TRIventures of Ms. R

On Love

2011-12-12T14:26:00.000-06:00

Today marks two years of wedded bliss for Mr. Fury and I. I debated whether or not to post about this because I typically don't divulge too much personal information on my blog, but since it's my blog, I'm allowed to change the "rules" whenever I want. So, to Mr. Fury, thank you for your love, compassion, support and guidance over the years we have been together. I don't just celebrate today, but every day and every second we have spent together, even the times we fought and disagreed and sometimes just didn't like each other very much. You are such a blessing in my life. Thank you for giving me all these moments and all the moments I have etched in my memory:

Above all, thank you for this:

I love you forever.

Two Posts in One Day?!

2011-11-27T16:17:00.000-06:00

I just couldn't pass up sharing this. I was just on my sister-in-law's blog and she posted some incredibly cute pictures of my nephew. Take one look at this picture and tell me with a straight face you could pass up posting again about him. Seriously, A and L, you made one cute baby!

Look at me, I'm two-posts-a-day worthy!

Preggers in the Pool

2011-11-27T15:03:00.004-06:00

I decided that since I am past my first trimester and I no longer have debilitating bouts of nausea, that it was high time I got my ~~growing butt~~ cute pregnant booty in the pool. After work last week, I made the trek down to the club, and said a little prayer that my swim suit would still fit. I left my oldest and most stretched out suit in my locker at the club and really hoped that I had not grown too big to fit into it again. Thankfully, I was able to wear the suit without ripping a hole in it, but I did feel like a packed sausage. There’s little hope that I will be able to fit into that suit a couple of weeks from now because when I put it on again this morning, it felt tighter than the last time I wore it. Honestly, it might be smart to switch to a two-piece and just let it all hang out! That sounds cheaper than buying a new suit every few weeks.

I didn’t really know what to expect getting into the water. Every woman I have talked to about swimming during pregnancy said that the water is best place to be because the pregnancy weight feels like it has been lifted right off you. I soon found this to be true, and oh baby did it feel good to be in the water! I felt like an athlete again. There was little difference between Ironman Ms. R and pregnant Ms. R in the water, and to me, that feeling is priceless. I have struggled mentally with having to slow down my running and sometimes having to ride upright on my bike, but being in the water, I have little to no limitations. I think I will be swimming at least twice a week from here on out because I can get such a good (and zero bladder impact!) workout in the pool. I have to thank my sister-in-law for recommending the pool to me on multiple occasions because I really was nervous that the motion in the water was going to make me feel ill. Sometimes it just takes a little, repeated nudging to convince me something is a good idea.

Because I know you’re all dying to know about my eating habits, I'm sorry to report that I don’t have any weird or unusual cravings, but I did rediscover Flamin’ Hot Cheetos the other day at work. Oh momma, those things are delicious! I made the mistake of telling a lot of people in my office about how good they are and now there are none left in the vending machine. I need to learn to keep some things to myself. Apparently, Baby W loves spicy everything and I won’t be surprised if he/she comes out wearing a sombrero and shaking maracas. I can tell my tolerance for spice has gone up since I got pregnant, but sometimes it just seems a little bit out of control. I put Tobasco and Sriracha sauce on just about everything I eat, and oh, can I have a side of jalapenos with that? It’s a little concerning, yet comical, to Mr. Fury. The poor guy doesn’t really enjoy spicy anything himself, but he’s been a trooper when it comes to my cooking. I try to tone it down for him and add more spice after he’s taken his fill, but sometimes I just can’t help myself. I remind him that he’s just being a good daddy by putting up with my newly found obsession. Baby gets what baby wants, right?

Mr. Fury has been very busy with my dad the past few weeks putting in new windows upstairs. This is a project we started planning not long before finding out I was pregnant because the spare bedroom upstairs needed new windows in a bad way. Right after peeing on the stick and thinking, "Holy crap, there's no turning back now!" I promptly thought, "Oh #*(%, we need to order those new windows NOW!" We were not really in a rush pre-bun in the oven to buy the windows because they're so darn expensive. After consulting with my dad and shopping around, we got 10% off at Home Depot and an extra $125 off when they screwed up our order. We didn't mind making another trip into the store to get things corrected and save some more money so thanks Home Depot! Anyway, Mr. Fury and my dad just put in the last window and now we can go pick out new carpet so that can be installed soon too. Sheesh, this kid is already costing us a lot of money, and I hear it only gets worse!

From Ironman to Ironmom

2011-10-24T18:32:00.003-05:00

Life has been a whirlwind since Ironman CDA. It seems like the race was only a month or two ago, so looking back, it's hard to believe that it's been almost four months. Mr. Fury and I didn't accomplish all the things on our summer 'to-do' list, but we did have a lot of fun running Ragnar together with some great people, celebrated his dad's new marriage, vacationed with family in Duluth, went to the cabin a time or two, got a few home projects started and some finished, and rounded it all out by getting pregnant. So, all-in-all, it's been a pretty eventful summer and fall since Ironman.

It's been a crazy transition from Ironman-in-training to mommy-in-training, and downright tough on my ego and self-esteem at times. The first thing I crossed off my list of things I'm able to do is speed work. I was really getting into doing speed work this training season and actually kind of liked it. There's something about your lungs burning that makes you feel alive. Well, no more of that until after baby comes. It's just too hard on baby, my belly and with all the heartburn I have had, I really didn't need to help the acid creep up my throat any further. The fatigue and nausea hit me pretty hard during my first trimester. Whenever I could muster enough energy for a run or didn't feel like I needed to hang out by the toilet, I tried to get out for a run. Unfortunately, those times have been far and few between since I found out I was pregnant, but now that I'm going into my second trimester, I'm feeling a lot better and looking forward to getting out on the trails again.

I really am aiming to stay active as long as my body and baby allows me. I have read some serious benefits to continuing weight bearing exercise throughout pregnancy for both mom and baby, and I can not sit still for very long until I go stir crazy. So, I look to you, my few lady readers, what pregnancy tricks and knowledge do you have to share? And to my partners of a pregnant lady readers, any partner knowledge to share for Mr. Fury or I? We're newbies at this whole thing and welcome any advice!

Ironman CDA

2011-06-28T11:21:00.001-05:00

Sunday was up and down in more ways than one.

My day started with a 4:30 am wake-up call so we could leave the house by 5:15. Neil, Betsy, Mike B and I made our various race day breakfasts: oatmeal, bagels with peanut butter and banana and a big glass of water. We sat in silence as we attempted to eat. We all had the race day jitters and you could feel the anxiety in the air. I had so much anxiety built up from my last tri racing experience at Pigman last summer where I didn't finish. I was paranoid that I wasn't eating enough pre-race, I would get hungry during the swim, I was going to bonk on the bike and not even start the run. I had so much of this anxiety building over the course of this training season and I needed to prove myself wrong. I needed to really believe that I was going to be OK and fully rely on the hundreds of training hours I put in over the last 36 weeks.

At 5:15, Mike drove us down to the transition area where we dropped off our special needs bags for the bike and run, checked on our transition bags for the bike and run, and got ready for the swim. I felt marginally better when we arrived at the race site, but I knew that we still had an hour and a half before the cannon went off. Neil took off to check on his things while Mike B. and Betsy waited in the long port-o-potty lines and I put on my wetsuit. The four of us regrouped around 6:40, dropped off our morning clothes bags with the volunteers and then made the slow walk to the beach. There were so many people trying to get down to the beach that we only had to wait a few minutes before the cannon went off. When we got to the beach, we said our last "good lucks" to each other before the boys went closer to the water while Betsy and I found a somewhat comfortable area in the middle and off to the side of the pack. We ended up being more in the exact middle than we anticipated, but with 2,460 racers, it was hard to find your way to the perimeter.

The cannon went off at exactly 7am and all 2,400+ of us made our way from the beach to the balmy, 57 degree waters of Lake Coeur d'Alene. I had an idea of what the swim would be like based on my experience at Ironman Wisconsin where there was a mass start with everyone starting in the water. That was a stepping stone to the mass beach start. There are few words to describe that experience, but one of them is definitely, "Chaos." There were arms and legs everywhere, people swimming over other people, and I feel lucky to say that I only got hit in the face and kicked in the stomach once. It was incredibly difficult to find space the entire first lap of the swim, and with females comprising only 27% of the racing field, I was constantly surrounded by men. No offense to all the guys out there, but I don't like to swim by y'all. I hate to stereotype, but I have rarely found this stereotype to be inaccurate especially when it comes to longer distance racing: men are notorious for grabbing ankles, throwing elbows and being generally obnoxious in the water. I think I did a fairly good job of holding my own during the swim and made it out of the water without injury. In Ironman, that is called a successful swim. On the second lap of the swim, I noticed that my ring finger on my right hand was quite literally frozen in place. The water was so cold that my finger was stuck in a half-way bent position and I could tell that my middle finger was soon to follow. Thankfully, the beach was in site.

Swim: 1:17:21

(On a total side note, there is absolutely no shame during Ironman. None.)

The water was so brutally cold that getting out of the swim and going into T1, I couldn't feel anything. My legs were numb, I couldn't grab anything with my hands and my feet were white. I got my wetsuit stripped, grabbed my T1 bag and ran into the changing tent. Thank God for the amazing volunteers in the changing tent because without them, I would have struggled to get my bike gear on for another 20 minutes. The volunteer that helped me was great. She dumped out my transition bag and said, "What do you want to put on first?" and then she jumped into helping me get dressed. My volunteer completely undressed and dressed me all the way down to my socks, shoes and helmet. I could not do a thing and every time I tried to help she just said to me, "Don't worry, I've got it."

T1: 10:36

I was so thankful to be out of the water and on my bike that I didn't think much about the fact that I would now be biking for the next 7 hours of the race. I didn't care and it didn't much matter to me at the time since I was no longer in the water. Until mile 20, I didn't have feeling in my legs because they were numb. They were moving and they were doing the work I needed them to do, but I didn't have a clear idea of how hard I was pushing. I was grateful when the feeling finally returned; just in time for the hilly section of the course. From mile 20-45 the course consisted of all of the hills with the exception of 2 (which make their appearance at the beginning of the course). In between these two sections, there is a flat section that I looked forward to hitting on both loops of the course. This was by far the most challenging bike course I have ridden. It wasn't just the elevation gain that was a challenge, but the technicality of the course is unmatched in my racing history. This course is riddled with steep climbs followed by fast declines, sharp turns, and blind approaches. From the start of the bike, I couldn't get my nutrition under control. At first, I took too much. Then, during the hilly section of the bike, I couldn't take in enough calories. This routine unfortunately repeated itself on the second lap of the bike and I was really concerned about how I was going to feel on the run. Riding the flat section back into transition, I knew I was right where I wanted to be as far as my time. I came into transition around 8:30 hrs with my stomach still feeling pretty queasy and feeling hopeful that I could remedy my nutrition woes on the run.

Bike: 7:01:22

Transition 2 went much more smoothly than the first. I took care of dressing myself this time! I still couldn't really feel my toes from the swim, but I knew that when I started running, the feeling would come back. The volunteer that was helping me dumped out my bag, handed me all my items, and helped me put on my race belt. She gave me some words of encouragement, I grabbed some pretzels on the way out of the change tent, stopped at the sunscreen ladies just outside the tent and they slathered up my face, arms and legs, and then I was on my way out to the run course.

T2: 6:47

Starting the run, I knew I would have to pace myself. My legs felt pretty good coming off the bike and I wanted to be able to push it. My goal on the run was to run a 4:30 marathon. I knew it was possible, but I had to watch my pace and make sure I didn't push it too hard out of the gate. I tried to keep my pace and heart rate in check, but the excitement of being off the bike took over and I ran my first mile in 8:30min. I kept telling myself, "SLOW DOWN!" Finally, by mile 2.5 I found my pace and goal heart rate, and my stomach started to even out and feel better. I started the run eating pretzels, keeping that up between water stops, and I supplemented that by taking in oranges, bananas, powerade, water and finally succumbing to cola near mile 21. This seemed to calm my stomach and allowing me enough calories to keep going.

The same big hill we started on the bike was the same hill we had to run up and over, and then turn around and run up again and back down. This hill was a killer, but I decided early on in the race that I wasn't going to stop and walk going up or down either side of it. I gave myself permission to walk only during the water stops and that was it. I didn't want to fall into the trap of walking any other time during the run because it was so hard to get going again. I ran focusing on the pavement 10 feet in front of me, thinking about a quote from Clarence DeMar a friend posted on my wall before the race, "Run like hell and get the agony over with." So, I did. I ran like hell. I ran as fast as I could go without going out of my zones.

The first lap was a little faster than I intended so I knew the second lap was going to be a little slower. And, it was slower, and more painful than the first. The bottoms of my feet started to ache and felt like they were swollen. Everything started to ache including my skin, but I knew in just over 2 hours, it was all going to melt away when I ran down the finisher chute. I remained focused on the hill; up, over, turn around, up, down. Run to the water stop, orange, banana, Powerade, water, cola, start running again. This was my schedule, and I stuck to it. I saw Neil going up the hill shortly before the turn around, on the way back down the hill, I saw Betsy. We stopped to give each other some encouragement, and she laughed as she picked out some ear plug from my hair that had been there since the swim. We parted ways and I found Mike B. on his way to the turn around. He had a rough day and his expression said it all. I yelled to him to keep going, and he smiled and waved. I shuffled through the remaining miles, and got to the last water stop before the finish line. The last woman at the stop had chicken broth and she asked if I wanted some. I looked at her, smiled and said, "No thanks, I'm going home!!" She laughed, yelled at me, "Take it home!" and I was off.

Finally, I was to the split in the course; second lap to the right, finish line to the left, and I got to run to the left. Running around the corner to Sherman Ave was nothing less than glorious. The street was packed with spectators, I could see the finish line at the end of the street, and it was all downhill. Turning the corner, I couldn't help the flood of emotion. It felt as good as it did the first time I finished Ironman, and the tears came running down my face. (At least I was hydrated enough to cry!) I hit the carpet of the finish line, and the spectators in the bleachers were going crazy. I ran down the left side of the finish line giving high fives, and I found Mike and my cousin Paul in the crowd going crazy! I gave them both a high five, and then (literally) danced across the finish line. My dance wasn't coordinated or on beat, but who cares. I am an Ironman again.

Run: 4:31:39

Finish Time: 13:07:45

Adventures in Cooking and Stuff

2011-04-03T18:07:00.001-05:00

I'm making my first attempt at cooking an artichoke for dinner tonight. I'm not talking about canned hearts, but the whole damn thing. I've never done this before and I've wanted to try for awhile so when I bought groceries online I bought an artichoke to try it out. Yes, I did say that I bought groceries online. I'm training for Ironman and I hate going grocery shopping so I figured it was a great time to try out the order online, pick-up later feature. It was overall pretty awesome, and you should try it. I digress...

So, where was I? Oh yes, I was just about to tell you about how I was assaulted by the artichoke which I was so excited to prepare for my delicious dinner feast. I know very little about artichokes other than I find them absolutely delightful. They're so deliciously buttery and my mouth is watering just thinking about eating them. I've never touched a whole artichoke before it was cooked though, let alone cooked one myself so this has truly been a voyage into the wild ~~blue~~ green yonder. Trimming the thing was quite entertaining. First of all, did you know that artichokes have thorns? Thorns! I read this online and thought, no, really? I had no idea artichokes had thorns. I later found this to be true when I was trying to trim the artichoke and I got pricked. Hard. The thorns look cute and harmless, but those suckers hurt! Also, and I was not warned of this online, but the innards of this weird looking vegetable are also sharp! What the heck?! There's like a thousand little thorns inside it! Well, I showed that artichoke who's boss and put it in a pot and steamed it. It's still cooking so you'll have to ask how it tasted later.

On to other happenings in the Fury household. I finally got my new bike, and her name is Stella. She's going to rock everyone's face off (including mine) when I finally get to ride her. Unfortunately, I've been laid up with the flu this past week so she's been parked in the guest bedroom all sad and lonely. She's beautiful, and the current love of my life. Move over Mr. Fury!

In racing news, I ran the Get Lucky Half-Marathon put on by Team Ortho a couple weeks ago with my friend SP (aka Asspounder). He and I discussed our racing goals previous to this race and he really wanted to qualify for a corral spot for Chicago Marathon in October, and I really wanted to PR. In order for him to get in the last corral before general entry he needed to race 1:50 or better, and to get the next best corral spot he had to race 1:45 or better. Race morning we discussed what our plan was going to be, and we decided to go for the gold and try to cross the finish line before 1:45. Hm...sounds like a challenge! We didn't really warm-up before the race, which was pretty stupid considering our goal time, but we did take the first mile relatively easy at 8:25/mile. We knew we would have to speed things up in order to finish sub-1:45, so we sped up to closer to 8:00 min miles until the turn around. At that point, we knew we had to run sub 8:00s to finish with the 1:45 pace group. Our plan at that point was to run 7:50s until we caught up to the pace group. This plan is flawless*, right? Well, it would have been more flawless if the 1:45 pacer was running a 1:45 pace, but as we later found out, the pacer crossed the finish line at 1:43ish and then cheered in his pace group. What? Who does that? Needless to say, we never caught up to the pace group, but it all worked out because SP and I crossed the finish line at 1:44:40. He got his corral spot and I got my PR by 7 minutes. Goodness, it feels good to PR and know that I'm not as slow as I thought I was in January. After shedding a few layers of clothes and a major snow melt, it turns out I'm actually a half-way decent runner. Thanks SP for pushing me because I really don't think I would have run that hard had it not been for you.

In other really happy news, I found out two friends are planning on camping their way to CDA to cheer for BV, NH, and I. I am so excited that we'll have an expanded cheer group out there, I can hardly contain myself! I think this will be good for Mr. Fury also to have a couple other familiar faces out there during the race. So, anyone else interested in going out to Coeur d'Alene to cheer us on?

* I was starting to think that this was either going to be awesome or the greatest blow-up we've both experienced in racing.

It Happened on a Wednesday

2011-02-21T17:57:00.000-06:00

Everyone has heard of runner's high, but is it possible to achieve swimmer's high? I think it is and last Wednesday, I also think I may have achieved it. Approximately every six weeks I have a 400 yd test worked into my swim workouts. Typically, this is the worst swim for me. I struggle to get through the 400s fully focused and sometimes I have a really hard time getting into my groove and finding my stroke. I think it's knowing that the distance isn't that long, but long enough to warrant some serious concentration.

I found during my second test of the season that if I thought about one person for every lap of the 400, I really could focus. So, I started dedicating laps to my family: my brothers, sister-in-law, brother's girlfriend, mom, dad, husband. It was amazing what it did for my speed and focus. Without this focus, I was swimming a 6:40 400, but with this new focal point, I got my times consistently down to a 6:30. Well, of course, I got a little restless swimming a 6:30 400. I need to be stronger and faster and better than a 6:30, so for my third 400 swim test of the year, I wanted to beat the 6:30.

