The back stretch

No, this isn't a PT thread.

So I'm in the second to last week before IM Canada. I took last week off completely for rest. I was heading into some serious cumulative fatigue. Fortunately, my adopted running coach realized what was going on and demanded that I rest for 7 days!! I thought I was going to be whacko from boredom, but actually I really needed it and I didn't start to get antsy until day 7.

So here's what's up....

Yesterday - 110 mile bike, over 8500 feet climbing in 7 hours riding time.
Today (Mon) - rest
Tues - swim with masters, hard freestyle set, form workout on the track with short sprints
Wed - tempo run for about 11 to 13 miles (plus warm-up and cooldown)
Thurs - Swim masters, Tempo ride for about 2 -3 hours
Fri - rest
Sat - Run, more tempo work but length depends on how I feel. Raft trip with my boss to celebrate 50th b-day (hers, not mine)

Sun and Mon - lots of sleep, no workouts

Tues - Swim, then mini brick with some intensity.
Wed - Short ride with spin ups to keep the legs sharp and travel half way to race
Thurs - travel rest of way, go for a swim and short run with intervals
Fri - rest
Sat - mini tri, then breakfast and get my gear ready.

Sunday - Kick some serious booty.:D :D :D

This will be my official venting during my taper thread. I will try to keep my irrational rants and ravings isolated here in an attempt to not atagonize the entire forum. If you choose to visit, you can't say I didn't warn you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wahine

This will be my official venting during my taper thread. I will attemp to keep my irrational rants and ravings isolated here in an attempt to not atagonize the entire forum. If you choose to visit, you can't say I didn't warn you.

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I'm looking forward to this:D

FARK! I MUST have my head in the sand??!! I had NO IDEA that you were doing the grande dame of Canada??!!
OY, where have I been??? Oh yeah, at the doctors office.... ALOT!!! :eek:

I want to break out in a verse of "O CANADA" right now.. But ummm errr... Don't know the words- if there are any.. heh heh heh:rolleyes:

Anyway, that is some SERIOUS climbing girlfriend. You are ready for Richter pass I'd say! SHEESH!!
You are going to ROCK that course. And yeah, taking that week off is prolly just what you needed to get all healed up and everything.
Oh- and one more thing... The week or so before the race, you will feel heavy and sloggish. THAT IS WHAT YOU SHOULD BE FEELING. I know you know that, but I felt the need to SHOUT it too ya!! hee hee :D

Anyway, don't go losing your mind during this taper now, 'kay??
Oh do I know that feeling... ohh do I... I envy you. I'm ready to start building my mileage again. I'm in a weight loss phase, so only doing short stuff... sigh.. I MISS my 7 hour ride, 2 hour run bricks. Tho I will be seeing them again come the end of the year... Patience I keep telling myself. PATIENCE...
Something us Iron women aren't very good at! lol

What the @#$!! am I doing still up, I need to be sleeping so I can get up at 5:00 AM to go to the pool. Aaaaaaggggghhhhh!!

Edited to add: Thanks for the Reminder RM. I already feel sluggish. I'm sure CC could help you out with the words. Take care, you've been going through a lot.

OH MY GOD! You really are insane. :D I like it.

V.

Bring on the crazy venting YODA...we can take it.... I look forward to tuning in on any and all insanity that it stimulates....

Oh my gosh, is it really August? How did that happen . . .

Hmm, so now you have an audience that's actually looking forward to your insane ranting! :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HappyAnika

Oh Hmm, so now you have an audience that's actually looking forward to your insane ranting! :p

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Indeed! Bring it on, Wahine! You've earned it!!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

http://www.jeb.org.uk/forumoj/images...Not-Worthy.gifhttp://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/yoda2.gifhttp://www.jeb.org.uk/forumoj/images...Not-Worthy.gifhttp://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/yoda2.gifhttp://www.jeb.org.uk/forumoj/images...Not-Worthy.gifhttp://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/yoda2.gifhttp://www.jeb.org.uk/forumoj/images...Not-Worthy.gifhttp://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/yoda2.gif

Oh wait I found a cooler one

http://www.powwows.com/gathering/ima...lies/bow28.gif

p.s. for the worker bees among us: what sort of schedule do you work to fit your training around?

Wow- only 2 weeks away?? Where did the time go?
Sounds like you're not only ready for your race, but you're going to kick arse at it!!!!! I can't wait to hear all about your race day- it's going to be a nail biter for all of us waiting on you.
When you know your bib #, please let us know so we can track you during the day (if you don't mind us tracking you, that is).

Vent away: cry, scream, curse, and even yell here. We're all on your side!!!!

Thanks girls. I was ready to go on a rant but then I started to laugh so hard when I checked the thread, my rant may have dissipated.

Alpine, where on earth do you find this stuff?

