Terrible, terrible tan lines

Tuesday, 8/20/13 make up run... Ooops...

I set my alarm for 5am this morning to make up for yesterday's missed/skipped run.  I could not get out of bed!  I hit snooze several times, even ignoring the cat's cries and paws to my face to get up!  It was so comfortable in my bed!!!

Eventually, at about 6:45am, I finally got out of bed and realized that there was no way I could make it to the gym for a 90 minute run, clean up/shower and get to work on time via the CTA.  (My car is in the shop for the next week-ish getting repaired after my fender bender.)  I logged into my coaching site and reported that I had slept and ate through yesterday's workout and my coach encouraged me to get it done today after work.  She said that this type of fatigue is common during a taper and it's my body's chemical reaction to decreasing my workouts.  I'm still researching if this is bullshit or not. While a lot of other athletes seem to hate the taper, despite feeling tired, I'm not scared of it.

I got dressed and was relieved not to have to carry my purse, work bag AND workout bag to work today.  Although, by the time I walked to the El, I was disappointed in myself that I hadn't brought my swim suit and goggles; I could have easily made up a swim post-Judy's birthday dinner tonight at Hub 51.  Unfortunately, I received my coach's email after I had gotten on the train, so I'm not sure a run in my future today?  ((Is this part of what athletes hate about tapering?  "Wanting" to workout?  I mean, I am just wanting to complete what I should have anyway.  :)  I'm not craving massive amounts of working out, that's for sure!))

I also just realized that I really, REALLY need to start thinking about what I'm eating (again) since I can't consume the (empty) calories I've been allowing myself and should probably look more at carbohydrates as storage for the upcoming event.  Carbs should really be fresh fruits, veggies and grains- this is not an issue for me, honestly.  I may finally just buy some delivered meals from Factor 75 over the next few weeks.  I was made aware of this company and service by a fellow (amazing!) triathlete, Joe Lotus.

Monday... rest day swap - 8/19/13

I brought all my running stuff to work so I could get to the gym afterwards.  Being so tired lately, I like to run on the treadmill (despite the lovely weather) because it forces me to keep running!

I jumped on the Redline around 5:15 or so to head to FFC Lincoln Park on North Avenue.

After I got off and started my walk to the gym, I remembered that I had a coupon for new free panties at Victoria's Secret... so I went in to redeem that.  Then as I passed by teh Gap, I thought I should pick up something for Emily's bachelorette party gift (yes, I should've gotten that at VS, but thankfully the Gap has fun stuff now too!).  I managed to by myself an $8 pair of pants (they're super fun!) and a sweater as well as some additional panties for Emily (and me!  haha).  At that point, I was feeling really hungry and knew I couldn't make it through a 90 minute run, so I walked over to Whole Foods for dinner.

I love walking around Whole Foods since the clientele is so varied:  it runs the gamut from hippies with dreadlocks to Yuppie dad walking around shopping with their kids with beers in their hands!  I just went directly to the salad bar and loaded up on a bunch of stuff.  I tend to eat vegetarian while I'm there since there are so many options!  I sat and ate at a table outside in the lovely summer evening air and when I was done, I was without pretty much any energy and just decided to head home!  So much for my workout!

When I got home (the train took FOREVER!), it was just about 8pm and I climbed into bed with Ferracat, set my alarm for 5am to make up the run Tuesday morning and promptly passed out!!!

Daily meditation until and including 9/8

Taper commentary

I read this from a blog that was linked to the Facebook Ironman Wisconsin group page and it seemed funny and probably true. 

"After all, this is just a long training day with valet parking and catering, right?  [...]  Everyone comes up with a brilliant race plan for Ironman, and then everyone has to deal with the reality that planning for something like Ironman is like trying to land a man on the moon. By remote control. Blindfolded."

Sunday rest day 8/18

We got up relatively early with all the kids at Jenny's house and headed downtown to meet Polly and John at the Avenue for brunch.  Jackie was in town with her kids and Chandra and Mark were in town and stopped by too. 

