The End... of this Blog

I started this blog when I was on the road all-the-time. It was a great way to let you all know where I was, what adventures I was getting myself into, and when I'd be back in the US. I also had a lot more free time when I was traveling since the jetlag kept me awake at odd hours.

This year, I haven't traveled at all for work, so the posts have been about Ironman training and work... both pretty boring subjects if you ask me. And I definitely don't have as much free time.

So, this is the end of this blog. Thank you for being such great followers of my blog.

If you want to keep track of me, "friend" me on Facebook. mebeame@yahoo.com is my screen address or just give me a call!

A Fun Wednesday Evening with Ironteam

Last night, Ironteam did hill repeats at Mt. Eden. The hill isn't particularly long or steep, but our coaches added some difficulty to it. We started out the training with a short, 8-mile warm-up, then hit the hills. Here is the breakdown of the 7 climbs we did up Mt. Eden. Oh, and by the way, we were never allowed to use our lowest gear on our bikes.

1. Climb Comfortably, not in the lowest gear
2. Climb at level 7 (out of 10)
3. Standing climb the whole way up
4. Climb two gears harder than #1
5. Climb three gears harder than #1
6. One legged... 20 on right, recover, 20 on left, recover... repeat to the top.
7. Sprint to the top and 20 squats at the top

I was quite surprised on the one-legged drills because I always thought my right leg was stronger while cycling. And while the leg has more power, it doesn't pedal as smoothly, so I was consistently faster when only using my left leg.

I skipped the 15-minute run after the ride because my hip has been bothering me. And because I needed to be on a conference call too.

Moving 3-miles away

Well, our manufacturing facility in China has reached the end of the lease agreement. What does this mean? It means having to move everything from one facility into another facility and it all needs to be done by the end of the year.

This will not be easy since we have thousands of pieces of equipment (large and small) that will need to move and be validated. Oh, and all the plastics equipment, painting line, sub-assembly lines will need to be moved and qualified again too.

Sigh. Hopefully we have an endless lease on this new place. I'd hate to have to do this again.

Still not sleeping

I'm still not sleeping well and it is really wearing me down physically and emotionally. I've been supplementing with naps when possible and lots of caffeine. I'm sure neither of these are helping the situation resolve itself, but I need to be functional during non-sleep hours...

I haven't allowed myself any caffeine today and a nap really isn't possible, so I am down to what I consider "barely" functional. Hopefully this will resolve itself soon because I'm not sure how long I can keep this up for.

Countdown to Ironman

Only 100 days until I race at Ironman Canada!

This weekend is an 80-mile bike ride/20-minute transition run on Saturday and a 15-mile run on Sunday. We've been told that 10-miles of the 15-mile run will be uphill. I'm guessing I will experience "some level of discomfort" during this weekend... But that's all part of Ironman training.

Long Swim

Yesterday, our training calendar said 3500 yards for our team swim. When we showed up at the Gunderson HS pool, the lanes were set up in "long course"... so instead of lanes of 25 yards, they were set up in the 50 direction.

We jumped in the pool at 6:30 and started swimming. I warmed up, then the workout started. Drills, swimming at different levels, etc. I finally got out of the pool after 3900. Not sure if that is yards or meters. If it was yards, it was over 2.2 miles, if it was meters, it was over 2.4 miles. It's good to know I can swim close to the Ironman distance at this point in the season!

I'm surprised that I'm not sore today. Maybe I need to push harder in the pool?

Not One, Not Two, But Three Flats...

Yesterday, I had a frustrating day on the bike. I headed out from work on my usual 20-miler... up and over Sierra Road. Less than a mile from work, I had a flat in my rear tire. I pulled the wheel off and changed the tube. The rock that was stuck in my tire looked like a shark's tooth. I decided to keep going since the gash in the tire was relatively small.

Then, somewhere near the top of Sierra Road (yes, I made it to the top), I had another flat. This time, in my front tire. I couldn't find what caused the flat, but it was flat. I didn't notice it until I got to the top of Sierra though because it was really windy and I thought the difficulty in pedaling was from the wind and the hill.

I was concerned at this point because I only carry 2 tubes and 2 CO2 cartridges... and I had just used my last of both. I wasn't sure what I would do if I got another flat since there isn't a ton of cell phone service back there. Luckily, I made it down the hill ok.

The 3rd and last flat of the day was just as I pulled into the parking lot at work. Another flat on my front tire. I was very frustrated at this point and wanted to throw my bike... but I didn't.

I think it's time to get new tires for my bike and now I need to stock up again on tubes and CO2.

Thumb

You guys are probably sick of hearing about my thumb. First I got it caught in the car door, then the doctor drilled a small hole in the nail, then I was in a split because it was broken... One last post about my thumb...

The bruised part of the nail started lifting the other day, from the bottom of the nail. I trimmed it because it was getting caught on stuff. Then I trimmed it again because it was still getting caught on stuff.

Last night, I decided to make myself a new nail with superglue. I think I did a pretty good job considering I didn't have the right tools...



In case you are wondering what part of the nail is real and what part is "superglue", the picture below shows generally where the change happens... Superglue nail below the line, real nail above.

Computer Issues

We have a strict policy at work on what we can and can't install on our computers. A few of us have administrative authority on our computers (ability to install programs) and I am one of the lucky few!