I think I chose a bad day to try to beat this time. I woke up late for work, I had a crappy day, I was tired, and I had a million excuses to not get in the pool. As usual, I made myself go with the thought that once I was finished with my swim, I would be happy I went. So, I got in the pool and sucked it up like a big kid, and found that I regretted almost every moment of my warm-up and my first 400. I looked at my watch, and I came in at 6:41 for my first 400. Great, it's going to be that kind of swim. Ugh. I tried focusing on my family, and that helped for the second 400: 6:32. Sweet, back on track. Third 400: 6:31, nice! At least I'm being somewhat consistent. I only had one more 400, and typically I swim the fourth one the fastest. I reset my watch, and kicked off the wall. For some reason, everything felt really good. My breath was steady, my stroke was strong, and my kick wasn't all over the place like it was on the first 400. I felt better and happier in the watter than I have all season. I got through all eight laps, stopped my watch, and saw 6:19 frozen on the watch face. What? For real!? A-W-E-S-O-M-E! I did not think that I was going to swim it considerably faster than my second or third, but sometimes I do surprise myself. So there it is: Swimmer's High.

Ironman Revisited

2011-02-07T11:42:00.000-06:00

Many of you that read my blog already know this news, but for those of you that don't know, I am taking on the challenge of Ironman again. Yes, 140.6 miles of pure bliss is coming my way on June 26, 2011 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. I can't wait and I am really excited to race on an Ironman course again! Although I am not in it for the prize purse, I am in it for pride, and I fully plan on racing against my previous IM times from Wisconsin.

I am on week 17 of training which is hard to believe, and next week is halfway through my training program which is even harder for me to believe. I don't have an overall time goal in mind right now other than trying to beat my previous time of 13:57:40. The one goal I have been working on all training season is to beat my previous bike time from IMWI. I don't just want to finish the bike in the 6 hour time frame, I need to finish the bike in the 6 hour time frame. 7:22:42 on the bike was much too long, and I plan on doing much better in CDA.

I got a couple new toys this year to help with that bike goal: a Garmin 310xt (I love it!) and on its way to me is a Cannondale Women's Slice 4 Rival. I can not wait to ride her. She's not here yet, but I am hoping she will arrive straight from the factory by the end of February or early March. Speaking of bikes, I need to go ride mine in the basement!

Ride on.

Happiest in 2

2010-06-17T15:08:00.000-05:00

I realized something on a run last night with Mr. Fury that is season changing. I don't want to race anymore. It's not that I never want to do a triathlon, marathon or road race ever again, but it's that I'm worn out mentally and maybe even physically from trying to become faster. My workouts and racing have started to feel like a second job that is more stressful than my day job. I used to love racing because it was fun not because I felt obligated to get a certain time or to place in my age group. The increase in speed and faster times came from the years of training and my love of the sport, not from frustrating workouts at the track. I feel like I have lost all sense of fun with racing and I really need to get that back.

Last night I decided that there will be no attempt at Boston this year. I'm going to spend as much time as I can in zone 2 because that is truly my happy place. I made Mr. Fury swear that he would keep reminding me of this and not let me buy a GPS HRM because that will make me focus more on times and paces which is exactly what I don't want to do. The hope is that by October, I will look back on this season and feel happy that I had fun. I don't want a repeat of last year when I showed up to Brewhouse angry at the thought of racing and ran TCM thinking: Why the hell am I doing this? It's hard to put my dream of Boston on the shelf for awhile, but I know it's what I need to do in order to salvage my love of running, triathlon and racing. Someday I'll get there. ::sigh::

In other (happier) news, it was my birthday last weekend. Mr. Fury and I went to my parents' lake home with a group of our friends and my brothers to hang out and have a relaxing weekend. It was a great time and I'm so glad we decided to celebrate there this year. It was rainy and chilly most of the weekend, but my brothers and my friend Dave made the most of it by taking the boat out anyway and going water skiing. Crazy kids...

I love birthdays, and mostly because I'm completely surprised by Mr. Fury and his tremendous memory. This year he got me some awesome gifts that I had even forgotten that I asked for back..well...let's not say how early I start talking about my birthday, but rest assured, it's pretty darn early in the year. He got me a wireless keyboard for my computer that I can use when I work at home and super tasty delicious brownies that he ordered from the Vermont Brownie Company. Oh.My.Gawd. They are so freaking good. I tried the Espresso Brownie today and it was unbelievable. Look at this tasty goodness:

Really, can it get any better than espresso beans inside a brownie?! You get a chocolate and caffeine high all at the same time! Genius! Don't be jealous you didn't think of it first and go order a tasty delicious box of your own. You don't even have to share unless you want to. The best, and funniest, part of how I received the brownies was that they came via USPS while we were gone. The mail dude put the box just inside the door, but the box was too big for the door to shut all the way. The squirrels tried to bust into the brownies by chewing away at the outside box. Little did they know that the Vermont Brownie Company is prepared for such rodent initiated box raids, and they package their brownies in a box inside a box. HA! Take that you filthy animals! No brownies for you!

Last night the birthday festivities continued when we had a rousing soiree at my parents' house for my younger brother's birthday who turned, brace yourselves, 25 years old. 25 YEARS OLD! I still can't believe it. I still think he should be 12, and never grow older. On the bright side, he's still one of the funniest and most smiley-est people I know. Happy birthday dude, it was an honor to share a massive DQ birthday cake with you last night.

Cheers!

GU, I Love You!

2010-06-10T11:31:00.000-05:00

I reached GU nirvana a few weekends ago. Seriously. Traveling through Wisconsin to go to a friend's wedding, Mr. Fury and I realized we forgot all of our nutrition products at home and we needed some for our long run on Saturday. We stopped at good ole' Scheel's in Eau Claire and picked up some GU. The salesman at the store said the Jet Blackberry was a good seller and insisted I would love it. Ok, not just love it, but LOVE IT! I'm a sucker so I bought a box of six. If I'm going to LOVE something, why bother with just buying one packet at a time?

Fast forward to Saturday.

Mr. Fury were out on our run, and I took my first GU. Ok Jet Blackberry, prove the crazy salesman right, I want to LOVE you. Honestly, after that first packet, I wanted to O.D. on Jet Blackberry GU. It was so tasty, and with 2x the caffeine, I dare you not to like it! So, that's my challenge. I dare you to hate the Jet Blackberry GU. You can't. It's too hard to hate it because it's too good. You can't even lie, the caffeine high will give you away.

Dare I say it's better than Orange GU?

Ms. R, Where Are You?

2010-05-18T10:15:00.000-05:00

Howdy dooody! Long time no write. Sorry to disappoint, but really, I have a life to live here folks and it has been busy. A lot has happened in the Fury household the last couple of months: loss of life, new life, sickness (multiple times and simultaneously), and many yard projects. Here's a picture of the cutest happening this spring, our new nephew Liam:

We haven't met him yet because he lives in Seattle, WA, but we're looking forward to making a trip soon to meet the little guy. He makes my uterus ache a little...

The SF and I have been busy with random projects around the house. We just replanted part of the garden to put in a fire pit. Stay tuned, bonfires and parties pending.

Training is going so-so. Motivation is not so much part of the problem as is staying well enough to train. I tried out a new pool just over a week ago and it proved to be a big mistake. I got a nasty sinus infection and I'm blaming it all on the murky water at the LTF in Fridley. Maybe my dirty nose is really to blame, but I prefer to point my finger at Life Time Fitness. I just recovered from that for the most part when I woke up with violent vomiting on Sunday morning. It was a doozy of a week, and one that I prefer to never re-live. I got back in the pool last night for my first workout in 8 days. I was still a little weak from no eating the day prior, but I made it through 1700 yds before calling it a day.

In other news, I'm going to try the marathon thing again. Oh, how did TCM go, you ask? So well I didn't feel it was necessary to write about it. Actually, it was awful, and I swore I would never do it again. Well, until about two weeks later when I realized that I still really want to BQ. No, really want to BQ. So, a couple friends and I are going up nort to run Whistlestop Marathon in October. I've heard great things so I hope it lives up to all the hype. If nothing else, there will be beautiful fall colors to distract me.

The next couple of weeks are wedding filled extravaganzas. We have a wedding this weekend, I have a wedding shower next Tuesday and then another wedding Memorial Day weekend. It's going to be fun and exhausting! Well, until next time, Ms. R out.

What are these magical gems I am wearing?

2010-02-22T13:35:00.002-06:00

As part of my Gear West Test Team duties, I not only test products, but I also write reviews of the products I test. I will post those reviews here in addition to sending them to Gear West to post on their website. Here is my first review of the year:

Product

Sable WaterOptics 101 Tri Goggles

Rating

Two Fins Way Up

Similar Products Used

TYR Tracer, Speedo Vanquisher, Speedo Air Seal Tri

Today is the day. Today I am finally getting back into the pool after a few months far, far away from it. I don’t remember the last time I entered the pool with such excitement and anticipation, and all this emotion was over a new pair of goggles. Wearing a new pair of goggles is like getting the first squeeze out of a fresh tube of toothpaste. There is something so gratifying about the first few laps in a fresh pair of goggles. Maybe it is the hope that these goggles will actually deliver on their “no fog” promise, the clarity with which you can see the bottom of the pool through the unscratched lenses, or the cushy feel of the gaskets that are not yet digging into your eye sockets from laps and laps of usage. The novelty wears off after you find that these hopes have been dashed, and your goggles fog up after your warm up, you scratch the lenses after the fifth time you literally have taken the defogging into your own hands and you look in the locker room mirror only to see purple ovals around your eyes. Darn, foiled again!

You can imagine my dismay when my new pair of Sable 101 Tri goggles did not deliver on these disappointments. Wait, I can get through a whole swim without cursing my goggles? What are these magical gems I am wearing? I seemingly made a mistake when I allowed my husband to try them on before getting a single lap in the pool. He had a moment of envy when I exclaimed, “WOW! These are the clearest goggles I have ever worn!” His response was, “Oh! Gimme, gimme!” so I reluctantly obliged and he, of course, got water on the lenses. He handed them back to me and I said, “Oh man! Look at what you did! All the literature that came with the lenses stresses the importance of NEVER TOUCHING THE LENSES, even with your finger.” He gave me that look that says, “Uh huh, get over it.” Clearly having lost this battle for now, I did what any spouse would do and filed this situation away for future use, just in case he ruined the anti-fog. ::Remember the last time I let you wear my new goggles, and you got them wet? Yeah, well, the anti-fog hasn’t worked since!::

In defeat, I put my new Sable 101 Tri goggles on and took off down the pool, and was not at all surprised when the little bit of water on the lenses turned into fog. Deciding to tough it out and having hope that the anti-fog would do its thing, I was pleasantly and incredibly surprised when it actually worked and the fog cleared. I enjoyed an entire workout without any recurring fog! The other feature that quite frankly blew my mind was how much clearer the lenses are with the Sable 101s than any other goggle I have worn. The clarity of the lenses is unmatched. I was much more impressed with the Sable 101s than I was the first time I used the TYR Tracers. That is saying a lot considering I loved my new Tracers so much I did not want to take them off, and I almost went to bed wearing them. After four swim workouts wearing the new Sables, I am just as pleased with them as the first time I wore them which I definitely couldn’t say for the Tracers. As long as I care for them as instructed, Sable continues to deliver on their promises.

My only complaint is that I do have a little discomfort around my eyes after long usage. I have not figured out the optimal strap positioning for myself yet, but the positive aspects of these goggles far outweigh this negative. When looking for the Sables, you may have a little sticker shock, but rest assured the Sable 101 are well worth the higher price tag. For those of you that wear prescription lenses, Sable WaterOptics also makes customized prescription goggles so you can experience a fog-free, clear vision swim too! Right now, I can neither confirm nor deny that I have tried to go to bed wearing them yet, but I will admit that I have recommended them to all my goggle-nirvana-seeking friends.

So, It's Been a Month

2009-09-17T13:02:00.016-05:00

...and boy do I have a lot of updates for you! A lot has happened since I last posted. First off, I hurt my foot during my first 20 mile run, and now it's almost healed. I somehow moved a couple bones into the wrong position (weird, I can't imagine how that happened), but my chiropractor has been working on it and it's feeling a lot better. Now, to just get those bones to stay where they should be! It's a work in progress, but my speed training had to take a back seat while I try to heal. No biggie, I just have to readjust my goals for the race and that's A-OK. Sub-4 hour marathon is what I'm shooting for, and if the temperatures continue to drop like weather.com says they will all will work out. I'm being very optimistic. If you know anything about the weather during TCM, you're better off buying a Powerball ticket than successfully predicting the weather for race day.

I also have gotten a few massages from Stronghands Terri:

uh, huh. She's a leg-beater.

So I have a shin splints problem. Stronghands Terri feels very strongly about this, and she's not afraid to show it. I may or may not have dropped an f-bomb during this (beating) massage.

My older brother celebrated his 30th birthday, and we rang in the new year for him at the cabin. It was a fun time, but unfortunately, the weather was terribly confused and we spent the last weekend in August in jeans and sweatshirts. What the hey Ray? It's still summer right? Apparently not.

Adam and his friend, Andre the Giant

Wearing away the grass playing bean bags all weekend.

This white boy can't dance.

All he needs is a jean jacket. What a creeper.

This past weekend, Mr. Fury and I went to Madison, WI for Ironman. We had a great time volunteering and cheering on our friends. We spent the morning stripping wetsuits off the athletes, and it was crazy chaotic and so much fun. I can't wait to go back next year and do it again! Here we are in action:

This transition station was full of people yelling, "Here, here! Point your hands! Lay down! Point your toes! Have a great race!!" It's hard to believe that we had nearly 2,400 athletes come through to get their wetsuit stripped. We had the privilege of stripping (bow chicka wow wow) our friends Ironman Sean, Ironman Dana, and Ironman Becca. It was amazing that they found us in the mess of strippers and athletes so we could help them. I was really happy we got to see them so early on in the race and wish them luck for the rest of the day.

After chasing our friends around on the bike course, we worked at the finish line as catchers starting at 5:30pm. We got to catch some of the fastest age groupers racing that day and saw Jan Guenther come in soon after we started working. She looked phenomenal! It was hard to believe she just raced a 10:30 Ironman because she looked like she just raced a 1/2 Ironman. What an athlete!

Working at the finish line was a little emotional at times. I caught a man and brought him through the finish line area to get his medal, hat and shirt and then walked him over to his family. They were all in tears and his kids kept saying, "Daddy, daddy, we're going to Kona! We're going to Kona!" He came in just after 5:30pm so it was very possible he earned a slot to the World Championships. I dropped him off with his wife, and it just about brought me to tears. I really hope he earned his slot to Kona, he clearly put in a lot of work to get there.

As time passed, Mr. Fury and I knew that our friends were going to be coming in soon. Just after 9pm, our friend Ironman Sean crossed the finish line and I was there to catch him along with another volunteer. He crossed with a huge smile on his face and then promptly said, "I think I'm going to throw up." The other volunteer and I looked at each other and tried to get him off to the side, but there were too many people. IM Sean then said, "Um...Hurry?!" and we started yelling, "MOVE! MOVE!" and we got IM Sean to a garbage just in time. As he was clutching the garbage can, Mr. Fury came back from the medical tent from dropping off another participant. IM Sean stood up and said, "Wow, I feel better," and then we asked him if he needed anything. He looked at the table next to him with a stack of finishers medals, pointed at them and said, "Well, I would like one of those." He always makes me laugh, even when he's puking and half-alert. Congratulations Sean! You are an Ironman!

Sean and his beautiful lady friend J-Tub

After Ironman Sean finished and we walked him to his family and the rest of our friends, our volunteer shift was over. We went with Ironman Kimmi to find our other friend Dana on the course. When she got close to the finish line, we snuck back into the finish line area to catch her as she crossed. Her face crossing the finish line brought me to tears. She had the best reaction and she was one of the happiest finishers I saw all day. Pumping her fists and running across the finish line she ran to Mr. Fury and I and gave us a huge group hug. I was beyond happy to have been there for her when she crossed, and you could tell she felt the same to have Mr. Fury and I there for her. Congratulations Dana, you did it! You are an Ironman!

Right before Dana yelled to us, "I'm having so much fun!"

2 blocks before crossing the finish line.

Ironman Becca wasn't too far behind Ironman Dana. Mr. Fury and I waited and waited for a warning text message telling us she was coming, but we never got one. Finally, I heard Mike Reilly say Ironman Becca's name before she crossed the finish line, and Mr. Fury and I ran up to the front of the line to catch her. We were a little late, but we still got there to walk with her to get her picture taken and walk her to the huge group of family and friends waiting for her. She never stopped talking the entire time we were with her which isn't entirely normal for her, and suggested that maybe she meander over to the medical tent to get checked out. She was feeling dizzy earlier during the run, and you could tell the heat and dehydration had gotten to her. Being the wonderful doctor that she is, she refused to go right away, but eventually she was persuaded to stop in to get checked out. Congratulations Becca, you had an awesome race! You are an Ironman!

A big smile on the first loop.

Still smiling during the run!

I also want to send a big congratulations to Ironman TriChicKris. Awesome job out there, you fought your way through the bike course and hit it hard on the run. Hello, sub-5 hour marathon! You are an Ironman!!

Workin' it across the finish line.

Ironman weekend, whether you're racing or spectating, is absolutely exhausting. I'm just now starting to feel like I'm back to normal. After a great night of sleep, I sent Mr. Fury off this morning to his bachelor party in Las Vegas. All forms of debauchery to ensue, I'm sure. He just texted me a little while ago to tell me they landed safely, got to the hotel and were off to the buffet for lunch. Ha! Of course they're going to a buffet, where else is there to eat in Vegas?? I am only benefiting from this trip to Vegas since my brothers are going as well. No brothers in town means Gopher Football tickets for me! Have fun in Vegas boys...GO GOPHERS!!

This Deserves a Post of It's Own

2009-09-17T12:56:00.003-05:00

Wow. Jan Guenther is a machine. Clearly she had the AG performance of the year at IMWI. Crossing the finish line, she made it look so easy. All in a day's work for one of the nation's best age groupers.

So close!

2009-08-17T12:07:00.003-05:00

Mr. Fury and I went up to the cabin again this weekend for the third weekend in a row. Yet again, we had rainy, cloudy weather for the third consecutive trip, but at least it was warm this time! It was a nice relaxing weekend (kind of) with just my parents, Mr. Fury and me.

