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Chronicles of a fish: the days of surf and turf
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You will need one for Challenge Galway
I'm still sending this one back as this very suit has gone on 50% off and it eats at me that I paid full price just days before it went on sale. Now, I will reconsider that if when I contact ROKA today they offer me it at that 50% discount.
But, this also begs the question: how cold will that water be next June??? :eek:0 -
I'm still sending this one back as this very suit has gone on 50% off and it eats at me that I paid full price just days before it went on sale. Now, I will reconsider that if when I contact ROKA today they offer me it at that 50% discount.
But, this also begs the question: how cold will that water be next June??? :eek:
probably 16 or 17 degrees or 60 degrees in your money:)0 -
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You will need one for Challenge Galway
You should do HOTW instead, the best race on the Irish calendar. It's the same weekend as Challenge Galway, only it's on a Saturday and is followed by a great night out. Everybody will be too tired to party after the race in Galway, and will probably have to go home anyway.0 -
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The last 24 hours I've been through must be some sort of test. Ugh. But as Tim from my bike shop messaged me this morning - stress takes a lot more energy than smiling and staying calm.
But on a good note - the river is improving (so swim may go on!)...and ROKA offered me the wetsuit at 50% off. What to do, what to do??? 0 -
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Tuesday, October 6th, 2015
Run
Treadmill time!
15 minute easy warmup
5 x (3 min @ 8.4, 1 min OFF)
5 minute easy cool down
I felt pretty sluggish at the start, which worried me a bit...but once I got into the 3 min @ 8.4, I sort of came to life. I'm not saying I'd want to be running at that 8.4 setting for too-too long, but the 3 minute intervals got progressively "easier" as they went along.
Actual run: 40 minutes on the treadie over lunch
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Swim
500 easy
400 with every 4th lap backstroke
300 band only
200 strong
100 easy
After a full week of clouds and rain, we've all been squinting our eyes in the blinding sunshine for the last two days. YAY!!! And my pool actually warmed up enough to coax me into it tonight. It's still brisk, mind you, but it honestly wasn't bad once I got going. Oh, and no wetsuit tonight...just my trusty Speedo.
And....this wasn't bad either. In fact, I felt pretty good in the water tonight. I'm not sure I was fast, but I felt good, and I'll take that. And in particular, the 300 band only may have felt the best out of the entire session. Gorgeous evening out there tonight too, which never hurts the mindset or outlook.
Actual swim: 1,500 yards that may not have been terribly fast, yet felt pretty damn good0 -
Wednesday, October 7th, 2015
Bike
So...I've been having bike issues all week long. Ugh. Okay, so they started Monday evening after I went to the bike shop, and they continued on into today, so perhaps that's not really "all week long" but rather...48 FREAKIN' HOURS OF STRESS AND CONCERN! !!! :eek: Long story short - in those 48 freakin' hours I had tire issues, tube issues, chain issues and brake issues. Could things get any worse?? Oh yeah, and bar tape issues, but that's small potatoes so that really doesn't count. But, I'll get back to all this at the end of my post.
Today was a 90 minute ride outside, and because of all the issues stated above, and because I was so worried about the "health" of my bike, and because I had run out of all of my tubes due to the tubes blowing on me, I did this in the morning so I could assess the state of the Black Cat and still have plenty of time to head to my bike shop (45 minutes away) if needed. The ride itself was okay. Nothing spectacular, but it went fine. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't feel as "fresh" or as "strong" as I thought I would...but rather I felt this ride took a little more effort than it should have today. I told myself that maybe I didn't eat enough this morning...or maybe the "freshness" is still yet to come with a few more days left in taper....or maybe I'm still crap on the bike and my day will be very long on Sunday. I told myself that whatever it was, I had done all I could do in my training, so no need to fret about it now. I ended this ride with the attitude that I'll just go out on the day and do the best that I have in me. I'll race my own race, and not worry about anything else. In some ways, this ride put many things into perspective and took some self-imposed stress off my shoulders.
Actual ride: 24.19 miles in 1:30:55 for an average speed of 16 mph and an elevation gain of 1,497 feet
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Swim
500 warm up
8 x 40 (sprint 20, easy 20)
12 x 20 band only
3 x 200 strong
400 easy
This was done a little later than I had intended because I had to deal with my "sick" bike....which meant it got dark on me before I could finish this short session...which meant I could barely see the wall on the 3 x 200 strong...which meant I had to ease into my flip turns. I have no idea of my times on those 200s, but I kept my effort between the walls "strong".
Actual swim: 2,060 yards in the dark
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Bike saga continued...
