Ironmans Injury

My Ironman has an injury and hasn't been working out. He's using the barn building as an excuse and though I appreciate it, he needs to get busy building up his body. Hes got a big race in November to FINISH and do it well.
From some of his comments hes made it sounds like he wants to use his injury to get a pass on the race this year and defer till next year. Um, NO. I paid for him to do it THIS year, not next year.
I was checking out the calendar and I wouldn't be able to do it till 2020 if I remained on-call at work, since we can't take days off of Thanksgiving week.

The barn/lean-too

is now completely off the arena, its a lot lighter & brighter in there. But if we are smart it can stay light and bright, with use of windows and clear roof panels.

He has been moving dirt out of the way to make room for cement. Its going to need 6 inches of sand + 4-6 inches of cement so hes got a lot of dirt to move.

Global Running Day

On February 2nd I found out I had the tumor, which measured 4.9cm, in my foot.

May 3rd, the day I had the injection into it, it measured 5.9cm.

June 6th I went in, planning on a 2nd injection. When the Doctor ultra sounded my foot he took a long time doing it and discovered the tumor has shrunk down to 3.7cm, a full 40% smaller than last month.  We decided no injection today (YAY) and I'll go back in a month for follow up and we hope it continues to shrink.

 June 7th was Global Running Day and I celebrated by going out to the forest for a run, my first in about a year. I ran for about 25 minutes and went about 1.27 miles with very little pain or discomfort.

Black Friday

Today is Black Friday, traditionally the day everyone goes shopping in the big stores and malls, fighting over the 5 TVs on sale for a super good price, pushing old ladies into the street in order to get her place in line to get through the door faster. I've only gone shopping on this day a few times and not for Christmas gifts but usually for groceries or a piece of lumber at Lowes.

 

Last year REI decided to start something new,

 

 

I won't be able to go hiking or running but I'll certainly stay away from the stores.

 

 

This awesome signed picture is now mine. Affirmed, Secretariat and Seattle Slew, ridden to victory in the Triple Crown, autographed by their jockeys. I'm very excited to get it.

 

Rode Today

I actually got out on the trails at Banner Forest today on Sunshower with Karen on her mare, rode about 5 miles. What an awesome time!

 

Now I want to ride my horse every day and not do Ironman next year.

Decisions, decisions.

Holding My Breath

Suzie hasn't gotten back to me yet about her early registration slot for IMAZ so I'm still not 100% sure if I'll be getting it or not but I'm already planning things. Diet, exercise plan, logistics.

I'm TRYING to lose weight now but that's just not happening but I am slimming down. Shakeology once a day plus 4-5 other small meals with some protein at each meal. Some of those meals might just be 12 almonds but that's keeping my metabolism going. Lan thinks I need to eat less but I've been reading more and more about menopausal women needing to eat more. I'm eating less but its better for me food more often.

I'm once again going to use the plan I had for my previous Ironmans. I'm not going to hire a coach and have them give me a plan that's just like this one or not as good and I only have to be accountable to ME. I'm not going to lie to anyone or myself and say I've been riding 76 miles when I only went 45. If I don't do a workout it will only be ME who suffers.
The plan is really good, it doesn't say RIDE YOUR BIKE 45 MILES or RIDE FOR AN HOUR, it actually gives me a workout to do, most on the bike trainer.

Sunday  RUN 1:10

You might find it helpful to mentally break this run into 35:00 chunks. I always find that to be more manageable than a full hour, for some reason, and it helps maintain the focus throughout this longer duration.

             Spend the first 20:00 getting into it, watching your HR slowly get above 60%
            2 x 20:00 @75% w/5:00 @60-65% in between
            BIKE 0:30  Immediately after the run...hold the intensity @70-75%
            RUN 0:50  I'm going to ask you to really challenge yourself here -- time to up the tempo and close out your week with a bang. Remember, you've got tomorrow off, so go out there and make this a strong effort. 
You'll be starting with a fast tempo right out of the blocks:  2 x 15:00 above 80% w/10:00 @60% after each

Run  6.6 miles / 1:20
Bike 14 miles / :50  
Run 4.0 miles / :50

The above workout was in week 27, which was a 'competitive season' week. Not only did I use the training plan but I also kept track of how much time & miles I completed, and for the bike I rode more than 2283 miles between Christmas and IMAZ 11 months later. About 400 miles run and only 20 miles swam.

I'll be honest here, I could have trained a lot more, with my work schedule all jacked up due to working odd hours, I missed a lot of workouts. This time it can be different. If I just do 50% of the missed ones in addition to the ones I did, I'll be flying high.

But this fucking plantar fasciitis needs to get better. This is so fucked up.