On Saturday morning, I had to wake up nice and early to beat the heat for my 18 mile run. The alarm went off at 6am, and I rolled over to look at Mr. Fury with a pained look on his face. He was struck with a headache with little sleep and poor nutrition the day prior being the culprits. Mr. Fury was out for a long run, and there was no way I was going to convince him otherwise. I got out of bed, went upstairs and popped a couple pieces of bread into the toaster. I reached for the peanut butter, which felt lighter than normal, opened up the top and was horrified at what I found. One teaspoon of chunky peanut butter left on the bottom of the container. There was no way that was going to cover two pieces of toast. What barbaric creature would leave such a measly amount of delicious peanut butter in the cupboard disguised as a full container? I searched through my memory bank to discover it was me. Whoopsies. I guess I had that one coming, didn't I? I made-do with the small amount of peanut butter and slopped some blueberry jam on top. I threw in a banana and I was pleasantly surprised at how satisfying it tasted.

After I got dressed and headed out the door, I walked to the end of the driveway, threw a full container of water under the mailbox, and started my run. It didn't take long to realize that the head and humidity were going to be a factor during my run. I said a little prayer that the sun would stay hidden under the clouds for the duration, and threw on my iPod to help distract me from the boring scenery. On tap today were three out-and-back 6 mile loops, all coming back to the mailbox to replenish my water supply. The first leg went swimmingly, as in I felt like I had to swim through the air more than run. I challenged myself on a very hilly stretch of road for the second leg, and then for the last leg went back to the first leg out-and-back. All I could think for the last 3 miles of road was, "Oh Dear Lord, I have to run 8.2 more miles on race day." It's easy to forget you have been through much worse when you're swunning in ridiculous humidity and heat. Here is my wish for race day: low humidity and 40 degrees. That would be puuuuuurrfect, but we are talking about Twin Cities Marathon so who knows what we'll get. I predict Armageddon-like heat, hail and sink holes near the finish line.

Anywho, back to my run. I ended my run at 2:36 on the dot. I had to do a double-take at my watch. 2:36? For 18 miles? 2:36 for real?? Yeah, 2:36. Track workouts and tempo runs are going to make this the best and fastest marathon to date for me (I hope). I calculated it, and if I keep an 8:40 pace for the full 26.2, I'll finish around 3:45. My goal is to finish around/under 3:55, and now I know that is absolutely do-able. The only frustrating part of all this is how close I am to a BQ! I realize TCM is not the race this year where I will BQ, but it's in my sights!

PR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-12T10:11:00.003-05:00

Lifetime Fitness Tri was awesome yesterday! Everything went right although it didn't always feel like it. Ok, I'll revise that statement because the swim went OK; Everything went mostly right. My goggles that I love and adore decided to be leaky jerks so I had to stop and empty them about 5 times. Other than that, everything went really well and I beat my goal time of 2:45! Here are my results:

Rachel Holzemer

International Course


Bib #:	741
Age:	27
Gender:	F
City, State:	St. Paul, MN
Nation:	USA
Race Category:	International Age Group - Women 25 to 29

Triathlon Results - International Course

Finish Time:	2:42:47.0
Category Place:	10 out of 65 Women 25 to 29 finishers
Overall Place:	325 out of 1040 International Course finishers
Gender Overall Plc:	50 out of 296 Female finishers

Triathlon Splits
Swim 1.5K

Time:	28:11.6
Pace:	1:52 /100m
Category Place:	9
Overall Place:	226
Gender Overall Plc:	43

Transition #1

Time:	2:16.4
Category Place:	3
Overall Place:	67
Gender Overall Plc:	15

Bike 40K

Time:	1:19:59.5
Pace:	19.1MPH
Category Place:	12
Overall Place:	548
Gender Overall Plc:	79

Transition #2

Time:	1:23.1
Category Place:	4
Overall Place:	60
Gender Overall Plc:	13

Run 10K

Time:	50:56.3
Pace:	8:13/M
Category Place:	12
Overall Place:	394
Gender Overall Plc:	67

I was amazed at my run pace. I felt like I was going so slow and I figured that I was running around 9-9:30s. I was way off mark! Woohooo! My previous best time was 2:55:xx so it felt great to crush that time. I'll probably write more later, but I need to sleep and RICE my right foot. It's not too happy with me this morning. I think there was a little too much dancing at the victory party last night with the team...

Welcome to Amateur Hour

2009-06-30T16:12:00.000-05:00

...or "First Race Report of the Season," or "Good Morning Brain, Welcome to Race Day! ..Er...Brain? Where Are You??"

Gear West Duathlon was just a couple Sundays ago on May 18th and I definitely felt like I had no business racing. Mr. Fury and I woke up around 5:30 am to pack up the car and head to Orono. It was a much better day, weather wise, than Saturday and I thought I felt prepared for a nice, fun Du. We got to the race site with plenty of time to set up my transition area, warm up, eat a little something and chat with my TNT buddies.

____________________

That is seriously how far I got on my last post that I started at the end of May. I haven't felt motivated to post because I haven't felt like there is anything major to report. My apologies to anyone that reads this and to myself because, really, I do have a lot major going on. Here is a brief (or maybe not so brief) summary of all that has happened:

Gear West Duathlon - First race of the season, and yes, it really felt like it too. I managed to keep the covers on my clips for my bike shoes and proceeded to not be able to clip-in on my bike leaving T1. In T2, I managed to run two bike racks from my transition wearing my helmet; awesome. I finished strong though, and that's all that mattered. I just wanted to finish knowing I paced myself well througout the race, and I think I accomplished that.
Gear West Test Team - It's official, we started testing products. So far I have tested the new Accelerade Hydro (it's delicious), Accelerade Orange flavor, Endurox Endurance (er..I think that's what it's called, and it's tasty), Skirt Sports bike shorts (tremendously comfortable), Skirt Sports tank top (it has a cleavage pocket!!! HAHA), Avia Avi Bolt II race flats (meh, not convinced they're worth the money), SLS Compression Socks (soooooo worth the moola), TYR Tracer goggles (I was a Speedo girl until I tried these out. Hands down, best goggles I've ever worn). Next up is a BlueSeventy wetsuit, aero helmet, and a set of Zipps with a Powertap. I'll be working at the LTF Tri Expo at the GW booth so come visit. Not sure what time, but I'll let you know.
Team in Training - We're almost at the end of our season. It's gone by so quickly and Lifetime Fitness Tri is in two weeks. I'm really looking forward to race day, especially since my friend Isabel will be home from Des Moines to cheer for me and our other friend Erin.
Wedding Plans - ...are chugging along. We're sending out Save the Dates soon to Mr. Fury's family. It will be here before we know it!!

There's my recap for the past few months. It's been crazy and busy and fun, and crazy busy fun!

Tri on.

Munders

2009-04-20T08:49:00.002-05:00

This morning has been difficult, and so the story goes for most people on Mondays. To spice it up a bit, why not post about all the fun business that has been going on lately? I realize I haven't been posting with much regularity, but I hope that will change as I have quite a few races coming up this year (more than normal for me) and that means fun stories about training, I hope.

My biggest, most exciting news is that I'll be racing in the Gear West colors this season as part of the Gear West Test Team. There are 14 of us on the team and we'll be testing products from socks to nutrition to wheel sets. Trent at GW is still working on getting some bikes for us to test, but that's not looking too promising right now. It should be a lot of fun, and I'm really excited about it! We get to keep some of the products we test such as clothing and nutrition. Can you say a-w-e-s-o-m-e?! I can, and I have said it multiple times since they offered me a position on the team. Woohoo!

In other news, training with TNT has been great. The team has been working so hard and we did our longest run to date on Saturday. The other two training captains and I led the workout and I think we had a pretty good route set out for everyone (...if I do say so myself!). We started out at Minnehaha park near the falls and our route went back toward Fort Snelling. The 1/2 Iron team took the short loop around Pike's Island and then came back. The Olympic team ran to the base of Ft. Snelling (out and back), and the Sprint team went out two miles and turned around to our starting point. I love that path back there in the woods. It's on my top 5 list of running routes in the cities. There's nothing like feeling you have escaped the city while you're still in it! The best part of the run was when we got back and two of the ladies on the team said, "That's the longest I have ever run! I feel so good!" Mission accomplished!

Saturday after practice Mr. Fury and I went out for breakfast with a few other people on the team. We went to Grandview Grill which is so fantastically tasty. It's a primo spot to go if you love breakfast. They're only open until about 2 or 3pm each day so get there early. Yum. We had to run out of there in a hurry because I had a massage with Strong Hands Terri. Yowza, she really did a number on me this weekend. My diaphragm is really tight and it's not something I normally stretch (or really know how to), but let it be known that I will now be finding ways to stretch it out. Holy Mariah, I have never felt such pain from muscle tightness! I have been experiencing problems (ie: diaphragm muscle spasms) with my breathing so Terri has been working on it and sometimes I think that is a big mistake. Mostly I think it's a mistake when Terri is working on it, I have tears rolling out of the corners of my eyes and I'm pleading with God, "Please God, if you make her stop I won't ever roll my eyes again and pretend I'm listening when my mom won't stop blabbing on the phone. I PROMISE!" I realize this is not the proper nor most sincere method of prayer which makes it obvious that neither I nor God has held up our ends of the bargain.

So in the spirit of keeping the pain coming, Mr. Fury and I signed up for Twin Cities Marathon on Friday. My goal this year is to not only train but also race TCM. Cheers to not getting sick a couple days before race day again! Does anyone have a good marathon training plan? I've been fishing around for one but haven't found one I like yet.

Alright, it's time for more Monday goodness.

Dear Randall,

2009-04-13T08:26:00.000-05:00

I am deeply sorry I did not post this weekend as expected and have disappointed you during your morning coffee. I do hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

Sincerely,

Ms. R

Middle School Germ Infestation

2009-02-09T12:29:00.003-06:00

I'm back and with another cold to boot. I've actually done pretty well this winter on the cold/sick front. I'm writing today over a nice steamy bowl of taco salad made up of taco leftovers from last night. It's not tasting nearly as good as it did 18 hours ago, but I'm going to make myself eat as much of it as I can. I haven't had much of an appetite since this cold really took hold Friday night. I'm blaming the middle school pool the team swims in that was just infested with middle schooler germs. It was a floating biology project before we jumped in, I'm sure of it!

It's been a pretty eventful winter at the Walzemer's (Walch/Holzemer house). Let me highlight just a few:

Mr. Fury and I scared my mom into thinking that we actually wrapped up Mr. Fury's deer mount to give to her as a Christmas present for the second year-in-a-row. We scared her with that present last year, which was hilarious. We didn't give it to her again this year for Christmas, but we did hang it up at the cabin over the mantle for a "Just because we love you!" gift. She was so thrilled with the present, she's giving it back.

Mr. Fury and I are officially gettin' hitched! We're still hammering out the plans, but we've decided on 12/12/09. We're embracing the Minnesota cold and my ensamble will consist of a parka and sorels. I'll be playing the part of the blushing (or frostbit) bride. No horsedrawn carriage here, we're riding in on snowmobiles!
Mr. Fury said hello to the dirty thirties this past month. We had a huge party at the house to celebrate, and he partied so hard he went to bed before everyone even left. Hey, it was his party, and he slept when he wanted to!

Team in Training started up for the summer season last week, hence why I'm sick from the middle school petri dish/pool. I just need to build up my immune system to middle school strength and then I'll be fine. It's been great to see some familiar faces again as well as a lot of new ones. I'm still trying to recruit another familiar face. You know who you are, Lisa. It should be a fun season. There's a team going out to Sun River, Oregon to participate in the Pacific Crest Weekend Sports Festival to do the 1/2 Iron and Olympic Triathlons. Of course, we're also doing the Life Time Fitness Tri in July. I can't wait!

I'm just getting my summer racing schedule set. Anyone else doing the Gear West Duathlon? I'll be a first-timer at that race, it would be great to see some familiar faces!

Alright, time to trudge through more of this taco salad. Chow!

Putting my money where my mouth is...

2008-11-18T12:36:00.005-06:00

Daytime television is horrible, and I'm reminded of this only because I'm sick at home. I hate it when people go to work instead of staying home when they're sick. It almost makes me convulse like a 2-year-old throwing a temper tantrum. Work can survive without you for a day, so stay home and don't infest the rest of the workplace! We're given sick time for reason! So maybe I stayed home to prove a point more than anything. And now back to your regularly scheduled blog: Instead of channel surfing until Pardon The Interruption is on later, there's no better way to pass the time than catch up on blogs.

Evotri has posted their winter challenge so join-in on the fun! You know you can do Ironman distance in 30 days. 30 DAYS!! Get off your tush, you know you have good reason: your heart, your lungs, or maybe it's outside you and you have little munchkins; be a good example, or so you can raise money for a worthy charity of your choice just by getting off the couch. If those aren't reasons enough, I can come up with more. Just let me know... I just signed up for the challenge, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I know, I know. Everyone says that, but I can't really breathe today so I promise it will be tomorrow.

Speaking of training and working out: the team is getting geared up for the 2009 summer season. I'm super excited because I'm going to be a training captain on the team this year. The full responsibilities have not been hammered out yet, but basically we're there to help the coaches lead workouts, stretching, core, etc. It should be fun and challenging and I'm really looking forward to it.

So, I just received an email from my dad about Christmas gifts this year. I'm so glad that I feel like my whole family is on the same page with exchanging gifts:

Working in the human services area I have been seeing the increasing economic struggles of people over the past year or so as reflected in data that we have on financial assistance, emergency assistance, food shelf usage, etc. This is a very difficult time for so many people and we all have so much more than any of the real people reflected in these statistics.

We have shifted our overall charitable giving in response to these needs and one area we have increased donations to is food shelves in both the Twin Cities and Grand Rapids areas. Given the economic picture that currently exists and likely will for some time, we will be limiting our Christmas gifts to each of you to no more than $25.00 each this year. Our intention is to give the balance we would have spent on your Christmas gifts to food shelves we are already supporting.

We ask that you consider doing the same. We don't want you to spend any more on our gifts than what we're spending on yours, and we would hope that you would then give something to some organization serving those with less, as well. Need suggestions for which organizations to support? Let me know----I just happen to know a few!

I can almost guarantee that our Christmas will collectively be more meaningful than ever if we give more to others than we give to ourselves----that's exactly what J.C. modeled for us all, and he definitely got it right!

Peace and Love,

Pops

So, I extend this challenge to all of you. I work in human services with my Pop, and I assure you the need for support extends further than we could ever imagine. Any little bit helps, and if all you can sacrifice is a can of food to your local food shelf, know that it will go to a deserving family. You can actually go to the IRS website and search for a charity if you need ideas!

Alright, it's time for a little rest because I'm determined to go back to work tomorrow. Daytime television is not worth staying home for another day!

Locks for Love

2008-11-11T21:10:00.006-06:00

I did it. I chopped 11 inches of my hair straight off. Ok, well I didn't cut my hair, but a stylist did. A couple of my friends and I went up to the Hugo Health Fair on Saturday where one of the local salons was holding a "hair drive" of sorts. They were giving free haircuts/styles to anyone that would donate 10 inches of their hair, or if you didn't have enough hair to donate they would give you a haircut for a monetary donation to Locks for Love. Nicole, my friend Tammy's sister, met us up there with her two daughters (who are part of a set of 3-year-old triplets!) and they also donated their hair in honor of Tammy.

I debated the whole drive up there whether or not I really wanted to cut that much hair. My friend Christine and I talked about it the entire way up to Hugo, and it's a long drive up there! When we got to the health fair, we went to the Locks for Love booth and got on the list to get our hair cut and me making it very clear that I had not yet committed to chopping it all off. I've never been so nervous or indecisive about cutting my hair! Usually I'm pretty impulsive and cut it on a whim, but I have also never had my hair as long as it was before I cut it on Saturday.

The stylist called me over, and I'll be honest, my palms got a little sweaty. She asked me how short I wanted it and I told her that I didn't want it shorter than my shoulders. She then measured my hair and said, "Well, if we take it one inch above the shoulders, you can donate it." I then blurted out, "Just cut it! Just do it! Hurry, before I change my mind!" Christine just about got her ear cut off because she whipped her head around and said, "What?! Wait, wait, stop cutting my hair. I have to take a 'before' picture of her!" So, here it is:

The stylist put my hair in a pony tail and then chopped it off just above the hair binder. I instantly lost 5 lbs! Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but my head did feel a great deal lighter. The stylist took another inch off to level things out (ha!) and I ended up with this:

By the time it was all said and done, we had donated a grand total of 40 inches of hair and a few bucks to Locks for Love. All for our girl Tam!

Erin, Me, Christine, Cayda, Nicole and Carly (picking her nose).

All of us girls got together to show Tam our new haircuts and to have a "girls night" before her second chemo treatment on Monday. We always have a good time together:

Christine, Erin, Jackie (the next to CHOP CHOP!), me and Tam.

Bloody noses are HAWT!
This is also why Mr. Fury loves me, and I know this because he just told me.

Alright, now that I'm getting the infamous head shake from Mr. Fury, it's time to go to bed. Goodnight moon.

A Rocker and the Chick

2008-11-05T19:56:00.006-06:00

Mr. Fury and I went over to my parents' house for the annual Halloween party. Instead of dressing up in the group-type costume that we did last year (Flinstones, meet the Flinstones...), we went in completely opposite directions than each other. Mr. Fury grew out his facial hair and was a rocker, women's pants and all. His brother was in town from Boise, and he wore an identical costume. Can you tell they're brothers?

I had a hard time coming up with a costume. I wanted to make my own, no store bought stuff for me this year. I searched and searched, but nothing really tickled my fancy, until I stumbled upon an idea for an infant costume. Yes, an infant costume. I don't think this thing was meant for people to actually walk around in because the feet were those yellow, rubber gloves you wear when you're using harsh cleaners. I think it turned out pretty well though.

Turns out feather boas keep you very warm. I really don't think I needed the extra long sleeve shirt. When we walked into the house and my mom took a look at Mr. Fury and I, she couldn't stop laughing. Then she looked down at my rubber gloved feet and she started crying. So, I pretty much deem that a Halloween costume success!

My favorite costume was my older brother's, but it's because of the story behind it. I don't know if I told ya'll about this, but my parents were recently in Hawaii. Yes, these are the same parents that volunteered at the World Championships in Kona. Uh, huh, still my parents... So, anyway, while they were there my dad accidentally got pulled over for speeding, and then was asked to do a field sobriety test because Mr. Honesty admitted to having drinks with dinner, and then accidentally tripped on his sandal while "walking the line" and then was purposefully handcuffed and put in the back of the police car, AND THEN brought down to the police station to take a breathalizer AND THEN fingerprinted and had his mug shots taken AFTER he passed the breathalizer. Oh my goodness, I'm out of breath. So, my brother dressed up as his mug shot for Halloween. I now present to you, my father's mug shot and my father:

Yes, those are flip-up sunglasses.