As for work, I average 32 hours per week. I'm on an appointment schedule so I block out time at lunch to fit in workouts and tray to swim at least 2 times (3 if I can) during the week before my first appointment at 8 AM. It's tight, but I make it work.

So today I swam my azz off for 2100 m at 1:40 pace. These were 200s and 100s on short rest intervals. The coach was standing over top of me making sure I didn't cheat on my rest. So I called him a b@st@rd several times, much to the amusement of my lane mates.

I'm a little freaked out about my run because I did some zone 4 intervals of 1/2 mile today and could only hold a 7:45 ish pace. This does not bode well for a 8:30 pace race day. But hey, I'll finish. I have to keep reminding myself that nothing is lost if I don't hit my goal time. It's not like anyone's going to drop my sponsorship contracts that I don't have!!

Well, off to sleep. Longer run tomorrow. That'll really tell the tale. And that will be my last hard run before the race. Baaaaaahhhhhh!!

You're going to run a mile in 8 and a half minutes. And then you're going to repeat that 25 more times!!!!!

I have a theory on tri order. The swim is first so you don't drown from exhaustion at the finish line. The run is last so when you collapse from exhaustion at the finish line, you don't have so far to fall or equipment to worry about.

I think you'll do just fine Wahine. :)

V.

WOW! It's almost here! How exciting! I remember when you first started mentioning it and your training.. was that about a year ago?

Man, the time has flown by!

Last night, when I woke up in the middle of the night... I was thinking about how you do your training... with recovery weeks... and I'm going to talk to my coach about looking into that kind of schedule for my IM training. And if he can't do it, I'll find someone who can. I've come to the realization that I'm a mediocre, slow athlete, who needs REST! I never get a rest day with my current coach and I think it's killing me.

Anyhoo... please keep us updated and let us know your bib number if we are able to track you on Ironman.com!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Veronica

You're going to run a mile in 8 and a half minutes. And then you're going to repeat that 25 more times!!!!!

I have a theory on tri order. The swim is first so you don't drown from exhaustion at the finish line. The run is last so when you collapse from exhaustion at the finish line, you don't have so far to fall or equipment to worry about.

I think you'll do just fine Wahine. :)

V.

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My 8:30 to 9 min pace on the marathon is looking a little out of reach at the mo.

Ran this AM, 15 miles and I did 9 of them at about race intensity and I was not averaging under 9 min/mi. Granted it was hot and I ran short intervals yesterday so my hips were tight and my legs a little tired.

Oh well, we'll see what happens.

You are exactly right on the race order theory there V. Think of the disaster if you totally bonked in the water or on the bike.:eek: :eek:

I'm starting to get excited. My bib number was assigned today - 2289. Sounds lucky to me.:)

:D
And YES, it sounds VERY lucky to me!!
As far as holding a pace like that?? DANG NABBIT GIRL!!! That is SPEEDY!!!
I'd die to hold an 11 min mi pace for the IM mary! HA!! :confused:
Oh heck, I'm just a slooowww poke anyway....
As Apline said (bow down) I'm NOT WORTHY!!! :D :( :D
I can't WAIT to watch you! It's going to be a tri fecta kinda weekend now! Running son is going to do his FIRST triathlon on the 25th, running hubby is racing the 26th, and I get to watch YOU on Ironmanlive float across the finishline in sweet victory!
Love it, LOVE IT!!!
Oh and KSH- ditch the coach if he's running you into the ground. I just had to set mine straight. He has been hammering me to lose weight. So I finally got with a nutritionist and have lost 12 lbs in the last month. BUT she doesn't want me doing any long stuff right now. She says when your in a weight loss phase, you can't tax your body by also doing the long stuff. It's too much and it wont work. Plus I'd be too hungry if I was doing long stuff. So I do more frequent smaller workouts, and well... It's working. But he keeps hammering away that I need to do long stuff and just "control my hand shoving food in my mouth". I about drove out to his house to shove something somewhere else with that comment! :cool:
Let's just say that we aren't seeing eye to eye right now. He's also coaching my husband, so I think he needs to concentrate on that and leave me to do my thing... :cool: :cool: :cool:
Oops... sorry for the thread drift.. heh heh heh
back to Wahine's taper induced freak out thread! :D

Hey, I really believe that the shorter stuff at higher intensity really helps weight loss. I've been doing a lot more of that this year and I'm leaner than I've been since before I turned 30.

Anyway, it sounds like your coach is being a bit of an azz.

My impromtu coach is a very interesting fellow. He looks like he'd drive you into the ground but he spends most of the time asking how I feel and telling me to sleep and eat more. He had an interesting comment one day, something to the effect of:

Life is like water flowing through a chute, there's only so much the chute can accomodate and training takes up a lot of volume. When you add something else in like a fight with your spouse, a sick relative or even just work stress, that goes into the chute too. It'll accomodate for a little while but eventually it'll burst. So don't discount all those other factors in your life when you think about how much training you should put in a week.