Spring Weather, Bike Rides

Today I had a fun ride on the mtn bikes with Leona at Banner Forest, about 6.26 miles in 1:40 hours. So much fun. Shes got skills and is about equal to me so we ride well together.

 

Here is her bike, leaning on a log. We had to climb over that sucker.

 

I've been asked to ride 32 miles tomorrow.

 

Going long.

 

This morning before I rode the bike I had a massage, she worked hard on my left shoulder and right hip. The hip is messed up because the shoulder is messed up, all aggravated by the accident. I have stretching exercises to do to help it get better and IF I JUST DO THEM it can only make me feel better.

 

I'd be able to swim faster too.

 

Horse news:

Joey is awesome.

Wifi is shedding, should be white soon.

Back On A Bike

I rode my mtn bike today for the first time since November and I only rode it then to go to a friends house and to get my 50 minutes of riding in before IMAZ.

 

 

  I asked Lan this morning if he would go with me and he agreed so we went to banner Forest at noon. The parking lot was full and the secondary parking area too but we only saw a few people.

 

I didn't crash but I did side swipe a tree, it didn't hurt at all but I got dirty. And it scared me so I lost all my confidence for a few minutes. But I was back at it in no time.

 

I wore my IMAZ FINISHERS cycling jacket for the first time and it was PERFECT. I felt like I had warm air surrounding me, I wasn't too cold at all. OK, my butt was cold but it wasn't in my jacket either.

 

We rode for about an hour and it was so perfect.

Back At It

Tomorrow I'm going to go trail running, it will be my first run since Ironman. Technically, I DID run on a treadmill on the 3rd or 4th day afterward but quit after about 100 steps, had that small blister to complain about, lol.

I've been a little sore since the accident that happened on the freeway on the way home from the airport. My left side is way tighter than normal and I've had headaches. Body tightness is one thing but having it bother me and create headaches is another and I don't like it. I've got a massage tomorrow and I hope it helps. I went to the doc and was prescribed massage and pain pills and muscle relaxers. I can't take pills when I'm going to be working, that is HIGHLY frowned upon.

I am signed up for the Yukon Do It half marathon on December 27th, the Hot Chocolate 15K Run on March 6th and the Tacoma City half marathon on May 1st. In April there is a 50 mile run in Port Gamble, on trails, and I am thinking about signing up for that too. I wouldn't do the entire 50 miles but I could certainly give it a try. Anita is doing it, this will be her 4th year and she's never gone more than 3 laps, which are 12.5 miles each. It would require running in the dark and I've never done anything that crazy.

HORSE NEWS:

Lan built 2 more stalls in the arena so there are 4 now. We were able to get 2 finished before Ironman and the other 2 he did last weekend. Now all 4 horses are warm and dry all night. And I am now turning all the horses out together in the pasture all day and they seem to be doing Ok with that.

Wifi, Sunshower, Joey & Roses

 

We had to buy 12 boards for the walls and fronts and 2 gates. I already had rubber mats for all the stalls so at least they aren't standing in mud every night. I need a few more bucket holders for their water, right now my girls are sharing a rubber thing for drinking but Joey and Roses each have 2 buckets.

 

I ordered more slow feed hay nets and that's saving us tons of money, as I knew it would. Who ever stole the old ones doesn't realize it but they were at the end of their usefulness.

 

Look, shit in the stalls already

 

We have to drag a hose all the way from the front corner of the house all the way out to the arena and that's a pain in the ass. Today I saw Joey drinking out of a mud puddle so I dumped the water trough that had a LOT of fallen leaves in it and moved it farther from the trees, cleaned it out and refilled it. I hope he drank at least a little water out of it.

 

We are planning on getting an excavator and digging a ditch from the house out to the arena to install a water line.  I am about done pulling the hose all the way out there or arguing with a frozen hose every morning.

 

It sure was nice this morning when it was above freezing and I got all my shit done fast and easy. Tomorrow all I have to do it put out hay and turn all the horses out, Julia and Tory will do all the cleaning, watering and feeding for me. I should set out hay nets so Joey gets alfalfa, Sunshower gets a bit less and the other girls get the right amounts.

 

I can't wait to be able to ride and take lessons again.

 

 

Bike, Run, Bike

Lately I have been getting up early to start my days. After Lan gets ready for work but before he leaves, I am out of bed and ready to get going. Usually I just get dressed in my workout clothes because I have to do that first, no reason to change later.

 

Today I rode out at 7:30am and met Linda over at Banner Forest for a trail run.

It was a good warm up to ride first, leaving home was chilly but not cold at all. Its 6.6 miles to the parking area.

 

I'm getting pretty tan on my face, arms & mid thighs down to my ankles.