In other news, what's up with this dude? Is he for real?! Cheaters never prosper. Well, that's all for now. Sorry this was completely un-tri related along with most of my previous posts, but sometimes you just need a break. I am thinking about the Winter Carnival 1/2 though. Steve and Borsch, you planted the seed...

Half Marathon and Other Business

2008-10-28T08:56:00.005-05:00

The Team Ortho Monster Dash line-up of races was this past Saturday and to get one last good race in for the year, I signed up for the 1/2 Marathon. It was a perfect day for running, a slight breeze and cool temps. Awesome. Before the race I got to meet IronJenny and her son Bobby who went on to PR in the 5k. Way to go Speed Racer! Their whole family ran the race which I think is so great. I can't wait to have kids and bring them to the races because what better way to introduce your kids to a healthy lifestyle? Although, Mr. Fury and I have talked about this and I have decided we're having boys and they're all playing hockey and going to the U of M Twin Cities campus (GOPHERS!). He tries to reason with me and explain how that's not really how it works, but I think he just needs to give his "boys" a stern talking to so they understand the deal. I digress.

Back to the Monster Dash. It was awesome, and when the fabled gun went off (I say fabled because I never actually heard anything indicating the start of the race, we just started moving) I started out faster than my marathon pace. I wanted to run this at about a 10 min/mile pace because I haven't had too many long runs since Ironman. I felt pretty good, and I was keeping a 9:30 pace for the first 3 miles. I felt really good by mile 3.5 so I picked up the pace...a little too much. I wanted to see what I could do, so I pushed it pretty hard. By mile 10, I saw my friend Dana working the water stop. She told me I looked good, I told her I was pushing it too hard, and so to give me some encouragement she told me to be like a Cheetah. To "be like a Cheetah," I clawed my hands in the air and kept running. I think the guy behind me thought I lost my marbles. What he doesn't know is that I never had any in the first place...

The last three miles around Lake Calhoun were tough mentally. I have done that run a million times before with the team, and I knew exactly how long it took to get from one side to the other, and all I wanted to be was done! I haven't pushed myself at that pace all year, and to do it in a 1/2 Marathon probably wasn't the smartest thing I have ever done. I got around the lake (like a Cheetah!) and was on my way back to Lake Harriet. I saw my friend Erin walking back to her car after finishing the fun run 5k, and she yelled to me, "Remember when we had to run these hills 6 times for practice?!" Uh, yeah. That also hurt a lot! Oh memories... I was so happy to be rounding the corner to the finish line, and crossed it in 1:51. WOOHOO! Major PR averaging 8:28/mile. Awesome! Even though I was majorly sore the next day, it was a great way to end my racing season. Now, on to winter sports, and I hope to pick up skate skiing. Safety Bob has his work cut out for him teaching me how to skate ski...

On a different note, my friend T had her first chemo treatment yesterday, and she made a new friend in her IV drip named Benny. She bonded with Benny over their 2 1/2 hours together, and will continue to bond over the next few months. Pray her treatments are successful and the side effects of chemo are few! We're all very hopeful she'll be back on her feet and in her classroom teaching by spring.

In other news, I ate a gigantic brat last week. It was so big, I couldn't help myself but document it's immenseness. And I know you're wondering: Of course I ate it with extra sauerkraut and mustard!

It was sooooo good!

Happy Eating!

Or Maybe the Corn Maze?

2008-10-19T21:30:00.016-05:00

I think I actually promised these pictures...

The start of the corn maze. J-Tub's not sure about this.
We walked straight all the way, and it brought us here. Rip off.
So we turned around and tried again.
Ryan and Sparky decided to go a different way than me,

and then I was by myself left to my own devices. I was getting hungry.

Never ending corn! I would like to get out of here, "MARCO!"
Maybe I should just eat some...

I finally found my way out and everyone was already picking their pumpkins. I think there's going to be a dance-off for the pumpkin in the middle.

My shirt matches the pumpkins. Isn't that festive?

Moo!

Picture Goodness

2008-10-19T21:01:00.004-05:00

Here are the pictures I promised from my "Adventure Run" with Mr. Fury:

Our run off the paved path begins and we're both all smiles.

I have no idea where this goes!

Mr. Fury: "I love adventure running so much!"
Ms. R: "I know, it's so great!"

The crew team passed us like we were standing still.

The path lead us under the railroad bridge. This must be where all the local artists hang out.

So we took a picture.

This is my favorite tag. Ispose we should keep running!

I always wondered how you got to this beach!

Taking a breather.

I love this run!

Thanks for sticking it out with me Mr. Fury! Fun times had by all, or at least me...

Up and Down and On Our Way Back Up

2008-10-17T16:05:00.004-05:00

Today has been a rollercoaster of emotion. I received some shocking news just before lunch today, the kind that takes your breathe away. I'm still trying to digest it, but I am thankful that I train and race on behalf of such a wonderful organization. It is hard for me to find the words right now, but please keep my friends P & T in your thoughts as they are going through a rough patch. The outlook is bright and I am hoping they take up the amazing services and support the LLS provides. Not much more I can write at this point other than it's time to rally around our girl.

Adventure Running

2008-10-15T09:24:00.003-05:00

Just a quick update today:

It's been pretty busy at work lately and my co-worker and I just found out yesterday that we have to really step up the work on a project that we've been working on the past few weeks. Turns out our deadline has been moved up and that means we really need to get things moving.

I went for a longer run last weekend and it was a ton of fun. I explored the trails down by the river on the Minneapolis side a little more and found they twist and turn all over the place. It was a great "adventure" run. My 9 miles quickly turned into 10-11, but I brought enough GU and water so I wasn't too worried about the additional mileage. I even got to meet a little 3 month old puppy named Wolfgang. He was very well behaved and sat down so I could pet him which is amazing at that age!

I went out to the apple orchard with some friends, which was great! We walked through the corn maze and I got lost by myself and was left to my own devices with my camera. I'll post the pictures later tonight or tomorrow. Hehe! I was so lost and just wanted to get out after about 5 minutes of wandering around aimlessly that I started yelling, "MARCO!" and thankfully Bridget's boyfriend Ryan yelled, "POLO!" back to me. We went back and forth until I found my way out. Thanks Ryan! We picked our pumpkins in the pumpkin patch, and then took a tractor ride back to the apple orchard. It started to rain when we got back to the orchard so we all decided it was time for some beer...which brings me to Saturday night...

We all met up at The Muddy Pig and had beer and some food. Ryan's friend Phil met us at the bar and he and Sean (aka Ass Pounder) started talking endurance sports. You would have thought these two were long-lost friends. Turns out Phil is quite the athlete. He qualified for Boston Marathon on his first try, just ran Twin Cities Marathon in 2:55 (or something equally as ridiculous), and hopes to qualify for Kona on his first try as well. I don't doubt he will do it. Wow! Good luck Phil! The Fury and I left soon after Phil's cousin joined us so we could meet up with some of his friends at The Shamrock. I had a couple more beers there, watched the rest of the victorious Wild game (GO WILD!), and we listened to a few songs from a cover band. We had enough of that and made our way down to the Liffy (I think we were at the Liffy...not so sure on that one). Mike's friends came back to the table with drinks, and I just wanted a water, but they were so kind to bring me a shot of Jag. Hm...they must know that I am my mother's daughter and I cannot let good liquor go to waste. My night was soon over, and The Fury got some good laughs out of how ridiculous I was. Sunday was (kind of) a welcome sight and I spent most of the day on the couch watching football and catching up on my ZZZzzzzs. Awesome.

I ran home from work with my friend Lindsay last night, and it was fun to catch up about non-work related things. Turns out she and her husband are planning on starting a family soon so she's not signing up for any races quite yet for next year. Exciting!! I told her the story of how I got passed running on the River Road by a pregnant lady this summer. Hopefully we can still go out and run/walk together if they strike it rich in that category beceause apparently I keep a slow enough pace. Ha!

Tonight the Fury and I are going to the U of M women's volleyball game. Woohoo! We've been addicted to the Big 10 Network since Comcast picked it up earlier this year, and that's why we decided we should just go to a game instead of watching them all on tv. M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A, Minnesota! Minnesota! YEEAAAHYEYEYEYEYEYEYEYY!!!!!!!!! GOOOPHERS!!!

I'm hoping to get a run in before we have to leave for the game, but we'll see how the timeline pans out. Have a happy (cloudy) day!

Back at it!

2008-10-04T09:05:00.005-05:00

I went to get my knee checked out by an orthopedic surgeon at Tria a couple weeks ago. When the doctor walked into the room, he looked at my IM jacket and said, "I know why you knee pain! Did you qualify for Kona?" I laughed and said, "Um, no, but maybe someday, like when I'm 65 years old." We talked Ironman for a little bit, and it turns out that he volunteers at the World Championships every year in the med tent. It was nice to have a doctor that finally understood what I put my body through. I think most doctors have no clue what our training regiments are like, even if you try to explain, and don't always take that into consideration when treating endurance athletes. I digress. The doc went to town on my knee, twisting, bending, pushing, pulling and all that jazz to check out the major ligaments, and found nothing. Nothing. Nothing! Wahoo! The x-rays showed nothing as well. He concluded I have a bruised bone and it will take 4-6 weeks to heal, let pain be my guide, and to keep up the anti-inflammatory meds. Okey dokey, I can do that!

Week four came around and I was going bananas. I needed to move around, get some exercise, go swimming...or maybe for run? I couldn't help myself so I made the Fury go for a run with me. He was not happy. I dragged the poor guy around for 2.5 miles and his face was screaming, "HAVE MERCY ON ME!" So, I did and we called it a night. The run felt great, and I didn't have too much pain which was fabulous. I have ran a couple times over the past week and did a workout on the elliptical. I hate the elliptical. Yawn! It's so boring, but I survived.

In an effort to not have the post-race blues, I signed up for the Monster Dash 1/2 Marathon. Yipee! I'm really excited to race again even though it's not going to be much of a race for me. I'm sure it will be more of a wog than a run, but it will be fun to be in the atmosphere again. I heart races.

Speaking of races, the World Championships are this month. Guess what two lucky duckies are going to be in Kona for the big day? If you guessed the Fury and I you are dead wrong. Momma and Poppa Bear are going to be there, but purely on accident. They didn't really plan it this way, they just happen to be flying to the Big Island the day before the race so the Fury and I begged them to volunteer. If I can't be there to enjoy slathering sunscreen on all the hard bodies, then hopefully Momma Bear will. I am so excited to hear all about it, and I hope they bring pictures home of the pros. I told them to take a picture of anyone with their name on the butt of their tri-shorts. I figure that's the best way to decipher who's a pro and who's not at that race. Ha!

Other than trying to get back into working out and wallowing in jealousy that my parents are going to be in Kona for the World Championships, I have been busy with wedding stuff for my friend Jackie. She just got married last weekend and her bachelorette party was the weekend before that. It was a great time and I was completely worthless the day after the wedding. Here are a few pictures from the big day:

A double decker bus was our ride to the reception.

Stop for pictures.

I'm messy.

Serenading the bride's brother because he wouldn't dance.

Dancing with my best lady friends.

Tri On!

Part Four: I got my cow!

2008-09-25T08:45:00.024-05:00

I ran my not-so-straight-line into the ballrooms, grabbed my T2 bag, and ran a much more controlled straight line into the changing room. Again, naked women everywhere, I know you don't really want to hear too much about that... A wonderful volunteer helped me with all the things in my bag after I asked her frantically, "Can you help me please?" I was much more worried that I was going to forget something during this transition. I made it this far, I would hate to screw it up the last 26.2 miles!

The wonderful volunteer unpacked all of my things for me. Everything. Even my mittens, ear brassiere, contacts, everything. I laughed at the mound of gear I had packed into my T2 bag. Like I said earlier. I. packed. everything. I just told her what to hand to me and she did, it was great. I didn't have to frantically search in my bag, worry that I forgot something (which isn't possible when you pack everything), nor did I have to be concerned about packing that bag back up, which, by the way, was still full of gear when I was done getting dressed. Ridiculous.

I thought I had everything, and on the way out the door I stopped to fill up the water bottles on my fuel belt. I went to grab them, and CRAP! Where are my bottles? Alright, so having a volunteer help you get dressed is not fool proof, you can still forget something. I told the lady at the water cooler, "Hold that thought, I'll be right back!" and ran back to the volunteer that helped me get dressed, grabbed my bottles out of my bag, and ran back to fill them up with water. I'm such a dunce sometimes. I finally got out the door in just over 10 minutes, and I stopped to get slathered with sunscreen.

When I grow up, I want to be a sunscreen slatherer because they are awesome. I felt like the queen having someone else put sunscreen all over me. Oops, I think you missed a spot. Just kidding. All the volunteers were great, and I can't wait to volunteer next year. I took a stop at the port-o-john and off I went onto the run course.

I have never been so excited to run a marathon. Correction: I have never been so excited to run. Period. No. Exclamation Point! My legs felt great, and my brain was puzzled. I didn't feel like I had spent the entire day working out. I new life in my legs and it amazed me. I walked through the water stops, and continued on my plan of taking a GU every 30 minutes and two chews every 15 minutes with water. I saw the Iron Cheer Crew just after the first aid station where I couldn't help myself but take a tasty banana for the road.

SLAP HANDS!

My tasty banana.

It was great to see the Iron Cheer Crew after coming off the bike. I gave them high fives and then it was on with the show. I was going at a good clip, but never felt like I was pushing it too hard. I wanted to make sure I had enough in me for the whole run, and I was feeling pretty confident that I was going to be ok. My nutrition plan was going pretty well. The orange GUs were tasting pretty good after all the tri berry and lime sublime on the bike. It wasn't until about mile 6 where my plan started to fall apart. I took a GU, drank some water, and everything seemed fine. After about 5 minutes of feeling like the GU was turning into cement in my stomach, I threw-up straight GU in my mouth and waited for awhile trying to figure out what to do with it. I didn't want to spit it out because I needed the calories so I swallowed it and decided that was my last GU of the day.

When I got to the next aid station, I looked at the buffet of food they were offering, and decided to try pretzels and gatorade. Hm...this tastes delicious. I love pretzels and gatorade! This is the best food I've had all day! The pretzels and gatorade sat really well and so at every aid station from then on I grabbed a handful of pretzels and a cup of gatorade and took that on the road with me. I tried to change it up a bit and tried some coke and chicken broth, but I kept going back to the pretzels and gatorade because they seemed to be working the best for me.

I finally saw Captain Cartwheel on the crushed gravel by Lake Mendota, and I was very excited to see her. When I saw her coming, I yelled, "Kimmmiiiiiiiii!!!!!" and she returned the greeting as well. I ran to on-coming traffic, we gave each other a hug and I said, "Even if we walk the rest of this, we're still going to be Ironmen today!" She laughed and said, "That's true, but we won't!" and she was right. We went on our way after I gave her a bunch of my endurolytes. After gagging on them too many times on the bike, I gave up on taking them so I'm glad I could give them to someone that would use them.

After we parted ways, I kept on chugging along. The Iron Cheer Crew had split up along the course and about every 2 miles I saw someone I knew. It was great! I kept trying to get updates on how Captain Cartwheel was doing, and I passed the time by people watching and enjoying the sites of downtown Madison and the UW campus. Elizabeth of the Iron Cheer Crew had split off by herself and was waiting for The Captain and I on a street corner about a mile or so off of State St. She didn't notice me when I ran by so I yelled out, "ELIZABETH! YOU MISSED ME!" and she stood up and started yelling, "OH JEEZ, I have to get your sign! Here's your sign! Look at her go! Goooo Rachel! She's beautiful and resilient! Keep going!!" That put a big smile on my face to think that she really thought I was beautiful after being out on the course for 11+ hours. I told her I would see her soon because we did a big loop to get back to the finish.

Elizabeth with her TNT-colored signs.

I rode on the boost that Elizabeth gave me for awhile until I noticed my right knee was starting to hurt. I didn't pay too much attention to it because I figured I couldn't get through the whole day without something hurting. I'm just really glad I didn't feel any pain in anything until the last 10 miles of the day. I know. I was amazed too. Endorphines are a beautiful thing.

The pain in my knee kept getting worse until it was to the point where it would give out when it hurt the worst. I was starting to get worried that I had done something more on the major side to it, but I kept going. It hurt the worst when I would side-step to dodge a puddle or pothole, but it didn't hurt that bad if I just kept going straight and jumped over whatever was in my way. So, I decided pothole or body, I was going to have to jump over whatever was in my way.

I came upon Inspiration Mile which is one of the best miles on the course. It is lined with signs made by spectators for their racers. After you hit the turn around, you come to a big sign that scrolls through messages from spectators to their racers. Mr. Fury put a message in the kiosk the day before for me and when I ran by it said, "R. Holzemer 1913: You're so going to beat me." It gave me a good chuckle and I thought to myself: Hell yes I am, and almost by an hour! I have a wee bit of a competitive side with Mr. Fury that I have a hard time hiding.. I saw Captain Cartwheel again at about mile 22-23. She said, "Can I give you a hug!" and of course I said YES! I'm a hugger, and so is The Captain, especially when she's racing. She said, "I'm so proud of you!" and I told her, "You're going to do this Kimmi, you're going to be an Ironman! Keep it up!" She was a major trooper on September 7th. She raced with stomach cramps that I heard started on the bike. I know your pain lady... and it's not fun.

I saw Elizabeth one more time before I ran to the finish, and the rest of the marathon was a total high knowing that I was going to be an Ironman. I could hear Mike Reilly as I got closer to the finish and I couldn't help but run with everything I had left in me. I had a huge smile on my face and tears welling in my eyes as I rounded the Capitol. I could see the lights, I could hear the crowd. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced, and suddenly all the tears of frustration, sore muscles, early wake-up calls, not seeing family and friends was all worth it. Every struggle. Every hard workout. The lonely days in the pool. Everything was worth it. No regrets.

I jumped with excitement down the entire finisher chute. I saw Mr. Fury and my family going nuts behind the barrier, and all I could hear was the roar of the crowd. I couldn't believe that I was finally there. I heard Mike Reilly on the loudspeaker as I crossed the finish line say, "...you are an Ironman!!!" and all I could say was, "Yes! YES! YES!!"

The volunteer at the other side of the finish line "caught" me and walked me around for a little bit. I spotted my family to the right of the finish area, the volunteer walked me over there and I hugged my mom. I have never seen my family so excited, and to be honest, I have never felt so excited either. I couldn't stop jumping up and down, I was so happy, and my mom said through tears, "You did it baby girl! You did it!" and I responded with, "I'm an Ironman, I did it! I did it! I got my cow!!!" I hugged the rest of my family, and then the volunteer took me to get my finisher's picture taken.