Last week, I decided that it was silly to still be running Internet Explorer 6.0 when IE 8 was available. So, I downloaded it from the internet and installed it.

Unfortunately, it's made it so I can't get to my company's internal home page. And that home page is where all the links are for the programs I need to use to do my job.

If all else fails, I'll call our IT help desk. But they will ask how I got IE8 and I'm not ready to get in trouble for that yet.

Hot

This was a very hot weekend, but my workouts went ok.

Being on a bike in 90 degree weather is much better than running in it.

Welcome to Race Phase

Our Ironteam training has officially transitioned from Build Phase to Race Phase.

What does that mean for me?
It means weekends filled with swimming, cycling, and running. It means well over a thousand miles on the bike between now and race day. It means spending most of my free time training and it means lots less free time to do "fun" things.

Thank you (in advance) for your patience with me in the upcoming months... I know my schedule will be rough, I'll often have the emotional stability of a 2-year old, and I'll probably forget there is a world outside of Ironman training. Your understanding is very much appreciated.

Mondays will still be "rest" days, so schedule your Monday now!

Weekend

It's finally the weekend!!! WOOHOOO!!! I'm going into this weekend already tired and will likely come out even more tired. I'm running 15 miles with the run team tomorrow and then going to do a 50-mile bike ride on Sunday. Relatively short workouts in comparison to the rest of the Race Phase calendar!

1% vs. 0%

When I went to Safeway the other day, I had to buy 1% milk because the non-fat milk was expiring in less than 2 days. I have been drinking non-fat milk since I was 7 or 8 years old, but figured 1% couldn't be that different, so I bought it.

When I added the 1% milk to my cereal last night, it tasted like I was drinking cream. Ugh. How could 1% fat milk be THAT different than 0%?

Sierra Road, Revisited

It seems I write often about Sierra Road. That's because it has a reputation of being one of the most difficult climbs in the area for cyclists and I consider it my nemesis on the bike.

Here is a picture looking down Sierra Road as I was riding up. This is one of the flatter parts after just coming up one of the really steep sections of road.

I made it to the top and screamed "WOOHOOOOO!" but only the cows heard me. I was excited because I felt great the whole ride up and was glad I didn't have to turn around like I did last time.

So, the score is:

Sierra Road - 1, Amy - 3

No Sleep for You

I rarely have a difficult time sleeping. I've always been a pretty
good sleeper actually. Of course I had rough nights with jetlag, but
mostly I got through it because I could make myself sleep.

For some reason, I have had a hard time sleeping the past few days. I
tried to sleep at 10pm today, but tossed and turned for 90 minutes
before giving up. Now I'm wide awake.

Things do not look good for my energy level tomorrow!

90K miles

My car hit 90,000 miles today on the drive down to my parents' house.
Nevermind how fast I was driving...

I've never had a car hit 90K miles before. But I love my 4Runner and
plan to keep it forever... Or until my next new car.

Ironing Sheets

I was told today that it's not normal to iron my sheets after washing and before putting them back onto my bed.  Really?  no one else irons their sheets?  What about all the wrinkles?  I guess my OCD is not as under-control as I had thought.  I didn't iron my sheets today but think I'll wake up unhappy because of all the wrinkles in my sheets.

Lunch n' Learn

We often have "Lunch n' Learn" sessions at work. Basically, you bring your lunch and listen to someone talk about certain subjects. I've never been to one so I wouldn't know what to expect.

Today, we are having a lunch n' learn about swine flu. I think I'll bring my bacon sandwich and eat it during the session...

Does anyone think that would be "insensitive" of me?

Wildflower Race, Take 2

On Saturday, I raced the Wildflower Long Course (Half Iron distance). The best thing I can say about the race is that I finished...

I started out the day feeling drained. I had a tough week at work and was still sick from the week before. I got suited up for the swim and figured I'd see what happened. Once the swim started, I knew I'd be in trouble that day. My head wasn't in the game and I couldn't concentrate on anything. I just kept swimming from buoy to buoy until I finished the swim. It felt like it took forever even though my time didn't reflect that.

In Transition 1 (T1), I wasn't sure I'd keep going. Some friends saw me and asked "are you ok?" with very concerned looks on their faces. After the race was over, they would tell me that I looked terrible and were very worried about me because of how dazed I looked.

I headed out on the bike and figured I could pull out if needed. By mile 20, I was ready to stop. I decided that I wouldn't make myself run if I didn't feel better by T2. I stopped to help a TNT racer from NY. I figured it was her race day. It was just another training day for me. I kept riding after that and stopped a few times to gather myself. I've never stopped before on that course during a race, so that's a good indication of how bad I felt. I also felt like I could fall asleep at any moment during the bike. Not good.

At T2, I changed and was still trying to decide if I would run or not. I made the bike cut-off time and figured I should just walk and see how it went. I met up with a teammate around mile 2 and we stared running/walking together. I started feeling better on the run because my sinuses cleared up and my ears finally unplugged from my cold.

Once at mile 4, I knew I would finish the race and 9.1 miles later, I finished. While I am glad I finished the race, I was as close as I have ever been to pulling myself out of a triathlon. The plan for this week is to recover and rest. I need to put some fuel back into my tank so I am ready for the rest of the training season to Ironman. Less than 4 months to go.