 

 

 

Once there, I stashed my bike in her van and we ran trails for 40 minutes, went about 2.73 miles. Look how dusty my legs got and my feet inside my shoes and socks weren't any cleaner.

 

After the run I continued my ride, went another 12 miles. Along the way I found a passport, some dude from Dominican Republic. There was an old Chevy pickup truck there & I'm sure it was his so I left it under his wiper blade.

 

After I got home I painted the bathroom and ironed a patch into my wetsuit.

 

Horsey News:

Lan suggested switching out horses so probably tomorrow Joey and Reign will come to the front pasture and the girls will go into the back pasture. We'll see how that works out for them.

Work Hours Suck

I had a really crappy work week, not the work itself, but the hours. I had two midnight - 9am shifts and those KILL me so I didn't do anything for those two days and today I had so many things to do to catch up; cleaning the barn, moving hay over there, washing clothes, showering, and more. I got some things done before work today and I haven't done anything since I got home.

Today it was 1-6pm so relatively easy. I could have gone for a ride once I got home but chose to stay home. I'm going to be riding with Linda tomorrow, shes got to go 25 miles so I'll ride over there and then go wherever she wants to go. Shes wanting hills. I need to go farther so riding to & from her house will give me an additional 20 miles.

I don't think Im going to go to the BRick Saturday since its supposed to be hot and I need to run long so I might just run in the morning instead.


Horse News:
The fence around the front pasture at the new farm is almost finished. I'll be putting electric fence tape around the top of it and Lan will be adding a gate or two and then it will be ready.

First BRick

Today was the first brick of the tribabes and I noticed there were less people there than in previous years but it was still a good turn out and fun. It was a 5 mile bike / 1 mile run.


I took Abbey with me, who said she would like to give them a  go. She has already signed up for Irongirl so I told her she might as well do TriBabes too. That way she will have people to train with all summer. Tuesday will be out first lake swim and I should be able to make it even though I won't be with the tribabes, I'll go for a swim, maybe to the buckets and back. That's about a mile.

Today after the brick Linda and I ran 5 miles in the woods where it was nice and cool. We still sweated but it wasn't as bad as running on a road, dodging cars and being chased by dogs. I'm really liking the Garmin GPS watch Lan found on the highway.

Somewhere we have a sync chip that would connect it to the computer but good luck finding it. I'd like to download the info off the watch so I can anylize it later.

Yesterday was 57 miles of hell on the bike. I wore shorts that aren't meant for long rides and my hoo haw was hurtin. I will never do that again.

Horse News:
I bought new lead roaps for each horse, Joey gets black, Sunshower gets red and Wifi gets royal blue. I'll need to purchase new brushes sometime soon but I don't like big ones, I have small hands, so will gather them over the next few years. I still have a brush box in the new barn and I'm NOT taking it over there to be stolen.

Trail Run

Linda and I went on a one hour trail run yesterday and got lost, ended up going 6 miles in 2 hours. We walked a lot of that last hour simply because it wasn't on our training plans. But it was a super nice trail to be lost on.

 

 

 

Crying over a bike

Today Lan asked me how I wold like it if he got me a new mountain bike for Christmas and it made me cry. Not happy tears of "Oh goody, I get a new bike!' but sad tears of 'Oh man, I'm going to miss this bike!'. Its taken me to so many neat places.

 

This is when it was brand new

 

Top of Gold Mountain countless times

 

Banner Forest in the mud 

 

West Side mtn bike series 

 

Ft Steilacoom 

 

Las Vegas, countless times 

 

Damn I was looking pretty good there 

 

Whistler, BC, Canada 

 

Sun Top, Mt Rainier 

 

Montana's Cottonwood Trail 

 

Just think of the places a new bike could take me.

Biking Banner Hill

I knew a week ago that I would be riding Banner Hill today.

 

I have been wanting to attempt this hill for 3 years. I have driven up and down it many times and ridden down it a few times but never gone up it.

Until today.

 

Linda was supposed to go with me but at 8am it was misty/rain & I cancelled,

our planned start time had been 10am.

 

But at 1pm the weather was PERFECT so I went for it.

 

This is the whole planned ride but I cut it short due to time restraints

 

I took this photo 1 mile before the beginning of the UPHILL.

This is at the top of a 1 mile downhill, its a good 35MPH hill. I will ride farther than I have to so that I can ride down this hill.

 

Here is the ride with color coded hill up & down grades.

 

And here is the 1 mile hill I was so anxious about. I had thought the very first part would be the hardest but I was fresh off that downhill so was rested.

 

Here is a play by play:

 

2:23 Start up Banner hill.