I got my cow!

She walked me around for a little while longer, told me where to get food and asked if I needed to go to the med tent. I told her about my knee and she insisted that I go to the med tent to have it checked out. I met up with Mr. Fury and the rest of the Iron Cheer Crew, everyone with tears in their eyes...even the mighty Mr. Fury himself. I, though, could not wipe the smile off my face or stop saying, "I got my cow! I got my cow!" Ok, I wasn't going crazy. The medals were little cows this year.

Mr. Fury walked me over to the food tent and then the med tent. I spent about an hour in the med tent getting my knee iced and my legs massaged by one of the massage therapist volunteers. If I ever have to visit a med tent again, I hope I'm in a similar condition as I was at IMWI. Everyone else around me looked horrible and was either puking or shivering, but I was smiling and joking with the massage therapist. I'm sure I told everyone around me that "I got my cow!" about one too many times too. My family picked up my bike and bags for me while I was in the med tent and we told them we would meet them back at the hotel.

Mr. Fury waited outside the tent for me, and when I came out, it felt about 25 degrees cooler than it had before. I forgot the blanket I was given at the finish line in the med tent so Mr. Fury gave me his long sleeve pullover to wear. I was so cold by the time we had walked to the finish line that I couldn't wait for Captain Cartwheel to come in without getting hypothermic. We met up with my family in the hotel bar, and I took a seat on the barstool. My dad told me how he had just got off the phone with my Aunt Margo and how she couldn't stop saying, "I can't believe she did it Rex. I just can't believe she did it!" Believe it! I did it! I got my cow!

My family was tired, and so was I so they headed back to their hotel and Mr. Fury and I went back to our room. Our friend Waima met up with us shortly after Mr. Fury came back to the room with a cooler full of ice for my ice bath. It took both Mr. Fury and Waima to lower me into the tub and they hung out with me in the bathroom while my teeth chattered away. After 10 minutes, I couldn't take it any longer, I had been cold since I left the med tent so I made the two of them lift me out of the tub and then I kicked them out so I could take a shower. A shower has never felt so good, and I would have stayed in there all night had it not been for the ferocious hunger brewing in my tummy.

I got out of the bathroom and Safety Bob soon came up to the room to grab his things so he could head home. He hung out for a little while, talked about the day, and then he was off. I tried to eat some food, but nothing was really tasting good or sitting well in my tummy so I choked down some cheerios and banana bread and went to bed. I woke up around 2:45 to the sound of my stomach rumbling, and then I felt the most horrible hunger pain. I stumbled into the bathroom with a bowl, spoon, knife and as much food as I could carry and sat on the floor eating cheerios and more banana bread and reading the paper. I went back to bed when I thought I had my fill and woke up an hour later and had to eat more. I left the food in there when I went back to bed. I again, woke up to my tummy at 5am and decided I was up for the day and got sick of going back and forth. I grabbed the container of lunch meat that Mr. Fury bought for sandwiches and I sat on the toilet eating smoked ham and yogurt while reading the comics. I ate half the container of ham before I decided that I should probably put it away before I got sick, finished reading the comics, and thought: I'm sitting on the toilet eating ham with a side of yogurt for breakfast. This is ridiculous. This, right here, is Ironman.

Part Three: Toe Popsicles

2008-09-18T20:36:00.018-05:00

After exiting the water, I made my way to the wetsuit strippers. I had my wetsuit off my upper body by the time I got to them. The wetsuit strippers are like machines. They shouted instructions at me: "Down on the ground! Lift up your butt! Butt down, legs up!" They were yelling instructions so quickly, I was just hoping that I was keeping up with how fast they were moving. In the end, the stripping was successful, they handed me my wetsuit and I was on my way up the helix.

The air temperature wasn't much warmer than what it was when we first got in the water, and the concrete on the helix was mighty cold. Dang! I should have worn socks! I made the chilly run up the helix and was soon into the much warmer ballroom to pick up my transition bag and then made my way into the changing area. Women were all over the place, scrambling to get their things organized and trying to pull dry clothes on over their wet bodies. I tried to dry off as much as I could, but I still had a bugger of a time getting my clothes on. I got them on correctly, for the most part, although I did try to put my bike shorts on backwards. Whoopsies! Note to self: the large part of the bike pad goes in the back...

I managed to pop off a snap on my race belt and had to scramble to find a safety pin. Thankfully, one of volunteers directed me to a very large bag of safety pins. I fixed my race belt and then I was out of the ballroom to be slathered with sunscreen. As soon as I exited the building, I saw my family waiting just outside the door. It was nice to see them before I headed out for the long ride. I waved to the camera and then I stopped to get some sunscreen, the only exposed flesh being my legs and neck. It was the quickest I have ever had sunscreen put on me!

I ran down the guantlet of bikes, and finally I made it to mine. The volunteer was having a horrible time figuring out which bike was mine for some reason. I don't know why it was so hard because there were only about 5 bikes left on the rack by the time I got there.

So, I tried to give him a little direction:

He finally chose the right bike and then I was off to the races.

The one thing I didn't pack in my transition bag and wish I had:

My poor toes were so cold, I thought they were never going to warm up. No worries, they finally warmed completely around mile 80. I did put socks in my T1 bag, so I put them on despite feeling more comfortable riding sockless on my training rides. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I made all day! I was making my way out to Verona when I caught up with Captain Cartwheel (she had an amazing swim!). It was really nice to see her since I didn't get to say a final Good Luck! before we set off in the water. She was looking good, and like most others, was just trying to get into the groove of things on the bike before we hit the hills in Verona. We had a quick conversation as I passed, and now I cannot remember what it was about. I didn't see her again until the run.

The trip to Verona was pretty uneventful until we were just about to enter the city and I saw a guy that had to pull over because he broke his chain. I felt so bad and really hoped that the tech vehicle would stop and they could help him. It would be awful to have your race end so early in the day because of something like that.

The first big hill on the course I got a major flashback of riding the course with The Captain in early August. It made me smile, but I tried not to daydream to much so I didn't swerve off the road. I have been known to do that from time to time...

On one of the first really crappy hills where we had to climb to the top of a hill, turn at an intersection and continue climbing, a spectator ran me up the hill yelling and cheering for me. He had some sort of affiliation with TNT and was yelling "GO TEAM!" which really helped to motivate me. He dropped off from cheering when I neared the top and then in true Ms. R fashion, I dropped my chain. OH HELL! It's going to be a long day if this keeps up! I tried to pedal it back onto the sprocket, but it wasn't going to give me an inch so I had to get off my bike and fix it. It only took a couple seconds to fix, but by the time I went to get back on my bike, there were so many other racers coming up the hill, I had to wait for an opening. As soon as I got back on my bike, I had a nice coast downhill until the next set of hills. See a pattern here..UP, down, UP, down, UP, UP, UP, down. It was seemingly endless.

I had to go to the bathroom so bad, but didn't want to pull over to the side of the road. I finally found a port-o-john at one of the water stops and took a seat. Ahhh, there's nothing much more relieving than popping a squat when you've had to go for quite awhile. Marathon Laura saw me stop at the potty and yelled, "What? No peeing on the bike today?!" Ah, no thank you. It's much too early in the race to be sitting in that for the next 80 miles.

I remember hoping that I would make it to Verona before I got passed by the leader, and then having a little bit of a party when I turned at the intersection to bike into the party at Verona and the lead car had not passed by yet. It was not a full minute later that I was passed by this nice looking vehicle and then by the Mac Attack at blazing speed (aka Chris McDonald):

So, I made my impromptu goal. I soon arrived at the party in Verona where I saw the entire Iron Cheer Crew. Down in the main crowd I was able to spot my brother and sister-in-law who managed to see me at the last second. Apparently, my parents were off somewhere doing something more important ::sigh:: and missed me entirely so they had to wait another 2 1/2 hours or so until I came through Verona again to see me.

In the mass of the Iron Cheer Crew, I didn't see either Safety Bob or Mr. Fury. They had talked about staking out a spot on the course elsewhere because they were going to ride on Safety Bob's motorcycle, but I didn't see them on the first loop. I started to worry a little because I am a notorious worrier when it comes to motorcycles, but I kept on chugging along and made my way out to Mt. Horeb. I was just riding along past a cow pasture, minding my own business when a woman started to pass me who quickly turned into Crazy Lady on the Bike. She seemed normal, until she started talking to the cows. Crazy Lady on the Bike was mooing and asking the cows how they were doing like they were actually going to answer her. Ok Crazy Lady on the Bike, whatever gets you through the day. And I thought I had problems...

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful until I got to the infamous Tour de France Hill and saw Safety Bob and Mr. Fury. YES! Finally, I thought I was NEVER going to see you guys! Mr. Fury ran beside me and asked me how I was doing. I replied with an assertive, "I'm so sick of these F#*%ING hills!" He, calm as always, said, "You're doing great babe, keep it up. You look so good!" We exchanged I love yous, blew him a kiss and then I was off to finish up the ride.

Seeing those two really gave me a boost and I felt like I was flying on my way back to Verona. When I got back to the part on the streets of Verona, I saw the Iron Cheer Crew, and I finally got to see my parents. I made sure the coast was clear and then pulled over to give my mom a hug. I tried to persuade my dad to give me a hug too but he was trying to take a picture. He finally got the perfect picture (which I'll post when I get a copy of it), and then he gave me a hug. I hopped back on my bike and saw my brother and sister-in-law in the crowd and pulled over far enough to give them high fives on my way out of town.

I made my way back to Madison smiling the entire time knowing I would soon be off my bike. I got a second wind as I biked through the Alliant Energy Center parking lot and rounded the corner to the path that lead straight back to Monona Terrace. It felt great to see the terrace and when I was pulling up to the helix, I heard Safety Bob screaming my name from the top. I looked up and saw him with his face hidden behind his camera which is how we often see him these days.

I made my way up the helix and saw the volunteers waiting at the top to take our bikes. I rode up to one of them and said, "You're going to have to hold tight because I don't think I can get off this thing alone." I gently lifted my leg off one side of my bike, and ran the most crooked line I possibly could have back to the ballroom to grab my T2 bag. I honestly don't think I could have passed a sobriety test with the wobbly line I ran toward the entrance of the terrace. I was looking forward to the run because that is my true love of the three. Finally home!

Part Deux: The Demise of Comfort

2008-09-17T10:43:00.007-05:00

I said goodbye to my family and told them I would see them in Verona, and started walking toward the helix to go down to the water. It was a crazy zoo of people walking down the helix with fan clubs saying goodbye to their racers and racers trying to get down to the water. It was like cattle crawling into the barn. The emotion and excitement was thick in the air and I could see it on the faces of everyone around me. I had to remind myself to breathe or I was going to succumb to nerves, and now was not the time for nerves, it was time for my game face. It was about halfway down the helix that I started to think:

Ok, breathe, just breathe, why is it harder to breathe than it should be? OH JEEZ! I TOLD YOU NOT TO FORGET TO TAKE YOUR INHALER! You big dummy. One full hour this morning I reminded you, and this is how you remember? By not remembering?! Nice work. Well, Good luck Chicky, you're going to need it!

Ms. R: Oh hush up you. I'm going to be just fine. I have been through much
worse without my inhaler.

Call Mr. Fury, have him bring it down for you! He's probably not that far away.

Ms. R: Oh yeah, let me just pull my cell phone out of my tri shorts, hang on.... Or wait, they might have bananas down by the water that I could call him with.

Good point.

Ms. R: Really, it's going to be fine. Today is going to be a great day!

After I calmed myself after the panic of not taking my inhaler, I continued the walk to the water and tried to enjoy everything that was going on around me. When I got to the bottom of the helix, I slipped the remainder of my wetsuit on and stood at the edge of the water and thought to myself:

Wow! Look at all those people! That really is a site ain't it?

Ms. R: Ain't is not a word genius.

Sheesh, you're sure on the ball today Wonder Woman.

Mike Reilly was on the loudspeaker directing everyone to get in the water so I moved to the side a little more, put on my cap and goggles and waded into the water. The water felt great, it was a nice 71 degrees compared to the 50 something air temperature. I swam out to the edge of where most of the people were wading and moved more towards the back of the pack. I wanted to give myself some room and a little more time before I received a swift kick or elbow. A guy swam by me and asked, "So, what's your plan?" and not really knowing if he meant for the swim or for the whole race I just said, "To finish!" and laughed. He didn't think I was as funny as I thought I was, as is often the case, so he gave me a funny look and swam away. Did he think I had some big secret to share? Hello, I'm sure I had "FIRST TIMER" written all over my forehead!

Before we knew it, the pros were off and we had only a few more minutes until our race began. Mike Reilly was playing up the crowd as usual, but I got the chills when he asked all the racers, "Who's going to be an Ironman today?" and everyone in the water cheered. It was amazing the roar of racers in the water. It really made me aware of how many people were in the water with me. Not long after that, the cannon went off and everyone started swimming. Well, kind of swimming. Actually, it was more like treading water in a forward motion because no one was moving very quickly. I was just so happy that race day had officially started. (Yes, HAPPY IRONMAN DAY!)

I have heard over and over that the swim is like being in a washing machine. My opinion: Please pass the Tide! There were arms and bodies everywhere and you better have quick reflexes to dodge a kick or elbow to the face. The water was instantly choppy, but I felt well prepared for it. A big thank you to Mr. Fury and Safety Bob for making the team swim without lane lines in the pool. It was the best accidental preparation for Ironman I could have accidentally had.

I tried my darndest to stay to the outside during the first lap, and I was doing a really good job of it until we approached the first corner buoy. Suddenly, everyone came to a halt and I couldn't figure out what the problem was. I lifted my head out of the water and saw that I was about 15 ft from the buoy which was much, much closer than to the outside where I planned on staying. Somehow, in the madness to turn the corner, I was slowly pushed closer and closer to the line of buoys. Crap! This is not where I want to be! No one was moving very quickly, or much at all really, but most people seemed to have a good attitude about it. I think we all realized that none of us was going to set a course record today. One guy and I looked at each other and started to laugh, shrugged at each other and then tried to tread water in a forward motion.

After making my way out of that debacle, I made a very deliberate attempt to get back to the outside. I think I was stuck in the mess around the corner for a good couple of minutes before breaking free. I finally got some space in the water and was in a spot I was comfortable with when ::SMACK:: I got a swift elbow in the chin. What in Sam Hill! Where did that body part come from!? It was the phantom limb. I still couldn't tell you where the flying elbow came from, but let me tell you, I do like me a good flying elbow. (Insert Mr. Fury shaking his head at me here.)

I recovered nicely from the phantom limb episode to swim right into a swift kick to the ta-ta. Now, let me tell you, Comfort and Joy may not be the largest ladies on the block, but they are just as sensitive as the next pair. The blow to Comfort was pretty mighty and I had to take a moment to catch my breath and collect myself. If only that guy had any idea what he had just did, he would have felt a little remorse I'm sure.

I got back into the groove and the remainder of my swim was fairly uneventful, thankfully. There was so much action going on with the number of people in the water, it was quite entertaining, and made the swim go by much more quickly than I anticipated. My mind never strayed to think about how long I had been swimming or how much farther I had to go because I was instead jockeying for position and trying not to hit or be hit by others. I made my way back to the terrace after rounding the last buoy and before I knew it, I was being helped out of the water by a volunteer. I looked at the clock and it said 1:15:03. Nice! Exactly where I want to be! Next stop, T1! Sheesh, it's kind of cold out here!

Part One: Happy Ironman Day!

2008-09-15T22:04:00.007-05:00

This post is long overdue, but I was on vacation so give a girl a break, eh!? Yes, yes, I finally got some R&R up north with Mr. Fury. It rained most of the time we were there, but at least I wasn't at work. As I found out today, it was pretty eventful in my absence but my co-worker wasn't getting much pity from me as he left me all alone to run the show for a week not too long ago.

So I bet you're all dying to hear how my first IM experience was. Well, I'm dying to tell ya! This will probably have to be done in separate posts because it was a long day and I want to make sure I relay as much as I can.

Let's start the night before Ironman. Reservations were made at Tutto Pasta in Madison, great food by the way, for the family, The Fury, and I. I had been waiting for this night for 9 months and I was extremely excited it was finally the night before race day. I love race weekend, it's exciting to go to the expo, pick up your race numbers and all the things that go with race weekend. Love it. Love it. Love it. Race weekend means you get to race soon and I love. to. race. It makes me so happy. I digress.

On the way down to the restaurant, we were all chatting away. We came to stop when we saw all the people waiting outside of the restaurant and started to weave our way inside when I spotted two people that I recognized. You know when you see someone somewhere and you're not expecting to see them at that location because you know you shouldn't see them there? Yeah, I saw two people and did a double-take thinking, "No way, that can't be them..." Yes, yes, it is. Crash and Numb Toes came to Madison despite leading Captain Cartwheel and I to believe they couldn't come. I couldn't believe it. I was so excited to see them, I couldn't stop jumping up and down, and then I couldn't stop the tears. "Excited" really doesn't do justice to how happy I was they made the trip to Madison. Ecstatic. That's a better word. Crash and Numb Toes didn't think my reaction was serious until I started crying. Ok, you got me! Mr. Fury was in on the surprise too. He can keep a good secret! I was in shock pretty much the remainder of the weekend that they actually made it out to Madison for us. Thank you again guys, it meant so much to me to have you there!

We made it into the restaurant and dinner was delicious, as it was last year when we ate there before Mr. Fury's date with IM. After we were finished eating, my dad asked one of the guys at the table next to us to take a picture of the family. "Hm...I recognize that guy," I thought to myself, and I could tell "that guy" was thinking the same thing. "Jeff! Oh my gosh! How are you!? I can't believe we bumped into each other here!" I met Jeff in the pool at Lifetime about a month ago. He was wearing the swim cap from Chisago 1/2 Iron this summer and I struck up a conversation with him because I did the race too! I can't help myself, I'm such a chatter box, especially when I'm looking to avoid starting a workout. Ha! We ended up talking tri for about 25 minutes and then decided we should get on with our workouts. I didn't get a chance to catch up with him after the race, but I'm sure you rocked Jeff!

After we left the restaurant, I bid ado to my family and the Fury and I went back up to our hotel room. I felt amazingly calm for the night before a race and especially a race that is my first Ironman! I was too excited to get nervous. I had been working toward this day for so long and it was almost Ironman Day! I couldn't wait, and I'm getting a little excited just reliving it in words. The amazing thing about the whole weekend was that I never had much for nerves. The only time I recognized feeling nervous was when I had some down time in the hotel. I was just on the verge of sleep when I shot awake, stunned Mr. Fury a little, and said, "Oh! I think I just got nervous!" It was almost too funny to be serious. The feeling passed and then I took a little bit of a nap. And that's the end of my nerves story.

