Cranky Birthday

Yesterday was my 39th birthday. I have to say, I just wanted to get the day over with. I am so fucking tired and cranky. This week and next week are the two hardest weeks of Ironman training. It also happens to be my birthday, Dominic's birthday a week later, and a my friend Lisa from LAX is in town. So LOTS going on. TOO much going on.

Oh, and Nani will be adopted tonight or tomorrow morning.

Yesterday I had a 3 hour/50 mile ride on the schedule. Me, Sandi and Heather left from Heather's house. None of us really had to be anywhere so we took our time. We stopped by a bike shop on the east side and fucked around in there for a bit. Then we rode around Indian Hill, Milford, the Loveland bike trail, and Mariemont. We only had about 35 miles in when we stopped for lunch where Dominic works. We ate. Then the plan was to ride another 15 but after lunch it was POURING down rain. So we rode, in the rain, the 5 miles back to Heather's and called it a day. I hate riding in the rain.

Today I had to get up at 5:30am for a hard swim set of 2550y - tons of 50's and 100's - and a 5 mile run. I won't go into details, but I'll just say that I had some GI issues during my run. Bad ones. Did I mention I have to work now, 10a-10p?

Tomorrow I am back on my bike for 80 miles + 5 mile run and then I have to work from 4:30-10pm. Sunday, THANK GOD, is a rest day. Pool party at my swim club for mine and Dominic's birthday, with his family, and my Mom.

A peak at Ironman Louisville

Mary picked me up at 8am. We didn't have any pressure to meet up with anyone, so we just took our time. The car ride went by fast, we never ran out of stuff to talk about. Mary is super sweet and easy to talk to!

We parked downtown, near the swim start. Mary showed me where the transition tents will be set up, where you exit the swim, where you start the run, etc. It was great info to have ahead of time. The river does not look bad at all either. I am looking forward to the swim!!

We left from downtown, and it was flat for the first 9 miles or so. Then came the first climb. It wasn't a long climb, or even big grade wise. But when you know you have more than 100 miles to go, climbing a lot sucks.

The rolling hills continued and then we turned down a road for an out and back. It had some nice descents and a little climbing. The roads were still wet and it was a tad scary.

We did the out and back (went a little too far) and came back up the hills and past these gorgeous horses. They were walking towards us so I stopped.

Mary was pointing out where the aid stations are, etc. It was great to have someone telling me all of this ahead of time! Parts of the course were familiar from Cardinal Harbour, my race the week before.

After the out and back, we headed back out on the main road, and then there is a 30-something mile loop that we did twice (same for IMKY, obviously). The loop consisted of rolling hills, some beautiful country, horses, more rolling hills, headwind, rolling hills, and more horses.

There was a gas station out on the loop where we stopped twice. We saw a shitload of other cyclists out there, mostly on TT bikes, training for IMKY too.

Once done with the first loop, we were at mile 40 something, and I had no back pain. I kept that to myself, since Mary knew I was worried about it. I was afraid I'd jinx it if I said anything.

We caught up to the 3 triathletes we saw at the gas station on our way to our 2cd loop, but they had already finished their loops and were headed back towards town on 42. We passed the girl, wished her luck, and turned down 393, I think it is. I can't remember the route #'s.

Once again, back onto the rolling hills, beautiful country, horses, and rolling hills, and headwind.

After the loop, we stopped at the last gas station before heading back onto 42. It was then that I told Mary, at mile 81-ish, I was still PAIN FREE!

I was just SO happy! It was amazing to be having such a great time riding, in a good mood, having NO PAIN! Normally I am in a funk by mile 40 because of this stupid fucking back pain, that's only on one side. It was awesome. I kept saying "Mary, I STILL feel like a million bucks". And I did.

So we stayed on 42 for the next 30 miles in a direct headwind. I could hardly get over 14mph. We took turns pulling for a while, that helped. But you know how it still sucks to be in a direct headwind. Especially for the last 30 miles of a 112 mile ride.

Mile 90-112 there was heavy, heavy traffic. At mile 105-ish, we had another big climb, and Mary promised that was the last. Then we turned down another road and had some nice descents, and then I saw the river. Home free from there!

We got back to the car and I was so happy. Twin Six hooked me up with these cool washcloth thingies.

There was a fountain that Mary insisted we go in. She fully jumped in.

I have to say, this was one of the best rides I have ever done. I felt SO good, without the back pain, you just cannot imagine. I owe it to Carole, my acupuncturist, she released some tension in my hip flexors that fully made the pain disappear! Acupuncture is a wonderful thing!

It's Friday.

The little dog is back.

Yesterday I took him to a S.A.A.P. volunteer's house who lives around the corner. He escaped. Wound up back in my neighbor's yard. Dominic called me at work last night to tell me he was back.

Don't tell me to keep him. That cannot happen. He needs a home where someone can work with him. I have to focus on Fausto right now.

I repeat - he's not staying. We can't keep him.

The rescue reported him as "found". His owner has a week to claim him. After a week, he'll go to the vet and be neutered and then ready to be adopted out. He will go fast, I am sure.