2:24 Laugh, tell self this isn't so hard. HA! What have I been so afraid of??
2:26 OK, maybe its a bit harder here.
2:26:10 What a beautiful view, I should do this ride every week.
2:27 OH MY GOD. This hill is KILLING me but I continue up, half way to the top now.
2:28 Don't you DARE honk at me, I have a right to this road.
2:28:15 Flip off offending little blue SUV.
2:28:25 Wish they would come back so I can kick their ass.
2:28:26 Realize if they come back I would have to stop riding to kick their ass.
2:28:27 Realize that I'm too tired to kick their ass right this minute and I'd lose.
2:28:28 Laugh.
2:28:29 Die laughing. I mean, I'm dying here, I can barely breath let alone laugh.
2:29 Pass a side street.
2:29:05 Turn around, go back to side street, ride 3 circles to recover & breath but do not stop moving.
2:30 Continue up the hill on second wind.
2:31 See the last corner before the top.
2:32 What, another corner? WTH? UH!
2:33 There it is, this is the last corner, I have beaten Banner Hill!
2:34 Stop at top of hill for sweaty red faced I MADE THAT HILL SUFFER MORE THAN I DID selfie.

That dark purple shit was on a freaking sharp corner so I was lucky no cars were coming because I took the road.

 

That's Colvos Passage, I was just down there 11 minutes before I took this photo.

 

15.88 miles in 1:15:47

R/T 1:21:35

average speed 12.6

high speed 39.7

 

 

Back to NORMAL

A little over three weeks ago I became and IRONMAN. Now everything is back to normal and I'm enjoying life to the fullest. I haven't ridden much or done much of anything for that matter. I'm taking it easy, got myself sick when I did that long ride.

I have ridden with Lori once, just an easy 15 miles, I've swam a few times and NO running. The blisters are still there, some have opened up & I've trimmed off the flapping skin, some are still intact. But its still painful if too much friction happens and the new skin is tender.

lake dirt on foot

Horsey News:
Today I went horse back riding with Sarah on my horses in Banner Forest for the 1st time all summer. What a lovely day!!  She rode Joey and I was on Sunshower. We rode for about 2 hours and it was fun. Nice and relaxed, no hurrying. Joey didn't pull back when we were saddling him. There was no kicking or bitching.

Sunshower is barefoot so her feet were ouchy. She needs a trim desperately so now is a good time for Gary to put front shoes on her.

Wifi is in training at Kates barn. I was there last week to watch her lesson and shes coming along OK. But just OK. I don't know how much time Kate is riding her but Wifi doesn't seem any farther along than when I was riding her 2 years ago.

I've made arrangements for Delicia to start giving me lessons here at home after Wifi comes home. I like her and the way she teaches me and I need guidance but I cant afford another month for Wifi to live with Kate. And Kate wont come here and Delicia WILL come here. Plus, I've known & liked Delicia for a long time and Kate is mad at her & unfriended her on FB and I don't understand how someone could do that. This is my way of showing her that I still care for and like her.

Found a new local park

Wauna is the home of a new park, named Park 360. Its right across the road from a house we used to live in and we spent a lot of time out in these woods with our dog, Picabu Street.

Picabu Street

So the park is the same size as Banner Forest but its only got a fraction of the trails, many are brand new, many still being built.

 nice dirt so Horses wont need shoes out here


This trail is under construction

 There is a main service road in a circle & trails mostly criss cross that circle and a few are on the outside. There are also a few dead ends that were a bugger to get back out of.

This was a dead end, pretty steep getting out of it. but I got myself started and rode out.

We figure we rode about 5 miles in the hour we were there. The trails are dirt with only a little rock. Of all the places where I have ridden bikes, this is the place most like sidewalks.

I love riding with Lan, he makes me work and he knows how much I can do & makes me do a bit more.

This is the HORSE ACCESS way from the parking area to the trails.

 and an up close photo. Horses can walk over it but cars, trucks, jeeps & motorcycles shouldn't be able to get over them. Yet. They will find a way.

I want to take Sunshower out there tomorrow if its not totally raining.

This park is now part of the BuDu Racing spring mtn bike race series, they will race here March 10th. Its going to be a fast race since there are no technical areas.

This would be a great place to take Wifi to learn about trails.

A perfect life

Sarah  on Joey

Me on Sunshower

At home they hate each other

but out on the trails they are best friends

Sarah did a little bit of stuff on Joey in the arena.

I sure love this horse.

I did a bit of stuff on Sunshower.

I sure love this mare.

A lot.

I decided I'd try to do the 'Intro to dressage' test that Sarah did on Joey in their show last weekend. We weren't very good, not at all, but it was fun.

I might just have to get a dressage saddle.

For fun.