Finally it was sleepy time, and I couldn't wait to sleep the night away so I could wake up to Ironman Day. I slept like a rock until about 3:30 am when I woke up to use the privy. I laid back down and then I started thinking about all the things I needed to remember to bring down with me to transition to pack in my bags that I forgot yesterday, "...oh and don't forget bring Mr. Fury's inhaler to use before the swim. Don't forget the inhaler!"

Ok, ok brain, chill out. I won't forget all the things I need and I won't forget the inhaler!

Listen chicky, I'm reminding you now so you won't forget later. I know how you are about taking your inhaler. You're horrible at remembering. You'll thank me later for not letting you sleep an extra hour!

Right, right. I'm sure I will. Now let me sleep.

No dice.

Jerk.

So, I just laid in bed and waited for time to pass. Finally, I could feel a little sleep coming and then, ::BEEP::BEEP::BEEP:: I jumped out of bed, looked at red-groggy-eyed Mr. Fury and said, "HAPPY IRONMAN DAY!" He just looked at me and rolled over pulling the covers over his face. Yes, I am much more of a morning person than he ever will be. I went into the bathroom, heated up some water in the coffee maker and made myself some oatmeal, gnawed on a banana and drank some gatorade. I couldn't stop smiling. It is IRONMAN DAY TODAY! WAHOO!! After I finished up my oatmeal, I heard a knock on the door and went to answer it not thinking anything of the fact that I didn't have pants on. I figured it was Captain Cartwheel. We've moved past formalities with each other and this includes pants. I opened the door and found Dr. B instead. Dr. B and I have not completely moved past formalities so I hid behind the door. "Oh! Good morning! Happy Ironman Day! I don't have pants on, sorry!" She laughed and handed me a card wishing me good luck during the day ahead. It was a card that played music and there's nothing like hearing the hampster dance song at 5am! I loved it, but Mr. Fury not so much. It made me smile even more than I already was, thank you Dr. B!

After doing a little jig to the hampster dance song, I gathered my things, yes I grabbed the inhaler, and was off to the race site. Mr. Fury was not far behind me with the tire pump and extra snacks just in case. I met Team G, Marathon Laura (soon to be Ironman Laura) and Captain Cartwheel in the lobby of the hotel. I saw Marathon Laura and The Captain first and greeted them with a cheerful, "Happy Ironman Day!" and The Captain returned the greeting. (As you can see, I have moved Ironman Day up to the ranks of a National Holiday. Happy Ironman Day!) Team G showed up in their matching shirts and we all walked down to transition together.

We stopped at body marking first on the way in to visit our bikes one final time before the big ride. The woman who did my body marking had such pretty handwriting. She marked my numbers on both my arms and then asked me my age. "Uh...hm. Hold on a second, I know. I just need a second." Yeah, I blanked on my age. I had been so focused on my race number that I didn't remember how old I was. I could have spouted off the ages of everyone else I knew, my social security number, the year my parents were married, but I couldn't remember how old I was. I actually had to do the math. "Oh jeez, sorry. 26! I'm 26! Oh thank God! That's embarrassing." She got a good laugh out of it, and then I was off to visit my bike.

Everything was in order. I pumped up the tires, put my gazillion Luna Moons in my bento box along with some salt tabs, and strapped in my aero bottle. Good. To. Go! Crash and Numb Toes were on the catwalk just above our bikes taking pictures. I told them again how excited I was they made it to Madison:

...I even cried again this morning because I am still so excited you're here!

Oh honey, it wasn't for us, it's just the nerves!

I know, but I'm still really glad you're here!

I was done checking my bike and then I was off to meet Mr. Fury and my family. Team G, Marathon Laura, and The Captain all joined the huddle and then the four of them broke off to go down to the water while Mr. Fury and I waited for my family to arrive. Come on guys, remember when I said 6:15am! It's 6:30! FINALLY! I saw my parents rounding the stairs in the Terrace along with my sleepy eyed sister-in-law and brother. My mom gave me a big hug, followed by the rest of the family and then we chatted for a little bit. Mr. Fury got a call from Safety Bob who was on his way so I waited for him to arrive too. I got a big bear hug from him when he arrived and then he snapped a few more photos, told me how excited and fricking proud he was of me, and that I was going to have a great race. I agreed, thinking positively about the day, said I had to get down to the water and that I would see them all in a matter of hours. I stressed again how important it was to get a good spot to watch the swim because it is SO COOL to watch, and then I was off to trot down the helix to the swim start.

I have to leave you hanging here because it's sleepy time. Here are a few more photos from the morning though. Nighty, night!

Bob taking a last second pic before I took off for the helix.

My bike awaiting my arrival at T1. Oh, my trusty steed!

Rachel Holzemer, You Are An IRONMAN!

2008-09-07T22:21:00.003-05:00

I DID IT! I rocked and finished in under 14 hours. YES, YES, and YES!!!!!! What a high...

More to come later. For now, I am going to eat and take an ice bath, Dr.'s orders. Thank you to everyone for all your support and love!

-Ms. R

AKA: 1913

2008-09-06T17:22:00.005-05:00

This morning was fantastic. I woke up, ate some oatmeal and a banana and headed down to Lake Monona to test out the water. We don't have a microwave in our room, but we have the second best thing:

A good ole' coffee/oatmeal maker! Woohoo, genius! Makes for some tasty oatmeal with a hint of coffee flavor... I wanted to test out making some oatmeal this morning so I can make some tomorrow morning without a hitch.

I walked down to the water, hoping to see Captain Cartwheel or some of the Boston Crew, but they were no where to be found. I did the funky chicken dance into my wetsuit, dropped off the rest of my stuff with the lovely Gatorade people checking bags, and charged, err..or gingerly waded into the water. Turns out the "beach" is really rocky. I'm really glad I didn't slip and fall on all the greasy rocks that were under foot.

The water was a great 71 degrees, and the algae seems to be at bay being the air temp has been cool enough lately. There were only a few weeds, and once you're about 50 ft. off shore, the lake drops off and you cannot see the bottom. I cannot express how happy I am the lake is deep enough that you cannot see the bottom. For those of you that don't already know, I have a ridiculous fear of seeing the bottom of a lake/ocean/river/puddle/etc. I think this fear formed when I only trained in Lake Nokomis which is so grimy that you cannot even see your hand in front of your face. Ever since then, I DO NOT WANT TO SEE THE BOTTOM. Yes. Ridiculous. My palms are getting sweaty just thinking about it.

After I finished up my swim, I came back to the room, ate some more, and finished packing my transition bags. I still did not know what to pack so I packed one or more of everything. I figure that should get me through the day, right?

I decided I should practice changing a tube on my bike and using the CO2 one more time before I dropped off my bike. I haven't yet decided if that was a good idea or not. After a possibly catastrophic technical difficulty, a trip to the bike shop and one hour later, I was able to finally put the wheel back on my bike. The valve extender on the front wheel was not cooperating, got stuck inside the wheel for awhile and really just acted like a child hopped up on sugar...they never quite behave themselves now do they??!!

I finally, and barely, got my bike and transition bags down to the Terrace a little after 2pm. It was more than a relief to drop off all of my stuff and be done with it. Mr. Fury and I came back to the room and, of course, I found my water bottles for my fuel belt I forgot to put in my T2 bag. Whoops! I didn't quadruple check and that's what I get. Thankfully I can throw them in there tomorrow morning.

Speaking of tomorrow morning, I am so excited. SO. EXCITED! The nerves have hit me a little bit, but mostly I'm full of excitement. I'm looking at this as a very long training day because I've done this all before. Well, maybe not all together in one day, but I know that on race day things are possible that are not possible on any other day. Yes, I'll do anything to cross a painted line in the middle of street especially when I come to that line I get to hear Mike Reilly say, "Rachel Holzemer, you are an ....."

Tomorrow is going to be a great day! (Rain or shine) You can track me at home on www.ironmanlive.com and my number is 1913. I'm hoping to finish before 9pm, but mother nature will play a role in that as well. We'll see what she brings. Send your good vibes in the direction of Madison, WI tomorrow!

Good luck to everyone racing at Square Lake Half tomorrow!

I have arrived!

2008-09-05T08:26:00.002-05:00

Captain Cartwheel, Mr. Fury and I arrived in Madison around 5pm yesterday. I got to meet the Boston Crew, and then we checked into the hotel. I wore my Gopher's apparel for good measure. It makes me feel better to show my Gopher Pride. Watch out Buckey, you may receive a swift kick in the shins from this Gopher fan...

I thought it would be HI-LARIOUS to leave some Gopher paraphernalia in Camp Randall, but I don't have anything with me. I'm guessing that I won't be able to find anything gopher related here either. I didn't know the stadium had turf in it because my original plan was to leave a Gopher flag in the grass, but that's not possible with turf. If anyone has ideas, let me know because my bro is another die-hard Gopher fan and I'm sure he can bring me something on Saturday.

Anyhow, enough about that craziness. Today I'm going to head down to Monona Terrace and pick up my race packet. Tonight we have the dinner and mandatory athlete meeting which will be very informative I'm sure. I'm going to try to lay out all my gear that I'm going to put in my transition and special needs bags. It's going to be a tough decision seeing as I brought almost all of my gear. Seriously. All. My. Gear. I couldn't take the suitcase I packed it all in on an airplane because it's so heavy.

And now, as promised, the update on the weather is not looking so great:

Sunday: A 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 73. Southwest wind between 5 and 10 mph.

Sunday Night: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 51. West wind between 5 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Currently, it's 56 and drizzling outside. The lake is going to feel like a hot tub! I think today will be a great day for a quick jog by the lake. I'm going to try to not freak out when I see the swim course. YIKES! Oh man, remember to breath Ms. R!

More to come later...

Weather Check

2008-08-29T14:01:00.005-05:00

It's about that time; to start checking the weather for race day compusively for the next 9 days. So far so good! Here's what it's looking like now:

The possible thunderstorms on Wednesday and Thursday make me a little nervous. As long as they don't creep up any closer to Sunday, we're good to go. The Weather Gods are smiling on us if the high for the day stays at 72. Don't worry...I'll keep you updated throughout the next week, Scout's Honor.

Happy long weekending!

Thumbs Down

2008-08-27T15:59:00.005-05:00

Strawberry Stinger gels get a thumbs down, but purely based on their taste. They are not scrumtrulecent. I couldn't get past how not good they tasted in my mouth that I didn't even care what they could do for my performance. Thumbs down.

Orange Burst GU, on the other hand, gets two thumbs and two big toes up. They are delicious and taste like Orange Hi-C. Power Bar Gel Blasts also get a huge thumbs up. Power Bar markets them as "Liquid-filled energy chews. Devour the power." So, I did as they commanded and devoured the power during my run on Sunday. I felt the power so much that I extended my run by 30 min. I just kept running....and running...

I stocked up on all my nutrition stuff for the race at REI. They're having their Labor Day Sale and all the nutritional items were 25% off or more. I went a little crazy, but at least I don't need to worry about having enough GU, Luna Moons or Gel Blasts for the race. I'm all set if it rains too because I got my new bike jacket in the mail I ordered from Chain Love. I love gear so much...

My workouts this weekend were spectacular. Captain Cartwheel, Dr. B and I went out to Woodbury and did the Woodbury Days Bike Ride. We rode the 60 mile course and it was a lot of fun to cap off the long training days with this organized ride. The course actually met up with the Ragnar Relay course so we got to see some very sleep deprived runners along the way. Poor things had to run up the big hill in Afton. That part of the course must have been a beast to get through. Note to self: Do not run that leg of the course next year.

Oh, yes, this weekend I also decided I'm doing Ragnar next year. If anyone is interested, please let me know! I've wanted to do this race for a few years and have always had other races going on. Next year is going to be pure fun racing: Minneman, Ragnar, Twin Cities Marathon....a SPRINT tri! Oh man, I haven't done a sprint distance in far too long! I'm just going to do all the races that I have wanted to do but haven't.

My run this past weekend, as mentioned earlier, was fantastic! I went out with some friends the night before and three beers later I was practically under the table. I figured I wasn't going to have a good run at all considering the shape I was in when I went to bed, but my body never fails me. I must metabolise everything so fast that I had my hang over when I was sleeping because I woke up feeling like a champ. My run was no different. I attribute most of that to the fantabulous orange flavored GU and how much power I devoured.

The Fury and I didn't make it to the State Fair though. Sad Face. I did something to my shin muscle (yes I'm that muscular), and it hurt to walk a lot. Passing on the fair was probably the right thing to do, but I don't have to be happy about it! My mouth is salivating just thinking about mini-donuts and Sweet Martha's Cookies. Ah crap, now I'm hungry again.

On a less food related note, I'm looking forward to this weekend. The Fury and I are going up to the cabin to hang with the family. I only have a 2:30 bike on Saturday and a short run. I'm going to have so much time left over, I'm not going to know what to do with myself. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to it! Maybe I'll even sleep in a little bit...

I hope ya'll have a great three day weekend!

Check this out...

2008-08-22T10:01:00.004-05:00

I'm hooked. Steve, you have me hooked! Thank you for being so entertaining!

Check this out, you will not regret it! Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!

Pure entertainment.

On another note: I figured that two weeks out from my biggest race to date (and probably ever) is the perfect time to mess around with my race nutrition plan. Insert nervous laugh here. I'm going to try these new gels for the run. Has anyone tried these or know anything about them?

I'll let you know how it goes...

I just want to breathe!

2008-08-21T13:15:00.000-05:00

I don't know what's going on at work today with the air quality, but I have had a horrible time breathing. I got to work, and I was fine, but my throat started to feel a little irritated. By 10am, I had to take my inhaler and was having a panic attack because I was having such a hard time. I think I'm going to live, but wow! I have never had trouble like this before last week when the air quality seemed to start going downhill. Something fishy is going on around here...

Anywho, enough of that because I'm not going to suffocate today. Training is going well and I think it's because I know I only have a few more days of hard training until the official taper begins. I'm going to celebrate my last day of hard training by going to the Great Minnesota Get Together. Nothing says taper like deep fried food on a stick! Oh man, I can't wait to get my hands on a corn dog, some mini donuts, and don't you think for a second that I'm going to share my Sweet Martha's Cookies with you!

I also attribute the recent goodness to my training to the massive beat down I got from Strong Hands Terri on Monday night. Holy buckets, that woman spelled P-A-I-N all over my body for 90 of the longest minutes of my life. I told her halfway through the massage that I can survive Ironman if I can survive her. She was laughing so hard that she had to pause from beating me.

After the collassal karate chop from Strong Hands, I went to a family/friend get-together. My mom saw me drive up to the house and greeted me at the end of the driveway. She got a good laugh when I hobbled out of my car and said ever so sweetly, "Was Terri hard on you? You poor baby..." Thanks for the sympathy mom, can I have an ice pack...advil...a beer....or all three please? Ok, so I didn't get any of the requested, but I did get a nice cold glass of water and a mound of food. I know I'm eating a lot when my older brother says, "Geez Rach, that's more than I ate." I promptly laughed, smiled, stuffed my face and then went back for seconds. Yum.

That is for sure one thing I will not miss about IM training. I have become a bottomless pit, and I cannot wait to feel full again. I heart eating, but I'm really starting to get sick of it. ::GASP:: I know. I said it. I am sick of eating. My jaw hurts just thinking about it. Ah crap. Talking about food has made me hungry again. Ugh.

Happy eating...

Almost there....or am I?

2008-08-12T12:41:00.006-05:00

The past couple of weeks I have started to feel antsy and the anticipation of the race is really starting to get to me. It's like I'm 8 years old again and I'm waiting for Santa Claus to come and deliver presents.

Today marks 25 days until race day, and after 8+ months of training so far, I'm starting to feel like it's so close, but yet so far away. Captain Cartwheel emailed me today and said that she's feeling a lack of motivation, and I understand that feeling. I realize that at this point in my training, I'm not going to gain too much more from long training rides or runs, but basically maintain what I have accumulated to this point. This leaves me thinking...so what's the point?? I could go do this race tomorrow if I had to, right?

I know I have to keep going so I don't lose any fitness from now until race day, but the couch is calling me especially now that the Olympics are on every night. Order me up a slice of Olympic pie and a side of Michael Phelps please... Tasty.

Just like this little guy, I have a few more stairs to climb until I get to the top.

2 Meals and 100 miles

2008-08-07T09:38:00.004-05:00

I made it, and I did a little jig to celebrate! Captain Cartwheel and I rode the bike course this weekend, and I am going to say we may have even had fun doing it. Mr. Fury was our driver and sag wagon for the weekend which was much appreciated.

Our driver drove us out to Fireman's Park in/near Verona to start the double loop on Saturday morning. It took a little while for me to get situated because I was trying out a friend's Zipp wheels and Power Tap. It's borderline hilarious when you see them on my tiny 49cm bike frame and the front wheel says: Zipp 404 Clydesdale. HA! Tiny little me on a clydesdale Zipp wheel. Oh, it still makes me chuckle. Needless to say, my friend has a little larger body frame than me. After we got our bikes and bodies loaded down with fluids and food for the ride, we were off.

We spent the whole first loop just figuring out the course, where we needed to turn, the terrain, and just trying to enjoy the sights of the countryside. What really struck me was how beautiful the scenery is along the course. Wow! If you're doing IMWI, stop to enjoy the countryside because it's not all cornfields and cows. Although, when you are by a cow pasture, there is incentive to peddle faster to get away from the smell...

The Captain and I have heard nightmare stories about the hills on this course. We kept waiting to see Tour de France-like 3 mile grinders, but they never came. Granted, this course wasn't easy as pie, but it was not what we expected based on what we have heard. It was tough, but do-able. There were about four hard hills throughout the loop and the rest were "rolling" hills or gentle-ish inclines.

About a 1/4 of the way through the first loop, I was going down a hill and trying to gain speed but it never came. I couldn't help but think, "Geez, these wheels are crap! Talk about false advertising!" When I was climbing up the next hill, I thought I either have a flat or the tire is rubbing on my frame. As it turned out, the latter was true and I am now the proud owner of major skid marks. Not that kind of skid mark, sheesh! Get your head out of the gutter! My poor frame has black marks all over my silver paint job. Insert big frowny face here. Our sag wagon extraordinaire came to the rescue and we just switched out my wheels, and all was right in world. Ahhhh.