Anyway, I thought that was a good way of looking at it and in your case RM, diet stress would fall into that category.

So everyone out there....Be careful, I've had more than one coach push me to the point of illness. No one knows your body like you do.

I was just looking at what's new for apparel here at TE and saw this.

http://www.teamestrogen.com/images/p...8-HULA_lrg.jpg

Which got me to wondering, what are you wearing for your event?

V.

Wahine, that is an awesome analogy! I love it! And my health care professionals would agree with it, too.

2289 - sounds strong!! You rock!

btw, we miss you over on OT:A

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Veronica

I was just looking at what's new for apparel here at TE and saw this.

http://www.teamestrogen.com/images/p...8-HULA_lrg.jpg

Which got me to wondering, what are you wearing for your event?

V.

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Why V. I'm wearing the Wahine tank you spotted months ago, with black sugoi shorts.

The photos are a little blurry, DH had to take them from quite a distance so they've been cropped and blown up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Running Mommy

FARK! I MUST have my head in the sand??!! I had NO IDEA that you were doing the grande dame of Canada??!!
OY, where have I been??? Oh yeah, at the doctors office.... ALOT!!! :eek:

I want to break out in a verse of "O CANADA" right now.. But ummm errr... Don't know the words- if there are any.. heh heh heh:rolleyes:

Anyway, that is some SERIOUS climbing girlfriend. You are ready for Richter pass I'd say! SHEESH!!
You are going to ROCK that course. And yeah, taking that week off is prolly just what you needed to get all healed up and everything.
Oh- and one more thing... The week or so before the race, you will feel heavy and sloggish. THAT IS WHAT YOU SHOULD BE FEELING. I know you know that, but I felt the need to SHOUT it too ya!! hee hee :D

Anyway, don't go losing your mind during this taper now, 'kay??
Oh do I know that feeling... ohh do I... I envy you. I'm ready to start building my mileage again. I'm in a weight loss phase, so only doing short stuff... sigh.. I MISS my 7 hour ride, 2 hour run bricks. Tho I will be seeing them again come the end of the year... Patience I keep telling myself. PATIENCE...
Something us Iron women aren't very good at! lol

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For you Running Mommy - to the best of my memory.


Oh Canada, our home and native land,
True patriot love, in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts, we see thee rise,
The true north strong and free,
So stand on guard, oh Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land,
Glorious and Free,
Oh Canada we stand on guard for thee,
Oh Canada we stand on guard for thee

Wahine - I can't wait to watch you run across the finish line on the 26th. DH and I will be there, we're planning our day around it! So what time frame do you hope to be in bike/run transition?

Thanks KG! I have the melody in my head, now I have words to go with it!!:)

URGH..i hate the fact that i'm a time zone ahead & won't be able to watch the race(hmmm..perhaps a bit) live on ironmanlive.com :( I do hope someone can keep us updated though on your race.

I'll be tinking about ya Wahine! Are you going for a top 10 age group spot?

C

I just realized that IM Louisville is the SAME DAY as canada!
So I wonder if Ironmanlive is only going to be broadcasting one race- and if so- which one??
canada is HUGE, so you would think that would be a given. But "Lou" is the new kid on the block and took some time to fill, so they may want to advertise that.
Plus for some reason I'm thinking that NA sports doesn't "own" the canada race, so I have a sinking feeling that they are going to broadcast Lou and not canada.
I have no facts to base this on, just a feeling.
I'll be PISZED if I can't see Wahine cross the line! uurrggh!!
What race was it last year that they didn't broadcast? It was either canada or Florida if my foggy memory can recall???
I just remember tuning in to see one of the TE'ers and being very disappointed.

Ok, upon further research I see that NA sports DOES own canada, so we may be in luck. Unless of course the IMloive folks don't care to haul their cameras over the border...:D
Oh- wait! They ARE from canada! When I ordered my customized super special finishers video from them they were in canada..
Ok, my mind is at ease, I think we are going to be safe!
Wheewww!!:p

WTC owns "Lou"... Hmmm I wonder who controls the Ironmanlive feeds? WTC or NA sports??

Thanks for the pics! I'm glad that tank worked for ya. It just seemed... appropriate.

That place looks beautiful. Which tri was that?

V.

I think you all may be more excited than I am.

I feel a little tired this AM. Legs are a little stiff from the run yesterday.

I will likely just swim today but we'll see.

V. - That's Pacific Crest close to Bend OR. It's an extremely beautiful race and very well organized, complete with an athlete's village and an expo. They have 2 distances, the HIM on Sat and the Oly on Sun. DH and I camped right at the race start at a lake about 20 miles outside of SunRiver where the race ends. It was perfect. You should think about it for next year. It would be worth a trip and I'll likely be there either racing or cheering.

what?? No freak out today?? Or has your head exploded?? heh heh heh:D

Actually, no major freak outs today.