It's been hectic around here today, and I am working from home. I was up at 5:30am for a 90 minute ride. It was dark out when I got up, so instead of waiting, I rode rollers in the living room. I got in 28 miles. I had to crate the little guy so he didn't make me crash.

Tomorrow is a rest day and Sunday I am going to Louisville to ride the entire 112 miles of the IMKY bike course. Mary was nice enough to offer to go down with me and show me the course. She has done IMKY the last two years so she knows where the water stops are and all that. I am looking forward to it.

Next week, July 30th, is my 39th birthday!! I have a 3 hour ride to do that day. That makes me happy. Dominic's birthday is August 5th. To celebrate both birthdays, we're having a grille out at my swim club on the 2cd. Pool days make me happy too. I just hope the weather will be ok. If it's shitty, the way it's been all fucking month, then I will cancel it.

GOOD LUCK to all those participating in Ironman Lake Placid on Sunday!

Dogs

We had a visiter today. We found him running around in the rain. We started calling him Nani (after Nani Pinarello). He was a tiny version of Ari. And a humper. Ari and Fausto really liked him. Ari really liked him, as you can see in the picture below.

The little guy was just so cute, but 4 dogs in the house was just too much. So he went to S.A.A.P. One of the volunteers lives around the corner so I took him over there tonight. I know right where he is if I change my mind. I really liked him. So did Dominic, of course.

He needs to be neutered.

So, I don't really have anything to say about training, other than this is my last slow week before Jen slams my ass with hours and hours of SBR.

Here are some pictures of the dogs.

Dominic has fallen for Fausto. And vice-versa.

Ari stayed barricaded in his crate for July 4th.

Tired dogs.

I love this one. Dominic just got home from a ride, and he layed down on the floor. Fausto plops down right next to him, belly up.

Cardinal Harbour half iron distance race report

Dominic and I got a late start on the road so we went to packet pick up immediately after checking into the hotel. The race packets included a cue sheet because the bike course markings had been vandalized (marked out). Fuck.

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Dominic taped it to my aero bars which actually worked out really well.

The weather sucked. It was 60 when we woke up and I was freezing my ass off all morning. The sun was not anywhere around.

We both had to crap after I got set up in transition. And there were only 3 portalets for 300 triathletes. Great. The line was ridiculous. And it wasn't moving. I swear we stood in that line for more than 20 minutes. I had to skip my warm up run. Dominic was turning white after a while, he almost crapped himself in public. It was very close. You can imagine.



This race is put on for people wanting a good training race for IMKY. It is limited to 300. It's just the one distance, a half ironman. 1.2 mile swim in the Ohio, a 56 mile bike ride on part of the IMKY course, and a 13.1 mile run.

They only had a handful of volunteers (I thanked them ALL Lilly!).

The river felt like bath water but it was freezing outside.




Sandi snuck in for just the swim since she raced a half iron last weekend.




Our wave was last and we had to swim out to a buoy and tread water until they said GO. The swim was awesome. I liked swimming in the river. Everyone else said it was murky but I liked it. I got into a rhythm. I passed lots of men. I looked at my watch at the turn around and it said 19 minutes. I had the current on the way back which got me a negative split. When I got out my watch said 37 something.

When I came out of the water I heard someone calling my name. Zanne had rode down on her 'cross bike and was cheering for me! WOOOO! I yelled out my swim time to her and she just looked at me funny. I ran into transition and got ready to ride.

When I came out I saw Zanne again but no Dominic. I just yelled HI and got on my bike and left. There was an uphill right out of transition and my gearing was perfect (thank you Dominic).




I really wanted a sub 3 bike. But it didn't happen. That's ok.

The ride was hilly, right from the start. And lots of traffic. I was passed by a lot of the men I had passed in the swim. I just rode and rode and rode. The hills weren't huge grade wise. It was just up and down, up and down, for the first 25 miles or so. The winds were awful too. I started to feel that familiar pull in my lower back, right side, at about mile 30. I tried to ignore it. I just focused on eating and drinking and not letting anyone else pass me. I am glad I had that cue sheet because at one point, a girl passed me, pissed off. She said that some guy led a bunch of people down the wrong road.

My back was killing me. At about mile 36 we turned into a very strong headwind. I was in that stupid headwind for the last 20 miles. My speeds were dropping to under 14mph. I passed a young kid in an aero helmet, on an old steel LeMond. I got passed by an old guy wearing headphones. YES! HEADPHONES! I passed him back on a hill later on though.

The last couple miles of the bike had some killer downhills and there were 2 volunteers to tell you to slow down at one corner which had a sharp left turn. A couple guys crashed there.

Damn I was glad to get off that bike. I was ready to run now.


Here I am blowing my nose.



I do not see how people pee off the bike. It is disgusting to me. I held my pee for over 3 hours on the bike and had to go so bad when I got to t-2. A race report of MINE is not complete w/o a portolet picture!