The physical improvements to the Avenue were nice but the food wasn't that good. It wasn't cheap ($3.95 for a side of bacon in Wisconsin?!?!!) either. Michael actually sent his steak back (steak & eggs) because it was cold and there really weren't a lot of menu choices. Not like the old days. :-(

We enjoyed catching up with everyone but I was also glad to get back home relatively early too. I did some laundry and relaxed on my couch- something I truly haven't done in many months. After a few hours, I got back up to go to Edison Park to meet Tona and a few if her friends for a "final"? Dinner before the babies. It was fun chatting with everyone but when 8:15pm came around, I hit my wall and was anxious to get going to climb into bed!

I have to take my car into the shop tomorrow for a week of repairs and get to the gym after work for a 90 minute run so it's going to be a long day. I have tentative plans to meet up with Mel but we are also playing that a bit by ear...  For a taper week I still have a lot of workouts and plans and I need to do some chillaxing!!! :)

Saturday 8/17 bike ride in Madison (after OWS)

After finishing the swim, I went up the helix at the Monona Terrace and changed to get ready for my ride. 

My coach put 112 miles in my plan but I was pretty well convinced that I'd only do 1 loop due to the fear of having a bad final course experience. I met up with the other gals I knew and we decided to skip the stick on the way out to verona in favor of the Wisconsin bike path- which was really lovely!  There were two portions where we could've jumped onto the street but we decided to take the path all the way to Whalen Road. 

Soon after we got to Fireman's Park, I refreshed my water bottle at the cooler I had dropped there prior to the OWS. I also ate 1/2 a Twix. Then the gals and I left and that's when I started the ride solo. Kathleen had asked if she could ride "with" me because she thought we might be at the same pace, but she kept up with Mary and Jessica (I think?) or at least was not riding with me!  Eventually near Mt. Horeb I saw and passed her- and she asked if I would wait for her at the area where we take the stick back to town. I told her (honestly) that I didn't want to wait and that I really new nothing more than anyone else since I'd never ridden the stick. She was understanding also because I was a bit stressed. As it turned out near Witte Road she left me in the dust and I saw her later riding up and down with Jessica and Mary. 

I actually heard someone behind me around mile 60 say "Hi Shannon" and thought that it was strange that there was another rider behind me named Shannon too...  It was Mary!  Apparently her chain dropped and they had to take some time to fix it. This means that I rode right past them without even knowing it!  I guess Jessica stopped too!  Then they both passed me heading up the gravel twisty road whose name escapes me now. By now my knee was acting up a bit and I was trying to move so that it didn't become worse (I'm going to try and get an ART massage or two this week.). 

I rode the stick back to the Monona Terrace and I'm glad I did. There are a few big hills on Whalen heading east but the actual road conditions were fine.  I was happy to be off the bike -even only having ridden about 75 miles (I forgot to restart my watch at one point when we had stopped so I'm not exactly sure)- and loaded it back up into my car and threw on my tennis shoes for my run. 

My knee felt totally fine off the bike and I hope it salta us that way on race day. I'm fairly certain it's related to the IT band and not my bike fit. I'm hoping it was just two weeks of massive fatigue that had it flair up. 

I decided that my race plan will be to walk the first 5 minutes of the run. I get super excited and the adrenaline starts pumping and I don't want to over exert myself first thing. I did this yesterday on the run and it worked well. Besides, you have to run up and out of the parking lot so it avoids one mini hill!

After that, I basically did 5/5 or 5minutes walk/5 jog and the first mile was about 12 minutes so I ended up running down around the capitol and off to a side street or two, towards Langdon and then up State Street to meet Michael at Himul Chuli- my favorite Nepali restaurant post-workout. I wish I hadn't been so sweaty and dirty so I could've gone into a new store called "Citrine" nearby, but it was probably better that I didn't spend any more $$$!

After that, we walked back to the Terrace and drove back to Don & Jenny's where Jackie was also just pulling up!  That night we built a fire in the out, roasted s'mores and had a bottle of wine and caught up. I was passed out on the couch in and out of sleep while everyone else was chatting until"The Big Lebowski" came on. :). It was fu. Watching parts with dear friends who know my affinity for it!