Pallas Athena

Today was the check in for IM Racine 70.3. This is the stomping grounds for my old favorite race; you guessed it, Spirit of Racine. Last year, they sold out to IM. My first reaction was one of uncertainty. This event has always been great, with the swim in Lake Michigan (not hidden in a bay somewhere, but out in the open). The run is along the lake on the road that overlooks the whole thing. It is just beautiful. You cannot help but notice, even when it is 99 degrees and 98 % humidity. Didn't seem they needed the help of the corporate giant event organizer. So from the moment of our arrival, my husband and I were scouting the whole thing out. The check in was easy enough. Festival Park Expo Center. Just like before, only that was less chaotic than it has been in years past. The whole building where the expo used to be is now simply check in. Really overkill, in my opinion. You could run laps inside that building; with check in going on. Outside was the expo under t...

Ironman Perform Last week, Ironman sent athletes signed up for certain events a case of new Powerbar product called Ironman Perform.  They are intending to serve it at several events and wanted athletes to have the opportunity to train with it ahead of time.  I really appreciated their foresight with this.  After years of struggling with stomach issues, new product is a source of fear that I would rather not deal with. Because my stomach has been so finicky, my attitude has been less than great about this.  Passive-aggressive misspelling of the product to just complete irritation is pretty much where I was at.  But really, I do appreciate having the product ahead of time. So, what about the product?  Well, it brags to be their proprietary C2MAX.  C2MAX is a combo of maltodextrin, fructose and dextrose.  Biochemistry was never my thing, but a multi-path energy source is obviously a valuable thing.  Remember good old Krebs?  Your bo...

87 days until IM Louisville....tick, tick, tick! Foot has been bum for several months now. It is some sort of metatarsalalgia caused by one of the bones being too long. After two months of nearly not running, I relented and got the cortisone shot. No gory details, just the fact that it friggin HURT! So, back to IM Louisville. Always hot and wetsuits have never been legal there because it is always above the 78 degree marker. My husband said it was crazy to swim in just tri gear, and he is right. There is too much advantage to be gained with a speed suit. The Velocity 0.02 is not a neoprene wetsuit, but a slick, non-permeable, extremely durable suit comprised of the fastest material and coating available on the market. The NANO-SCS coating, with a drag coefficient of 0.02 (the lowest available), is used continuously throughout the speedsuit. The Velocity 0.02 has a seamless front, contains no Lycra and is meant to fit snugly - especially at the chest, waist and hips - over ...

Spirit of Racine was this past Sunday. It was very exciting for me, because my time improved dramatically. Although it came as a real suprise to me, in reflection, the rides and runs have been long and fast. The swims are the swims, but they are getting done. This year was cool again, which worked well. Cold air/water is a performance enhancer to most folks, even if they don't like it. The swim was moved in like last year. The current moved to shore and towards the finish, which is ideal as it gets. Someone knocked me down at the start and I was actually ran over by someone. That rattled my cage a bit. Adjusted the goggles and coughed out inhaled water before getting a move on. There was a lot of aqua jogging since most areas you could touch the bottom. The problem being that most of them were moving slower than the swimmers. Hello, keep swimming! After turning the last yellow triangle buey, I started to walk into shore and get the goggles/cap off. Mike was filming on ...

Half-Fast, his wife, Mike and Dave last year rode the Sugar River, Badger and Jane Adams trails in one day with a shuttle between trail ends. I missed out, due to a very bad night out on call. I recall dialyzing a lithium overdose for 10 hours. It was someone who had done this before, and my attitude sucked to say the least. We had all been talking about it, and I really wanted to go. That was not to be. This year, we have been talking about doing the whole thing "minus the sissy shuttle". Mike thought a clover-leaf pattern route would be cool. I really liked the idea. So much that I decided Wednesday night I would spend Thursday doing it. Start time was supposed to be 7 am. I ate a huge breakfast with plenty of protein and fat. It was 7:50 when I finally got loaded and moving. There is nothing worse than a good bonk when you don't have anyone to call. So packing was important. There were a couple of mountain dews, pb&cheese sandwiches, gatorade and a bag ...

That was the predominant thought bouncing off the inside of my skull out putting in another 70 for this fall’s IM. As I hammered through town doing 26 mph + and caught a glimpse of myself in the store windows, I thought “geese, you look like a cyclist”. Next thought? What the heck is that? What is a “real cyclist”. Well, search that one and find a ton of ideas that quantify your cycling worth. Running is much easier to figure out. There are plenty of dorks out there that are ready to tell you if you cannot run 8 minute miles that you aren’t really running. Straight, to the point quantifiable bull right there in your face. Hell, even some misinformed folks at Pearl Izumi bought into this idea for their “run like an animal” campaign. Where are these wiseguys when I’m trying to figure out if I can cycle? Many of the tests I found online involve cycling in Europe (who cares), biking to work frozen (no distance set, which nullifies this as an important qualifier), ridden a recumb...

Plenty of time to think today. 16 miles on the treadmill, another long run. The difference between the romance of the IM and the reality. I was there running long enough to see many people come and go. I'm sure many other IM participants have countless stories of how lonely training can be. The worst is biking to work when I leave at 4:30 in the morning. Your just out there in the dark. Just you and your long, slow grind to your goal. There is always the obvious question of "IF" for the first round. I worked hard for that, 18 months of training, with that hounding question just out there in the back of all of my thoughts. But I wanted it. I got it, on a miserable cold raining day. And after finishing the first IM, it was a hell of a rush. Nothing like it. Nothing. Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment Would you capture it or just let it slip? -Eminem If you are a first-timer and find yourself reading t...