and spices for dipping

Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pie*

I saw these at Trader Joe's and couldn't resist trying them.   For a recipe you can try at home, look here

My stats for the week:

Monday: rest

Tues: 3500 swim, 60 minute run

Wed: 30 mile ride, 20 min run

Thurs: 60 minute run, 45 minutes on the trainer

Fri: 3500 swim

Sat:  2 hour run

Sun:  52 mile ride

IM Florida

I just wanted to congratulate my friends Aimee Bross and Matt Herring who finished their first IM's yesterday in Florida!   I was able to track them most of the day on http://www.ironmanlive.com/.   Unfortunately I missed Matt crossing the finish (13:05 hours), but I did see Aimee and she looked spectacular.   She had the biggest smile on her face, which I thought was awesome!   She also did amazing and finished with a 13:51:40!!   Congrats to both, who had a wonderful day!!

If It's Not Spit It's Snot

As the weather changes and grows colder there are many things that make it difficult and/or annoying to train.  Of course cooler weather means more layers, less day light, many technical things that can make planning a run or ride difficult.  Another thing it brings about is more mucous.   And it seems to come from everywhere.  This is especially evident on the bike and on the run.  Half the time you are battling snot dripping from your nose and the other half of the time it is deep in your throat and the longer it sits the more thick it becomes.   And so, at one point or another you have to decide, do I just keep sniffing, wiping, and coughing and hope it goes away?  Or do I figure out how to hock a loogie and/or blow a snot rocket?

I, being a very refined lady that I am, have tried best just to sniff it out.  Of course, this means clearing your throat and or sniffing/wiping the face about every 30 seconds.   By the 3rd or 4th time you have done this, especially if you are using gloves, you realize that all you are really doing is re-wiping the snot back onto your face because your gloves are already saturated.  Plus, it doesn't really get rid of everything and 30 seconds later you are sniffing again.  Therefore, on some of my lone runs and rides I have tried to figure out how to projectile both a loogie and snot.   The first few tries I succeeded in getting spit/snot on my face, chin, and/or arm.  Thus, defeating the purpose of trying to form a projectile.  I obviously did not know how to do this correctly.  At this point I decided to ask some questions of my friends and obseve some experts in this practice.  I am happy to say that Matt and CT, without realizing it, have helped me to be able to successfully hock a loogie and blow a snot rocket!  I fully realize that I still need practice and will likely continue my sniffing and wiping technique when I am in the company of my firends.   I am afraid my aim is not the best yet, and I would hate for a misguided projectile land on one of my friends, but I think with practice I will be able to master this technique!

Halloween Weekend

  Besides a lot of exercise this weekend, CT and I actually got out of the house and went to a co-worker's wedding.  We didn't stay very long, but the Halloween themed wedding was very unique and I thought quite fun.   The wedding was costume optional; CT and I went as "wedding guests,"  original, I know.   We were met at the door by the grim reaper, there was a huge spider at the entry doorway, they had free masks and accesories to help "dress up" and there was even a table full of candy, complete with Halloween Bags so we could go "trick or treat."

Meghan and I decided to find some accesories since we didn't really wear costumes.  I managed to keep this awesome mask on for most of the evening! 

The bride, Diana, and her father at the start of the ceremony (which only took 20 minutes), complete with an authentic bag pipe player for the wedding march! 

The happy bride and groom, after they "tied the knot!" 

My stats for the week:

Monday:  hour ride

Tuesday:  3500 swim, 80 minute run

Wed: 30 mile ride, 20 minute run

Thurs: 80 minute run

Fri: 3500 swim (1:08:35)

Sat: 3 hour run (18 miles?)

Sun: 83 mile bike (6 hours), 50 minute run