A Mysterious Virus & A Strange Calm

What the doctor thought was Strep is instead a mysterious virus that is still attacking my throat and weakening my body. I feel a little better today (I can at least stand up for 5 min.), but still not good. I rested all day, then packed for the trip in the evening.

In a strange, but good way, I feel like the pressure of the race has been lifted because I am sick. I still plan to race, but without the expectations of myself that I've had throughout the season. I will just be glad to be healthy and able to compete. I will probably take it a bit easier than I had planned and will hope that I can still make the time cut-offs. Considering all of the obstacles I've faced throughout the season that have infringed upon my training, I will be so proud to even make it to the start. Since the beginning of the season in October, I:

• Moved apartments
• Started dating Derek, realized that he is my "one"
• Moved again
• Learned how to live with my "one"
• Rehab'd an injured shoulder
• Managed my job without a boss for 6+ months
• Rehab'd a chronic back injury
• Took over my co-workers job, plus my own job, while assisting a new boss
• Attended two out-of-town weddings (a bridesmaid in one)
• Traveled for work A LOT!!!
• Tried to keep in touch with my friends, but failed miserably, only to realize who my true friends are
• Gave up caffeine so that when I take it on race day it will actually have an effect (this may have been the hardest!)
• Went back on caffeine (seriously, do I really need it to give me a boost in the race? I'll be fine with out it = ).
• Trained A LOT!!! in the 35 degree sleet and 100 degree heat (the hardest workout was 9 hours straight- 3 30 mile bike loops with 3 3 mi. runs in between - on one of the 100 degree days, 9 hours is a long time, especially when the workout is an hour away! We left our house that day at 6:30 am, only to return after quickly grabbing a burrito at 7:30pm!)

So in summary, if for some reason my race-day experience falls short, I will look back on this year and realize that triumphs and struggles have made me a stronger person whether or not I can officially call myself an "Ironman", and that the journey is as valuable to me as I hope the race will be. I am so lucky to have my health and that of my family and friends, and I am thankful to be able to help those who face obstacles much greater than mine while simultaneously accomplishing one of my big dreams. Team-In-Training rocks.

Bad News

My throat was feeling worse and I could hardly get out of bed this morning, so Derek stayed home from work to take me to the doctor. Luckily he went with me as I almost passed out 5 or 6 times trying to get there. Apparently I have an ear infection and what looks to be Strep - I have to call for the results tomorrow. According to the doctor I can probably still race as I started the antibiotics today, so I'll just rest and cross my fingers. The timing isn't actually that bad as we are supposed to be resting in our taper phase anyway, but it feels pretty bad to be stuck to the couch and not moving my muscles at all. I just try think of all the people who have fought Leukemia & Lymphoma and any kind of cancer for that matter and put my situation into perspective . . . so what if I can't race. I can still cheer on my teammates, hang out with my family and know that I will have raised almost $10,000 to help people who feel a whole lot worse than I do.

Uh Oh . . .

I woke up in the middle of the night with a very sore throat so have been taking it easy all day. No workouts. I am very tired and have a bit of a fever. Hopefully this is just a 24 hour thing . . .

The Last Big Workout

A gorgeous day at Aquatic Park . . .

Here's a shot of Derek & Pete landing ashore after a lovely, smooth 40 minute swim, and a group of my teammates - most of them going to Lake Placid with me. Aquatic Park is often choppy, windy and murky, so I'm glad we said our goodbyes to open water swimming for the season on a sunny day. This is our last "big" workout in the taper phase - 40 minutes of swimming followed directly by a 10 mi. run. Piece of cake, especially with such amazing weather. I swam about 1 mi. or so, trying to keep up with Pete, and managed to stay on him. I'm hoping for a 1hr. 20 min. swim, which is about Pete's pace, so I feel good.

We do a quick "deck-change" (tourists gawking as always) and take off on the 10 miler - my legs are feeling great, even up the hills, until I twist my ankle on the Coastal Trail just past the Golden Gate Bridge. I hobble for a few minutes, then press on. I've sprained my ankle so many times playing various sports, that it doesn't even swell up anymore. I take it easy on the rest of the run, though, and finish sometime in between Derek and Pete, then take a nice siesta in the sun on the grass watching my teammates take an "ice bath" in the bay. I opt out as it would require changing my bottoms which definitely requires too much effort. After a super-delicious Safeway Veggin' Out #7, we head home to shower off the green murk that the bay coats us with, ice, relax, and pack up the bag and the bikes to ship off to LP. It was a solid day of training . . . I feel good except for the anke, and am very much looking forward to the real taper in which the workouts don't last more than 2 hours. ONLY 2 WEEKS to go. . .

15 . . .

We turn our bikes in to Tri Bike Transport tomorrow to be shipped to NY, so this was our last ride on our bikes before the race. Derek and I did about 50 miles, up to Nicasio and back. A pretty hot and hilly ride, but it was nice to ride for less than 5 hours for the first time in a long time. The legs felt good.

I bought new tires last night and swapped them for my old tires, and switched out the tubes as well. Good practice for a flat tire during the race, this process is a bit of a struggle as the tires are new and very inflexible, but I manage to muscle them on all by myself. Our living room has literally turned into a bike shop. See below":

It's an anxiety inducing process as I check over the bike to make sure all of the parts appear to be functional because it conjures up images of all of the things that could possibly go wrong on race day. Tomorrow we will put every piece of gear we need for the bike portion into a bag and ship it off with the bike. If we forget something, we can certainly bring it with us, but the essentials are packed away - helmet, shoes, etc. This Tri Bike Transport company better live up to their end of this deal. . . they truck all of our gear across the entire country - from SF to Lake Placid, NY. The bike shop in town, Placid Planet, supposedly has everything we might need and is open 24 hours a day leading up to the race, but it feels odd to send off my beloved Blue Wave - we have hardly been separated for the last 10 months!

T-20

20 days and counting. Derek surprised me with a trip to Tahoe for my 30th birthday with friends Mike, Susan, Kristy and Alberto. Derek, Mike and I rode around the lake today for a gorgeous 72 mile excursion. The weather was perfect, and I was able to keep a faster pace than I have been (15.4 mph) on other long hilly rides. The altitude definitely had me a bit short of breath and naseaus for the first 15 mi., but I was able to slowly take in some of my new favorite Ironman food- Wheat Thins - and slowly settled in. Mike and Derek cruised ahead of me for most of the day, but stopped to check in every now and then. Here are photos from our rest atop (almost) Emerald Bay.

Shortly after this, we came up upon a solo cyclist who asked if he could ride with us. Of course we welcomed him, until we found out that he was two days away from the National Championships with the US Cycling Team. Such a little thing he was! MAYBE 110. Even I was able to pass him on the downhills . . . but man, did he fly on the uphills.

With the bike ride done, we will relax in the lake, play games and celebrate until Tuesday when it's time to hit the road again.