I had been in contact with my bike shop starting after I arrived back home Monday night and had my front tire blow on me twice. Emails and texts at 10 o'clock that night...phone calls and emails on Tuesday...and more texts and calls today. These guys at my bike shop are fantastic - and they treat me like gold. In the end, and because they had to order my tubes and have them shipped overnight with their arrival at their shop this morning due to the fact that I leave for Kentucky tomorrow, and because I had been at their shop twice in the last 10 days, they rearranged their day today to come over to Luray to work on my bike here and deliver my tubes. Yep, the two owners of the shop, Tim and Thomas, met me at 5 o'clock this evening and went to work on my bike. Their idea, not mine, as I was more than willing to head back over the mountain if need be this evening. But here's the incredibly amazing bit of good fortune: I actually told Tim after my ride this morning that I thought my bike was fine since the tire/tube was holding and my chain hadn't dropped....I told him not to bother coming over, and that I could pick up the tubes in the morning since Kyle (another fabulous bike shop guy) offered to meet me before they opened so I could get on the road. But Tim insisted. Said he really wanted to have a look at my bike and go over it once more. And thank my lucky stars he did!!! He put my bike up on the holder (or whatever you call that thing that holds the bike up) and immediately said...."um...have you noticed anything funny about the right brake lever?" To which I replied..."now that you mention it...." Good god, my rear brake was stuck! :eek: Yep, yesterday when I was tooling around on it I noticed there was no resistance when I depressed the lever until the very end of the motion....and I noticed it wasn't until the very end of the motion that I could feel any change in the braking. Holy cow! Can you imagine me riding 112 miles with my brake pads rubbing?? OMG. And here I was so focused on all the other issues that I didn't even realize I had this going on. !!!! The boys spent an hour in the parking lot working on my bike and going over it with a fine tooth comb....and after each one had taken it for a spin, they pronounced the Black Cat IronMan worthy. Woo hoo...and can you believe that sh*t?? I'm still shaking my head. And feeling pretty damn lucky. My bike shop is the best in the entire world. Not kidding. !!!! 0 -
I was a bit disappointed that I didn't feel as "fresh" or as "strong" as I thought I would
Im guessing you'd have felt a lot more fresh and super strong if you'd have done the spin without the brakes rubbing Great bit of service from your guys at the bike shop !
The very best to you for the coming road trip and weekend ahead ! Knock it out of the park ! and Enjoy every single minute of the trip !0 -
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Is it on this weekend - christ there was hardly any taper madness at all - very disappointing!
Not to put pressure on you but have you any idea how many slots are available at your age grade - was it 2 last year in this race?
And Dellas bib number please 0 -
A fairy-tail ending to the bike saga, love it That was so good of them to insist on checking the bike over, it's good karma
The very best of luck to you this weekend DD, you've had a phenomenal year coming back from a serious injury. You've trained blinking hard and never backed away from any session. Do yourself proud and enjoy it Looking forward to following your progress over the weekend 0 -
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Thanks for all the good wishes! I really appreciate the positive vibe to help me get psyched up for the big day! Whoop whoop!interested wrote: »Im guessing you'd have felt a lot more fresh and super strong if you'd have done the spin without the brakes rubbing Great bit of service from your guys at the bike shop !
The very best to you for the coming road trip and weekend ahead ! Knock it out of the park ! and Enjoy every single minute of the trip !
I sincerely hope the brakes were the cause of my less-than-stellar feeling while on the Cat. I guess we'll find out soon enough! Tick tock, tick tock.Glad those boys looked after you. But you bring that out in people Safe journey today.
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'
Thank god you didn't type "skip to my loo"!! I hit every one of those blasted things along the run course at least once at last year's IM!!!
Is it on this weekend - christ there was hardly any taper madness at all - very disappointing!
Not to put pressure on you but have you any idea how many slots are available at your age grade - was it 2 last year in this race?
And Dellas bib number please
Taper??? Tell me about it. I had my heart set on a 3 week taper...but that never materialized. Little did I know it was to only be a 9 day taper, :eek: until I basically exploded on the treadmill and was allowed to start the wind down 2 days early.
I truly have no idea how many Kona slot will be available for my AG this year, nor do I know how many were dished out last year. I assume it will take a win to get the spot, so in all honesty that will more than likely be quite a stretch for me with my (here come all my excuses) lack of experience in triathlon, lack of OW experience, lack of bike history, and lack of running fitness due to the heartbreaking femur that fractured on me earlier in the year while running the Donadea 50k. (tissues, anyone? ) But seriously, I do not expect to snatch a slot at this time. I've not paid my dues yet.
Della's bib number is 172. 0 -
Thursday, October 8th, 2015
I'm here...I'm here!!! I'm here in Kentucky!! Woo hoo!! 8 hours of driving and I'm in good old Louisville, Kentucky. I'm all settled in...and I'm within walking distance of the transition area and the IronMan village. Yay!! I did a short 20 minute trot down by the very dirty looking river :eek:, past the swim exit, thru transition, and into the IronMan village immediately after I arrived, and it was slow and sluggish. Slower and more sluggish than I had hoped for. 
When the hell am I going to get that fresh-as-a-daisy feeling????? Ugh. I'm not bothered with looking up the actual exact stats of the run, but it was just over 2 miles in just over 20 minutes....and the average pace that displayed for the run was something like 9:51 min/mile. Close enough!
Tomorrow I'll check in, ride a portion of the bike course, then chill out at the hotel. I'll be keeping everything super low key. 0 -
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