We met up with Mr. Fury again at the two Kwik stops along the course to re-fuel and check-in, and before we knew it, we were done with our first loop. It really did not seem so bad. I was surprised. Captain Cartwheel and I decided another loop was in order, and that is exactly what we did. The hills seemed a little bit harder, the quads started to scream a little bit, but all-in-all I was impressed with how well we did. We met up with Mr. Fury at the second Kwik Trip on the course and told him we were going to finish the loop and head back to Madison.

There is one more tough hill on the way back to Madison, and when we got to it, we were neither expecting it nor did we know that it was the last hill. From a prior race, spectators spray painted on the hill, "Last Hill!" and all I could think was, "If they're lying, someone will pay for this!". Who they are and the someone that would pay is still a mystery to me, but that is the level of rationale when you are riding up what seemed like the 100th hill of the day. The last thing you want to hear is that you are on the last hill and then come to find out that it indeed was not. About 1/2 way up this last hill they also spray painted, "Now Run!". Thanks for the reminder...

Captain Cartwheel and I hit John Nolen Dr. and just about celebrated. We saw the lake, the Capitol and the Terrace. It was like the clouds parted on downtown Madison and I could hear the angels singing the Hallelujah chorus, or maybe that was fatigue I heard ringing in my ears. We were getting closer to the Mecca better known as Monona Terrace, and I did a little jig when we got to the base of the parking ramp. It was then that Captain Cartwheel ruined my high and said, "And if this were the race, we would have to ride up the 3 levels of that helix to transition." Ugh. Thanks for the reminder...again.

Even though my high was crushed, I still felt pretty good about the day. We rode a total of 100 miles in about 6:30 + stops. We finally got back to the hotel, showered up and shuffled to the local Irish Pub across from the Capitol. It was delicious and the first real meal of the day. Turns out it was a cheap trip for us. We ate GUs, bananas, Accelerade, Luna Moons and potatoes all day on our ride and only had to buy dinner. The next day we had to get our long run in which consisted of about the same diet, stopped for lunch, and then we were on our way back home.

It was weird when we left Madison knowing we would be back in a little over a month's time. The feeling I was left with is hard to describe which is another reason why this Ironman journey has been so difficult. I have had nine months of training for the biggest event of my life and I have found so few words to describe it. It is hard to shut me up sometimes so you can imagine my frustration. Maybe when this journey has culminated I will have more words, but maybe I won't. My best guess at this point is that you will just have to try an IM on for size to fully understand.

Happy Trails!

Nerves

2008-08-01T14:27:00.002-05:00

I feel more nervous for this weekend than I did for the 1/2 Iron last weekend. Why, you may ask? Captain Cartwheel and I are going out to Madison to ride the bike course, and for some reason that makes butterflies flutter around my tummy. Oh, my poor tummy, it has taken such a beating these past few weeks...

I think I'm mostly axious about what the course is going to be like. Anyone that knows anything about this bike course talks about it like it's the Armegeddon of hilly bike courses. Ok, come on. It can not be that bad! I looked at the elevation chart for IM Canada, and that is way worse than Wisconsin! ::enter stage left:: Relief that I'm not doing IM Canada.

I'll let you all know how it goes, and if I don't survive, I'll have Mr. Fury post something here with all the details of my demise.

Happy Weekending!

Race Report: Chisago 1/2 Ironman

2008-07-28T18:41:00.006-05:00

This weekend was the first true test of my racing wills. I will toot my own horn and say that I blew last years race out of the water...literally.

Swim: 0:34:07
Pace: 0:01:46/100 yds
T1: 0:01:37
Bike: 2:53:17
Pace: 19.2 mph
T2: 0.01:32
Run: 2:05:00
Pace: 0:09:32/mile
Overall Time: 5:35:35

I placed 9/20 in my age group, 47/95 female, and 181/299 overall. Awesome. I shaved an hour off my total time from last year. When I got out of the water, I looked at my watch and couldn't believe my eyes! I thought maybe my watched stopped while I was in the water. I took 7+ minutes off my swim time from last year. I jumped on my bike and was soon cruising down the nicely paved, flat course.

I started having stomach cramps on the bike. I thought all hope was lost for a good run when in the last 6 miles of the bike, I didn't think I was going to make it. My stomach hurt so bad every time I took in calories, and not because I was hungry, but because everything felt so harsh in my tummy. I had cramps up both sides of my stomach, and every time on my down stroke on my right side, I thought I was going to double over in pain. This was incredibly worse pain than what I felt at my Afton ride with Captain Cartwheel and Dr. B. (See previous post...) The worst part of the whole ride was being down in my aero bars because I get low enough that I can actually bump my abdomen with my legs. Ouch, ouch, ouch...ugh. I lost some momentum on two separate occasions when I launched a bottle off the back of my bike. I know I probably would have been just fine leaving the bottles on the side of the road without getting a penalty, but I feel bad littering and it's against the rules! It didn't take that much effort to stop and pick them up, and the second time it happened allowed me a little break from kneeing myself in my cramping stomach. I finally made it back into transition in under 3 hours which was my goal.

Mr. Fury waited by my transition area, and when I rolled in with tears welling in my eyes and a big frowny face, he knew something was not OK. He asked me if I was alright, and I answered with an assertive, "NO!" and I told him all about my lousy, yet PR, ride. I should have acted like everything was fine because I just worried him as I ran out of transition favoring my front-end and crouching forward to help the pain. I ran to the port-o-potties to relieve my bladder because I figured 10lbs of heavy bladder may help relieve some of my tummy pain. I figured right, but it took me a couple minutes to find a not-so-nasty privy. None of them had toilet paper except one that had unmentionables smeared all over the seat. Seriously, COME ON PEOPLE! Have a little control, eh? Thankfully, one of the nice spectators waiting for an open/clean potty let me cut in line and fished out some toilet paper for me from the johnny-that-must-not-be-named.

After a relieving pit stop, I was off to the run course. To my surprise and dismay, the course was not changed to the double loop through the shaded neighborhoods as promised. We went out on the country road to grit and bare the hot pavement for the middle 4+ miles of the course. Ugh. Thankfully, the sun stayed incognito the whole race. Thank you overcast clouds! I was met along the course by the world's most enthusiastic single person cheer squad, and for my purposes will refer to him as Sir Random Guy. Here's the thing about Sir Random Guy, he was all over the course. When I say all over the course, I mean all over the course! I saw him on the bike and the run, all. over. the. place. He was so enthusiastic and every time I saw him he yelled and screamed and jump up and down and pumped his fists and told us all how much of an inspiration we were. Oh, he also informed us that we were his legs for the day because he has bad knees. Sir Random Guy just brought a smile to my face whenever I saw him, and he still does just thinking about him. He was so excited for me every time I saw him and cheered me on, "Go Team! Alright Team in Training!" Finally, he asked me my name so I told him and from then on his cheer when something like this:

Oh, here she comes! RRRRAAACHHEL!!!! Alright, Rachel! You can do it, you're doing great! Keep it up! Go Team! ::insert Sir Random Guy's jovial laugh here::

I don't know how he had so much energy left after so many miles of cheering! It amazed me, and I was the one that was racing!! Another racer ran up next to me and said, "Wow, you have quite the cheer squad!" and I laughed saying, "Yeah, and I don't even know that guy!" Sir Random Guy cheered me all the way in to the finish line, and I would not have done it with nearly as big of a smile without his support.

About a half hour after I finished, I saw Sir Random Guy talking to all my teammates and friends. It was then that I found out that Sir Random Guy is the dad of one of my friends on the team! My friend, Sean, was entertained listening to me tell the story of his dad cheering me into the finish line. Thank you Sir Random Guy!

Overall, it was a great race and great day despite the stomach cramping. I'm glad it happened though because if it happens at Ironman, I know I can work through it. A big congratulations to all the halfsies: Dr. B, Dana Banana, Tri Chick Kris, Captain Cartwheel, B-Rad and Sean (aka Asspounder). Everyone had an amazing race!! Great job guys!!

Here is one of my favorite pics of the day. My friend Karlene let me carry her new puppy across the finish line. He's an adorable 7 week old Golden Retriever named Dodger and he's the closest I'll get to having a puppy!

Official Man Report

2008-07-25T10:26:00.003-05:00

I received word of the manly, manliness that went on last night with the manly men, and I'm please to report that there was no nose picking. Turns out my mom was right: "You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose." I'm glad we got that straightened out.

Happy Friday!

Good Food and Good Friends

2008-07-24T21:56:00.002-05:00

Tonight, the 70.3 ladies got together to have a little carbo load. It was great to sit down and just chat about tri and non-tri related things. We, and when I say we, I mean I, made WAY too much pasta. I have what looks like an extra 5 lbs of spaghetti sitting in the fridge right now. I'll be eating pasta for the next week for lunch. I guess it saves me from cooking later, right? Mr. Fury caught wind of the ladies coming over tonight and bolted to his buddy's house for some man time. I'm sure they chopped wood, picked each other's noses or whatever it is that men do together. He missed out on my delicious homemade cream sauce. MMMmmm, yum. There's some leftover so maybe I'll share with him if he's lucky.

Three of the ladies that came over tonight are halfsies first-timers so Captain Cartwheel and I were fielding questions about the distance and what to expect. It brought me back to last year and the unknowns and questions I had about the race, and then it ended up feeling like a piece of cake. It helps that I raced a flat and fast course, but still, it's unnerving not fully knowing what you're getting yourself into! I'm excited for them and I can't wait to cheer for them on the course on Sunday. There are a bunch of other TNTers racing the sprint distance, so when they finish, they're going to have a pot luck picnic and then cheer for all of us halfsies.

My exciting news for the week: I MADE IT THROUGH A WHOLE SWIM MANAGING MY SIDE PAIN! I haven't done a full 1 hour swim in about a month and a half, and I have finally gotten my side pain under control. My massage therapist and chiropractor think I have a hiatal hernia: insert acid reflux and side pain here. I had the same issue last year and was able to get it under control about half way through the season. This year, I started out without the pain and then it gradually got worse about half way through the season. I have FINALLY figured out how to manage the pain and get rid of it when I'm on land. Oh, did I mention it only hurts when I'm swimming? I think it's all the twisty turny motion of my core that makes it flare up. Ugh. I just wish it would go away entirely. After the season is over, I will go to the doctor to have it checked out, but not until after Ironman! I read up on hiatal hernias on webmd.com. I don't know why I did that, but I did. Basically, all webmd.com told me was the only way to get rid of the side effects of a hiatal hernia is through surgery. D-U-M-B, DUMB! Surgery, huh? Maybe this pain is all in my head...

Well, that's all I have for now. I'm finally going to succumb to my food coma I was warding off earlier. Goodnight moon.

Did you miss me?

2008-07-19T19:57:00.006-05:00

Ok, don't answer that. Apparently I had the "grass is always greener..." syndrome because moving to a different blogging site was not as good of an idea as I thought it would be. I liked being able to track my workouts, but I never actually followed through with it. The other reason I came back is because I would get SPAM! Spam on my blog? I never got that on good ole' blogger! So I'm back, and I apologize for making you change your links again....for all 2 of you that read my measly little site.

So, I guess I could actually tell you about my workouts today. Captain Cartwheel, Dr. B and I went out to Afton to ride the monster hills. This was my first real ride out in Afton because my last attempt was with the team and it got cut short. Just so Captain Cartwheel doesn't have to re-live the events of the day, I'll just tell you that it involved a crash, bang, and a skid (or two..). Back to today's ride. Hills. Many, many hills. I was told by my ride-mates that the hills we rode were not even close to as long as the hills we didn't ride in the area today. I was thankful for that because I was done with the all the hills by the end of the ride! It was fun though, and I'm really glad we went out this morning. It was really nice to finally get out and do a long ride with other people. It has been lonely doing all my long rides alone. I really don't have anything interesting to talk to myself about. I think I just told myself I think I'm boring. Anyway, we rode 77 miles of hilly countryside and I felt pretty accomplished when we finished.

Today I tried a product called Carbo-Pro, and it is a flavorless powder that you can put in any liquid to add calories. I put it in my bottles of Accelerade since I need to figure out a way to pack more calories in during my rides without having to carry a sack of groceries with me. I really liked what Carbo-Pro did for my performance today. I didn't feel hungry, I had a lot of energy I know I wouldn't have felt on a such a long ride, but there is one side-effect that Captain Cartwheel warned me had happened to her when she first used Carbo-Pro. (Warning: The following is not for the faint of heart!) I can spell out what Carbo-Pro did to my body in three letters: G-A-S! Holy buckets. My tummy started rumbling and I think I realize now why I felt so strong on the bike. I did about half the work with my legs and the other half with my bum. I could have powered a jet airplane, and I'm really surprised I didn't launch off my bike! So, if you can handle it, I have some Carbo-Pro that I will not be using and you can have it! You may want to take some Gas-X first..just a suggestion.

Happy trails!

I'm moving....

2008-02-24T18:18:00.002-06:00

...to a new blog site. I can track my workouts AND blog all in one! It's (hopefully) going to be fantastic. So, change your links to here: http://rhtriventures.sweat365.com/

Happy blogging! Enjoy the heat wave MN!

-Ms. R

BRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

2008-01-22T10:21:00.000-06:00

I heart the weekend, and I especially heart long weekends. Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr day, and I have to admit that I didn't do anything to really celebrate the legacy and dream of MLK Jr. One of our security guards at work, Willis, asked me if I was looking forward to "Black Peoples Day," during lunch last week. I told him I was looking forward to having a day off because it is much too hard to work five consecutive days after all the time we get off from Thanksgiving through New Year's. Well, that and I heart black people. Willis agreed. I cannot get across to you how funny Willis is, so I am done trying. He is my favorite security guard, and he will always try to "steal" your food or iPod when you're going through the metal detector. Those kind of things are the constants I have a hard time living without. I digress...

This weekend was a long weekend and that is due to the benefit of working for the government. A big THANK YOU to the ten paid government holidays I get every year, YOU ROCKASAURAS! It was a good weekend to burrow under the comforter and stay in bed all weekend because it was (as Kimmi would say) brisk. I do have to say that Kimmi uses that word liberally and often describes an October morning as brisk and carries that on into February as far as I can tell. I am trying to teach her the meaning of COLD and FREEZING, but she has a certain affinity to "brisk", one which I will never understand. Again, I digress. Instead of staying in bed, which sounds extremely appealing right now, I headed up north to the cabin. Yes, I went outside! ::Gasp:: It was a good time though, we spent most of the day on Sunday painting my bedroom up there so now there isn't BRIGHT PINK paint in there anymore. Talk about a pink nightmare. That room was a little much to be desired. Yesterday, my dad, The Silent Fury and I went out on the snowmobiles for some trail riding. It wasn't all that bad outside, but when the sun went down we could definitely feel the temperature change. A tid bit nipply...

So, I haven't told ya'll the best part of my weekend! I went to my FIRST EVER Minnesota Wild game. The SF and I went with a fellow tri buddy, Boomer. Boomer and his wife have season tickets and super sweet seats. It was a seriously good time. I'm hooked! I can't wait to go again, which may not be this year because tickets are not exactly cheap. We were close up to the action and it was amazing. Those guys are like OGRES on SKATES! Anywho, my break is over and in turn, so is this post. Have a fantastic (short) week!

Imposter!

2008-01-15T11:31:00.000-06:00

This post is dedicated to my dear friend, Easy Rider. ER, I appreciate your concerned email, and I admit, I am an imposter. It has been quite awhile since my last post, and I apologize to those of you who actually read this blog. I appreciate you checking back, and yes, to answer your concerns, I am alive!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. It is always a whirlwind during the holidays, and The Silent Fury and I have decided we need to make a better plan for visiting the family. We spend most of our Christmas Day in the car traveling between his mom's and dad's celebrations. It is hard to please everyone, and I think next year we are going to have to please ourselves more than anyone. I have a genuine appreciation for what my parents went through when we were kids. I cannot imagine having to lug three rowdie children all hopped up on sugar around during the holidays.

So, Christmas was wonderful. SF and I wrapped up a couple of "gag gifts" for my parents. We gave my dad a used charcoal grill for the cabin. The best present was the gift we gave to my mom. We wrapped, in a GINORMOUS box, the deer head Mike had mounted from last year. It is, in all fairness, a really nice looking mount, but seriously, GROSS. I do not even want the monstrosity in my house, and so it currently resides in the garage. I can not help but feel bad for the poor little guy every time we park the car, he looks so sad. I am torn though because he tasted so good...mmmm...sommer sausage = DELICIOUS! Alright, back to the gift opening. We, and when I say we I mean 'I', convinced my mother that it was something really nice. She started opening the gift thinking it was a bird house or something she actually wanted. She lifted the lid to the box and SCREAMED and RAN INTO THE DINING ROOM! Her face was all red and she was breathing heavily and I could NOT STOP LAUGHING! Oh, it still makes me laugh! Of course this did not make her very happy, but she was a good sport about it. I know she is going to be pretty skeptical anytime she opens a gift wrapped in a large box. I cannot blame her. SF and I just wanted to give her something nice to hang over the fireplace at her new lake home, but apparently she does not agree.

In other news, my parents bought a new lake home and we all went up there after Christmas to go snowmobiling. There is only one way to describe that place: A-W-E-S-O-M-E! My mom would move up there today if she could, but there is something called responsibility that she has to take care of first, and then comes retirement. Soon enough Ma, soon enough...

The Silent Fury and I went up to the cabin to meet up with the fam the friday after Christmas. I was super excited because my brother, A-Dizzle, and sister-in-law, L-Dawg, had just bought a new snowmobile, and I couldn't wait to see it. SF and I got to the cabin around 9pm, just in time to see the crew (consisting of my cousins, brother and sister-in-law) off on the sleds. They were going to go out on a night ride so L-Dawg could get some bonding time with her new sled. I got to glance at her new ride only briefly through the window, and then they were off to the trails. My aunts, cousin, dad and SF dove into a rousing game of Zioncheck after the crew left. It was not a full 30 minutes later, we got a call from my younger brother from the trail. My sister-in-law had an accident with her new sled. She had hit a tree and totaled her sled. They were not sure of the extent of her injuries, but she was conscious and somewhat responsive. It was quite possibly one of the worst phone calls to get. Albeit, it is not the worst phone call we have received in my family, it is definitely in the top three, ok maybe it is number two.

Anyway, my parents and I drove down to the mouth of the trail where the accident occurred. L-dawg had hit a tree about 3/4 mile from the highway on the trail. The first we got to see her when the paramedics were pulling her off the trail on a stretcher. This was not any normal stretcher though. They had a big machine that looked like a snowmobile trail groomer, and I have attempted to find a decent picture of one, but I cannot. I am not making this up, seriously, trail groomers do exist, I just cannot prove it. Anyway, the trail groomer thing had her strapped-in on the back and she was harnessed down to a body board and in a neck brace. They put her in the ambulance waiting on the side of the road and shortly took off to the hospital. A-Diggity road to the hospital with one of the Sheriffs and my mom.

