Melissa - Vain Triathlete

Since 2005 I have been intrigued with the Ironman. That was around the time I actually figured out what the race consisted of.  A 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run.  Along with having an awesome coach from the PBM outfit (Carrie)  I was lucky enough to have found little support wagons along the way. For starters - Kathy has been very supportive and encouraging. I did not expect this to be. But it is to be and I am grateful.  She understands that I like to do this sort of thing even if it's not what she had in mind. Somehow we have morphed my races into unique vacation spots. This strategy does seem to work for us. Secondly my triathlon swim class. Kim Goodwin runs this class and it is fantastic.  She has helped my swim go from very bad to mediocre in about a years time. I'm more than thrilled to be a  mediocre  swimmer at this point in my life. That said I do plan to get a lot better. Through swim class I met up wi...

So here we are. Less than three weeks until the big day. It's been an awesome journey up to this point. I thought for sure the training would kill me worse than any marathon I have ever trained for. How could Ironman training actually feel better than marathon training? With all the extra hours needed and the non-stop planning out of every day. When you think about it - it's really amazing how you can shift, gradually of course, into this super human planning machine. So - here we are.  All the real training is done. The long rides are done. The long runs are done. The long long  long swims are done. Some might think I'm crazy for thinking the swims of 1.5 hours felt longer than the rides of 7 hours but they did. These pics were taken at LP training camp 2 weeks ago just as we arrived. I am very happy with how all of my training has gone. I remember having a perfect marathon training season in which I only missed maybe 2 workouts. Some training seasons go bett...

Saturday was spent running around purchasing arm warmers, gloves, long sleeve shirt, and toe covers. The rain was coming and we could freeze just like the Olympic racers did on Saturday morning. I just read a friends race report who did the Olympic and stated - "Halfway through the bike I couldn't stop thinking about how cold I was",  "my hand was completely numb. I had no dexterity in my left had to shift." When I got to my bike rack there was nothing but water under the rack. There was no place to put my bag so I was allowed to find a place elsewhere.  Lucky for me my newly assigned transition area worked out better because I had an entire table to myself. Sweet. My position was on on the outside perimeter as well which makes things easy to find. After hugs and good lucks to Kathy and Dan, Melissa and I walked to the waters edge where we were greeted by Mary.  I decided I would get in the water since my wave was going off pretty quick. ...

I'll skip all the boring details of my ride there and how, logistically, I could have done without the mile walk to and from the race with my bike and bag. Before the race I met up with some friends to chit chat and catch up. Here we are, Maureen, Rose, Linda,  and I. Twas early for  for an open water swim right?  We ladies in the pink caps, heading out dead last, were fretting about the water temperature. We decided to wade in the water a lot since we had to wait anyways. We might as well get used to the water.  It really wasn't too bad after you became numb. Just kidding. It really wasn't that bad. I decided I would see what I could do in this rather small race and so I started in the front row of the swim. I probably have no business being there but I have improved my swim and the only way find out how much I have improved is to test.  I went out hard and fast but it was hard to swim. I was thrashing and getting thrashed. Finally about half way t...

Training - Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to get in a week of training out in Sonoma Valley CA while Kathy and I were visting some great friends.  My coach decided that would be an excellent time to up my biking mileage.  I was more than happy to accept. I couldn't wait to get that first century completed. It was a great ride with pal Donna up and over wine country. I took this picture of a bird of paradise while having lunch at some snazzy restaurant. Running Front:   On Sunday I ran a 6.7 fartlek with Zac and Charlotte .  It was a great run since the sun was actually out.  Charlotte filled us in on the details of her upcoming opening of "Charles River Running" specialty retail store coming June 1st in Norwood, MA.  We runners and triathletes are very excited to have our very own specialty store right in lil ole Norwood, MA. Team Front : On Saturday I road with Team Infintri  and pal Mel Bair ...

Last weekend I road with team Infintri from Caryl Park in Dover. We road for 3.5 hours then I did a short T run of 20 minutes.  It went ok.  We did make a half hour stop for a lost dog at one point. I know we all should have stopped but only two of the 7 riders actually stopped for the doggies.  Myself and the remainder of the group only stopped because the other two riders stopped for the dog and this group has a "no drop" policy on some rides.  Particularly when there are new riders in the group. Which there were that day.  I finished somewhere around 3:PM.  After that I had a few errands to run and various other tasks such as preparing to bring Lasagna to my sisters the following day. That was Saturday.  Easter Sunday came and went as fast as you can say "ironman training is tricky".   Somehow I managed to make omelettes,  give my bike a nice cleaning, gave my dog a nice cleaning,...

First 50 miler of the season. My legs were a little tired from the 10k time trail on the bike and the 2.75 road race yesterday at MIT but I was able to hit most of my watts. Mel B. went with me and we were able to keep each other in views. Not catastrophes, didn't get lost. Just a steady ride.  I took this pic because this house has Old Glory hanging at the entrance of his driveway.  Cool.