I had a good swim this AM, did a little butterfly and some other stroke work. All's good in the swim department.

My hip is still tight from the long run yesterday. If It's still tight tomorrow...then I'll freak out!! Tonight I'm doing some yoga and working with The Stick.

www.thestick.com

I love that thing.

SIL is here visiting which helps to take my mind off of things.

But now I'm starting to freak out because I should be in bed sleeping!!

Get some sleep, Wahine! You need your rest... :D

Loved the pics- sooo pretty up there! You look like a tough iron chick!

Wahine do you have an ART guy (or girl :) ) in your neck of the woods? Sounds like a little tightness from the load. May need to loosen up some of that fascia tissue in there.
The stick is good, so are tennis balls. Or your partners elbow.

Ya know, we do have an ART person in the vicinity. I work at a manual therapy clinic and I would ask my partner to help me out but we're so busy here right now, I'd hate to add to his work load. I might have to call in a favour elsewhere.

My hip is actually better this AM but my calves are tight. So I've been stickin' 'em and stretching etc, much better than first thing this AM.

I was going to ride today but I think it's a yoga day instead.

I'm starting to get "easily distractable Taper brain" now. Also known as Monkey brain. I hate it when that happens. It makes it so hard for me to focus on my paperwork and then it takes me longer to do it and then I don't get home as early......

Off to make some phone calls.

Focus, Grasshopper! :D

V.

Mentally, I want nothing more than to go out and do a short, high intensity brick. RIGHT NOW!!

But I know I didn't get enough sleep over the last few days and my hip was ery mildly sore right up until this morning and my calves were tight until today. (Left over from long tempo run on Wed).

So I called my coach to get his take and he's not available. Aaaaaaarrrrggh!

So now I'm hanging around my house, no one's here. I'm spinning my wheels and I can't decide what to do.

The advantage of doing the work out is that it will calm me down and help me carbo load. The disadvantage is that it may irritate my hip again and I have 7 days until the race. That's not a lot of recovery time if I actually set up an inflammatory response.

I could just ride. That would not irritate my hip. Or I could run but on the track, no hills etc.

I think I'll do littel yoga to reassess how my body feels and decide.

Right now, I'm literally vibrating. Think jack russell on caffeine.

Yoga sounds like a good idea. I know nothing about training and tapering but rest or a very easy ride sounds like the best idea to me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wahine

www.thestick.com
I love that thing.

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Hey, I started a new line of work this week, so have been largely away from TE. I LOVE this thread! It is so exciting. I am SOOoooo impressed by your 7 hour time for 110 miles with 8500 feet. Truly amazing.

I have never tried The Stick, but recently a friend gave me a product that I am LOVING. She got it at Costco for 10.00. Called The Miracal Ball Method, it is just two rubber balls and a little book of instructions. The balls are about the size of large grapefruit, but much softer than tennis balls (which are way, way too hard for me).

I have been doing a 20 minute routine with these balls from my hamstring insertion points, my pelvis, my whole back, my shoulders, and my neck. You don't roll around on them, you just position them and then deep breathe and relax into the pressure for 2-3 minutes per spot. Huge results for me, both physically and energetically.

Wahine, we are behind you all the way. Your taper will work, you will be ready, and when race day comes, your sluggishness and nerves will fall away, and the results of your careful training are going to blast through it all. You are going to have a whole raft of supporters along with you every step of the way, cheering you on!!! You absolutely ROCK, woman!!

Ah, Wahine! I can't say I know exactly how you feel, but I kind of do.....wanting to do something you know you can't/shouldn't - I'm very familiar with this.

Yoga is a great idea. And after that, can you borrow someone's dog? Does taking a dog for a nice stroll through the woods sound like a good idea? It's still active, but you can do it without much effort, and dogs really do some amazing things to reduce mental agitation...... I know you're thinking of getting a dog once the IM is over. Do any of the shelters in your area allow you to take a dog on a "test drive"?

Just a thought.

Otherwise, just hang out with us. We'll keep you entertained!! :D

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

Where is the IM? Am trying to figure out except for I know Western Canada :D

Have never seen one and have nothing scheduled for that day. I've read so much about your preparation to go into it, I know you will do awesome. It's sad that the taper week gives you so much time to think though, sometimes thinking is just BAD!

You gotta relax. You KNOW an intense workout is not the right thing today.

How about an easy swim?

V.

Teigyr - IM Canada is in Penticton, BC http://www.penticton.ca/maps/regionmap.asp

And that's about a 45 minutes drive (depending on traffic on the bridge) from where KG lives, and about an hour and a half drive from where we are.

~T~