There were about three or four Sheriffs out at the scene, two on snowmobiles and another taking pictures of the accident scene and another that was....ok maybe there were only three. My younger brother drove L-Dawg's sled up to the mouth of the trail by the highway so my dad could come back and pick it up with the trailer. The Sheriffs that was documenting the scene, took out his flashlight and shined it on the sled. I could not believe what sat in front of me. The sled did not look like she should have survived. When I took my snowmobile safety course, they showed us pictures of sleds from accidents where the drivers were being careless and were drinking and wrapped their sled around a tree or a sign post or rolled it or whatever and only a couple had survived their accidents. That is what L-Dawg's sled looked like. I still can not believe it.

L-Dawg's accident was not due to her being careless, reckless, or driving too fast. It appears, from the tracks left from the accident, that she took a wide turn, her ski got caught off the trail and the rest of her snowmobile followed. She hit the tree before she had time to react. L-Dawg, after spending the weekend in the hospital, is going to be ok. She faired with a broken arm, two broken ribs and bruised liver, and will be going in tomorrow to have surgery on her arm. That is my exit call. I need to give her a ringy-ding-ding and wish her luck tomorrow. Until next time!

Ouchie! My Bum!

2007-12-11T18:31:00.000-06:00

Yes, as the title of this little rambling lets on, I will be talking about my bum. Alright, alright, before you get too grossed out, I'm not going to go on about the workings of my fine little tushy, but rather my fantastic gluteus maximus. I heart my gluteus maximus, a lot. That puppy helps me grind up hills, power through snow drifts in the morning, and provides a nice amount of cushion to sit on all day long at work ( and in the off-season, maybe a little too much). Thank you gluteus maximus. I don't know where I would be without you, other than not fitting into my pants.

Ok, you may ask where the h3ll I'm going with this business, but I assure you I do have a point here people. On Saturday I paid (and yes I did pay a pretty penny) a visit to my massage therapist. I heart her a lot. As you have probably read before, she has the hands of the Incredible Hulk. Instead of turning green when she is angry, she takes it out on your body during a massage... Ouchie! So, back to Saturday. I had the impression that Terri would be working mostly on my lower back and pelvic area because I had once again successfully thrown my hips and lower back out of whack shoveling the weekend prior. Yeah, I know, I'm that good. So Terri went through her normal routine and it was time for me to flip so she could work on my backside.

::flip::

My back had the usual knots that Terri dug her elbow into, and then she got down to my aforementioned bum. Holy Jesus, Mary and Joseph did that woman find treasure (please people, get your heads out of the gutter!!). I have never been dealt such pain from that woman in all my visits! It felt worse than the time she worked on me after I crashed my bike into a fence (yeah, we'll save THAT story for another time...). I was whimpering, SHE MADE ME WHIMPER! It was a good thing it was a Saturday and no one else was in the clinic to hear how pathetic I sounded, it may have been embarrassing. Trudging through the snow to the bus stop has done a number on my fantastic gluteus maximus. My apologies to my bum for the abuse the past few weeks! I hope you can forgive me, but mostly I hope you can forgive Terri. She means well...

On the Verge...

2007-12-04T19:56:00.001-06:00

...of another season. Last night was the mentor workshop for Team in Training. It was really great to see everyone again. Well, by saying that, it sounds like I haven't seen most of my teammates since last season which is not true. I have actually seen most of them over the course of the short off-season that we have had thus far. I guess that is a testament to how good a group of friends we have all become. I am excited for the season to begin, although I really am enjoying the unstructured time off that is the off-season.

I think we have a really great group of mentors this year that is anchored by a crazy and fun coaching staff (a little bias there, I know!) and such a fantastic and supportive staff at the LLS offices. I know I am extremely thankful for how supportive the staff were to me last year and I can expect the same stellar performance this year. Recruitment starts soon and I am especially psyched for that. (AHEM! Yes lady friends of mine that complain about not seeing me once the season starts, I'm talking to you!! Want to spend time with me? SIGN UP! hehehe) There is no better feeling than knowing that you helped someone make the commitment to join the team and accomplish something bigger than themselves. Awesome.

There are always the downfalls of the season... Raging hunger (ugh, I get tired of eating and bored of the food I cook), no time to do anything but eat, train, work and sleep (and eat and eat and eat and eat), missing all my favorite tv shows (good thing the writers are on strike!) and just generally feeling like I'm missing out on all the good weather up at the cabin (yes my family feels left out too). Oh, and I forgot to mention that I'm not ready to hear from everyone again, "must be hard to eat whatever you want." and "I don't know how you do that. I can hardly drive that far!" I think that is by far the worst part of training and/or being and endurance athlete, having to constantly explain yourself to people that just don't get it and probably never will. Their loss right?

Now that the season is upon us, I really need to kick my fund-raising into high gear. I feel like I have been slacking, but I suppose that is because I have been. At the meeting last night, I picked up some TNT stationary so that is added motivation to get my letter written and send it out. For some reason, not many people have been responding to my emails. Hm...harass them at home it is! hehehe

Alright, I am going to go and not do core work with Mr. Fury...something about coaching and needing to be in shape. Yeah, I know right? Blah, blah, blah...

M.I.A.

2007-11-19T15:25:00.000-06:00

Ever since I hurt my back, I have been a major slacker. I felt better after a couple massages, a bottle of advil liquid tablets and making friends with both the ice pack and heating pad. Since October I have gone to one swim class and ran twice. I am a bum. This usually happens around the holidays so it's not unusual given my history, but I really need to step it up. It's not going to help that there's going to be a good amount of food on the table come Thursday. I heart turkey and mashed potatoes and green bean cassarole and gravy and corn and salad and more turkey and more potatoes and more gravy and bread and pie. Of all the tasty Thanksgiving treats, I do not heart stuffing for sure. I helped my grandma make it and I haven't eaten it since that nasty tradition started. I don't care if there are no turkey parts in it all you no turkey parts stuffing makers. Whenever I see the abomination, I cannot help but think of my 8-year-old self stuffing turkey liver, heart and neck into the meat grinder. S-I-C-K! Alrighty then, I will leave you with that pretty visual. Happy Thanksgiving!

Laid Up

2007-10-25T12:28:00.000-05:00

...or horizontally to be more precise. Yes, I "threw out" my back. I wouldn't be so stupid to actually throw my back anywhere because I really do like it where it is. I did do something horribly painful to it. I don't know exactly what, but it hurts. A lot. On Tuesday night, Mr. Fury and I were moving boxes and furniture around in our office. I sat down to rest, and all I could feel was a horrible pain in my back. Yesterday morning I woke up and could barely move. On a scale of awesomeness, it came in at a BIG fat 0.

I visited our lovely massage therapist yesterday and she fixed me up nice and good. I'm not quite dancing around or jumping for joy yet, but I'm getting there. I'm back at work today and feeling a lot better, but I'm still going to visit "Stronghands" Terri again. She is S-T-R-O-N-G! She could make the manliest of men cry like a baby beneath her strength. Just shaking her hand, you know you're in for a serious massage. Worth. Every. Penny.

Ok, I can't handle sitting in this chair anymore. I need to get up and move around...err shuffle...

"The Longest Friday Ever" Day!

2007-10-19T16:30:00.000-05:00

I have officially deemed today as, "The Longest Friday Ever!" day. Congratulations today, you've set a world record for taking forever to end. So, in "honor" of "The Longest Friday Ever," I decided to do some web surfing and see what I've been missing on every one's blogs.

Here is all I have to report:

I often read what TriSaraTops is up to because she always has something wonderfully entertaining or just plain wonderful to say. She recently had a baby, cute as a button by the way, and it has been fun to follow along on her journey to, and now during, motherhood. All I can say is WOW! Pregnancy and motherhood sound like the most amazing journeys ever. I really don't think there is anything like it. Nothing. Nada. So congratulations Sara, I will continue to follow along as I can wait for my life to go down that road. (My radar is sensing Mr. Fury squirming in his seat. haha)

Swim class was fantastically fantastical on Wednesday night. I may be extremely sarcastic, we can't know for sure. I definitely had no issues with skipping class, but (caution: sarcasm up ahead) Mr. Fury INSISTED we go, and I was in shock over his enthusiasm. No, really. I have never seen him so excited to get in the pool. OK, just kidding. I can't lie. We both did not want to go, but we did anyway. Sometimes I wonder why I sign up for classes like that because I usually end up not wanting to do it anymore about a week into it. I know I'm benefiting from it, but I would much rather just sit on the couch right now. Well, really I would just rather sit on the couch all the time at this point in the year. The weather is KILLING me slowly. All this rain and gloomy weather is a serious downer. I liked it better when the sun was shining, temperatures were comfortable and my motivation was at an all time high. Ahhhh, the good ol' days...

My friend JV is going to deliver to me a Thanksgiving present. Awesome. I can't wait. (Please see previous post). That's all folks. Have a great weekend!

P.S. I set up my fundraising page for Ironman Wisconsin. CHECK IT OUT (and donate....)

Swim Class and a 10k

2007-10-15T13:09:00.000-05:00

So, I’m sure you all are dying to hear how swim class went last week. One word: ouchie! My spell check is telling me “ouchie” is not a word, but I guarantee that it is a feeling. I felt ouchie in my lats, I felt ouchie in my lungs and I felt ouchie pounding in my chest. Well, actually that was my heart in my chest, but it was yelling OUCHIE!! in the middle (and beginning and end) of our workout. Iron J didn’t have any suggestions as far as my form was concerned, which I’ll take as a good sign. The other good news is that I’m feeling a lot better in the water. I think my form is starting to come along, I’ll keep you posted.

This weekend was the Autumn Woods Classic. A bunch of TNTers and I went up to Maple Grove and ran the 10k course which ran through Elm Creek Park. It wasn’t really a classic cross country race because we ran on a paved trail through the park, but there were streams and lakes! It really was a beautiful course, and if it weren’t so far from where I lived, I would probably run in the park more often. I hope I can get up there a few times next season and take advantage of the nice trails.

How did the race go? Oh, it was fine. I, being very excited to race, started out too fast and also finished too fast. I ran an average of 8:38/mile which is MUCH faster than what I normally run. I survived though, with only a minor stomach ache. I blame that on being hungry at race start. The race started at 10am, which is much later than I am use to running, which threw me off as to what time I should eat breakfast. Since it was a shorter distance race, I didn’t bring any gels or sport beans with me to eat either. Maybe that’s why I ran so fast, it got me to the food tent at the finish faster…

The rest of the weekend was pretty nice. I took a much too short nap on the couch after the post race party, and then the Iron Fury and I took a trip to Home Depot. Good times had by all or at least Mr. Fury as he was in heaven looking at power tools. I made a deal with him. He could have whatever he wanted at Home Depot if I could buy a sweet (used) 2006 Trek Madone 5.2 from my friend JV. He didn’t get whatever he wanted at Home Depot (by choice), so there’s still hope for a new road bike for me :) Don’t think I won’t let you know how this one turns out..

Race Report: Twin Cities Marathon

2007-10-09T10:20:00.000-05:00

This title is a little misleading, or completely misleading. You would think that I actually ran Twin Cities Marathon, but I didn’t. I had the misfortune of illness since Friday and it lingered until Sunday morning. Since I had my race number and my fantastic training partner Kimmi was racing, I did run from mile 20 to the finish line with her.

I was really disappointed to have to drop out of the race, but I knew it was best for my body. I had been looking forward to it as it is my hometown marathon, but taking care of my health needed to be on the top of my "to do" list this weekend. It was a good thing that I didn't run because the temperatures topped out at 82 during the race and it was muggy like a hot summer day. Talk about Indian Summer...

Mr. Fury took his bike out to mile 17 and caught Kimmi when, as she stated, "it's starting to hurt..." 17 is an early wall to hit, especially when the ALARC sponsored wall is at mile 20, but that was due to the weather conditions. It was like racing at Life Time Fitness Triathlon, it was HORRIBLE! I was so happy to meet Kimmi at mile 20, and I think she felt the same way. She started crying when she saw me and I told her to "put the tears away, we're not at the finish yet!" Besides, she was going to need that fluid for later in the race, NO WASTING!

Kimmi was in rough shape, her quads were cramping, she was dehydrated and she was drenched in sweat. All she wanted were some ice cubes, but there were none to be found. We did eventually find some around mile 23, but it was a long shuffle to find them. I kept telling Kimmi to smile when she wanted to frown. Here is a typical conversation:

::Kimmi frowning::

Me: Remember to smile, it helps!

Kimmi: Ok... (feabily)

Me: We're going to get through this. I'm going to get you across that finish line, I'll throw you across my back if I have to!!

Kimmi: Do you promise??

Me: Yes! I promise!! You can do this!!

Kimmi: Ok... (feabily)

Me: We just have to keep moving forward. If you start moving backwards, that's quitting and you're not quitting!

Kimmi: Ok, keep moving forward. I can do that, just not very fast.

And she was right, it wasn't very fast, but she never started moving backwards or stopped for too long. We momentarily paused to massage her quads and so that Kimmi could hug everyone we knew along the course. Hugs kept her going. The biggest thing that kept her moving was seeing our training partner and good friend Safety (Iron) Bob. All day we thought he had to work and was going to miss Kimmi's first marathon. He came through, as he always does, and was waiting for us at the Team in Training cheer station at mile 22. Kimmi was so elated she was crying and hugging and shuffling along all at the same time.

Safety (Iron) Bob ran along side us for about a 1/3 of mile and dropped off. After seeing and talking to him, Kimmi started running faster. She had more energy and I knew it really lifted her spirits to have Safety (Iron) Bob there cheering her on. We pretty much shuffled the rest of the way to the Cathedral with our friend Becca running alongside us on the sidewalk, cheering Kimmi on. We turned the corner at the Cathedral and Kimmi must have felt such relief to see the finish chute up ahead. We were running down the final hill to the finish when she said, "Can we slow down? I want to take it all in." So we slowed down, heard the crowd cheering her on, and I said to her, "See! You're a marathoner! You're going to finish!!" Kimmi has probably never been happier to see the finish line of any race she's participated in, and I couldn't be more proud of her. It was a rough day with the heat and humidity on a hilly course, but she pulled through it and I never doubted that for a second.

Congratulations Kimmi, you're a marathoner!

Kick, Pull...glugg...glugg...glugg...

2007-10-04T12:35:00.000-05:00

Just for fun, and improvement, a group of my TNT friends and I signed up for a swim class through St. Paul City adult education programs. We're all in the adult advanced swim group and that makes it sound like we know what we're doing. Well, I will speak for only myself here, but all that means is I (and maybe others) are in the advanced class because we are very advanced in not knowing what I am (we're) doing. I'm so advanced at not knowing what I'm doing, that I now feel like I'm drowning instead of swimming when the instructor corrects my unknowingness in the water.

Last night was my first class. Last week was actually the official start of the class, but I was busy packing boxes and going through my things for our (The Silent Fury and I) move to our new house on Sunday. So, anyway, back to my first class. I was really excited to get back in the pool and out of open water swimming. I enjoy being able to follow the black line on the bottom of the pool and the comfort of knowing that no little (or big) fishies are going to nibble on my toes. For some reason though, I got a little panicky and my excitement faded when walking through the doors of the high school where our swim lessons are held. I sensed Mr. Fury was feeling the same way because his face slowly dropped the closer we got to the pool area. I felt like it was the first day of school again. Instead of worrying if everyone liked me, I was worried that the instructor was going to tear apart my stroke...and well also that I was going to have a steady diet of chlorine over the next hour or so. (Only one of those fears proved to be mostly true....Mmmmmmm chlorine.)

Our instructor was really great. We'll call him Iron J for our purposes here. He just earned the title Ironman in September along with The Silent (Iron) Fury and Safety (Iron) Bob. Iron J knows his stuff although I have no idea what his credentials are... After forcing us to get in the water, we went through a 200 warm-up and WOW, from the feel of things, I probably could have used the whole class as a warm-up. We continued-on with some drills. (Enter mouthful(s) of chlorinated water stage left.) Fast forward to our main set: 6 x 100, :10 rest, 4 x 150, :15 rest, 3 x 200, :20 rest. HELLO, WAKE-UP BODY YOU NEED TO MOVE (faster)! I haven't had a serious workout in the water since my season ended in late July. Last night was a wake-up call.

After my third 100, Iron J stopped me to point out that I wasn't rotating enough. I was pausing too much between strokes and lying flat in the water causing too much drag.

Ok, thank you Iron J, I'll work on that.

Self-talk: Come on body. Rotate more. Abs and obliques, this is your cue so WORK IT!!

::pause for response::

Self-talk: Hello? Abs? Obliques? Anybody home?

::no response::

Well, I guess I deserved that non-response from my body as I have ignored the fact that those muscles exist. Apparently eating cake, chips and drinking soda does not make for a friendly relationship with your core. Thanks for the reminder body, you could have warned me earlier.

I felt like I was starting to rotate more and it was beginning to feel a little normal. After getting through the 100s, on to the 150s, and again Iron J in his infinite wisdom had another suggestion for me. He wanted me to pull more with my lats and less with my shoulder when following through on my stroke. Apparently, I was reaching down too far in the water and not bending my elbow enough which caused me to not catch a lot of water or use my strength when following through on my stroke.

Me: Ok, thank you Iron J, I'll work on that.

Iron J: You look confused.

Me: Well, not confused as much as overwhelmed. I feel like I'm drowning. Do I look like I'm drowning?? It's all so much to think about and when I start thinking about what I'm doing, I start to slowly sink in the water...

Iron J: Do you want me to only give you one suggestion a class?

Me: How many suggestions do you have for me?!?! Am I that bad???!!?

Iron J: No, no. You're stroke looks great, it's just the technical things in the water. It really does look good.

Me: Ok, thank you. Give me all the suggestions you think I need. I just feel a little overwhelmed by this drowning feeling.

I think by the end of the class, which was only one of the 200s for me, I was feeling more confident and a little faster. The water started to feel like silk as I was gliding through it. So that's what it feels like to swim, eh?? Good deal, I think I can handle that...

Time for cake?

IMMOO '08

2007-10-03T12:49:00.000-05:00

It is official. I have signed up, along with a few friends, for Ironman Wisconsin 2008. We haven't officially started our training yet, but it is so far one of the most terrifying, exciting and emotional races I have ever taken on.

All through my 1/2 Ironman in July, I thought, "I can do an Ironman! I know I can!" and I still believe that. So, I have confidence if nothing else. There is no doubt that it will be one of the biggest challenges of my life. I look forward to every twinge of pain, every thought of self-doubt and all the new things I will learn about myself. This is my space to let it all out so you can take it all in. Stay tuned!