The run was out of the race area, to a residential area where they had us do 3 loops. The houses on the run course were gorgeous. Right on the river. Everyone had boats. They had NO portolets on the course. Guess what happened? I had to stop a man mowing his yard and ask to use his bathroom. He was very accommodating and allowed me inside his home for a quick stop. He said I was the 3rd person to ask.

I felt pretty good during the run. My endurance is there. I could keep going but not that fast. I walked the uphills on all 3 loops. The last 3/4 mile was a run through someones yard, all grass. I felt fine coming across the finish line, not hurt at all, like last year's half iron (that is a hilarious race report if you want to read it).

I finished in 6:20 but have no idea what my splits were. That is 30 minutes faster than the last half iron I did so that makes me happy.



The pain didn't set in until after I had been in the car for an hour. I sipped on an EAS protein shake, ate leftover strawberries, and drank water. I took an ice bath last night, followed by a hot bath, and then iced my back another 10 minutes. Today I feel fine. Not too sore at all.

Outta here....

I am going to be off work for 6 days after tonight! HOLLA!

Tomorrow Dominic and I leave for Louisville. We'll drop the dogs off at my friend Connie's house. I know they are in good hands at Connie's. She has 4 Dobermans and an acre fenced in so the dogs will have a blast. She's also cool because she will feed my guys their raw meat.

Saturday I am doing the Cardinal Harbour half iron distance triathlon. It's a really great training race for IMKY. We'll swim 1.2 miles in the Ohio River. We'll ride part of the IMKY bike course for 56 miles with tons of rolling hills, and then we have a flat 13.1 mile run.

Weather is supposed to be a high of 72. WHAA??? Where is the HEAT? I need HEAT to train in, not this fucked up COLD weather bullshit. You know what's going to happen? We'll keep having this mid-70's and 80's weather until I start my taper for IMKY and then it's going to be like 102.

I am excited to get away but not so excited to race. I feel rested and ready to go but still am not pumped yet. You know what I mean? I have had 9+ hours of sleep the last 3 nights. I am eating good foods.

Speaking of food....I am starving. I eat nonstop.

Dominic picked out some new bar tape for my bike. Here's how that conversation went:

Me - I am thinking red again. I like the red.

Dominic - How about gray? Or black?

Me - No, I like red. It matches my tires.

Dominic - But I am SICK of red!

Me - gives look and then we both crack up.

He picked out some dark gray tape when he picked up my new 90' stem. I am thinking about some yellow tires for IMKY. How ugly. Love it.

Have a great weekend! Thanks for reading! And to everyone racing this weekend - GOOD LUCK!

XXOO-
Judi

Catchup

I am sorry I am not updating the blog as much as usual. It's pretty crazy around here now. Right now I am finally just relaxing, sitting out on my deck. Fausto and Ari are laying at my feet. Things are calm. The weather is perfect. There's a nice breeze.....

I am racing the Cardinal Harbour half IM in Louisville this coming Saturday. It's a good training race for IMKY. I'll swim in the Ohio River too, just like IMKY. I hope it's a good day. My back has been KILLING me on the bike.

I rode a century yesterday with Mary and her group of cyclists. Great ride, beautiful open roads....

Anyways, we rode from Mary's to Miami Whitewater. I was already having bad back pain and we were only at mile 25. We picked up two other cyclists out there and rode to Oxford. We stopped and fueled up there (mile 50) and I got off my bike and did some stretches. It would feel ok for another 10 miles after stretching, and then the pain would flare back up again. Mostly on my right side. Long rides just HURT so bad now.

A couple of the guys suggested a few changes, which Dominic is working on tomorrow - and if this doesn't help, I swear I will give up long rides after IMKY is over. The pain is just not worth it.

So after the ride, it just felt so good to get off the bike. It was my first century since last fall. And it hurt. I felt pretty good running after the ride. For about 10 minutes. Then I ran out of juice.

I came home and went out for a quick bite to eat with Dominic. My back was killing me. I took an ice bath when I got home and was in bed by 9:30pm. After 10 hours, flat on my back last night, the pain was pretty much gone this morning.

I survived my 1st week with Coach Jen. IMKY is in fifty something days. It's about to get real interesting!

For the next 7 weeks.....

....I am going to eat, drink, and sleep IMKY. It consumes me. I had a couple of freak out sessions a few weeks ago. The pressure of training and life and the dogs. And my Mom. It was too much. You know?

So I am very relieved that I now have a coach to get me to IMKY. A real, live being. Someone who is going to tell me exactly what I should do. This takes away ALOT of anxiety. I warned Dominic - for the next 7 weeks it's going to be "Jen, said to do this, Jen said to do that....".

Jennifer Harrison, that is. Yep. I am that lucky.

And she's kicking my ass.

I still can't believe I am going to attempt an Ironman. I seriously don't know how this happened or why I am doing this. I am scared shitless about it, to be honest.

Oh, and when I met Tom for a long ride yesterday, he told me I look "beefy".

Caesar's Creek OLY Triathlon Race Report

First things first:

I finished 2:54.
Which is NOT a PR.
Swim 31:06
Bike 1:17 (19.1 avg)
Run 59:08 (9:33 pace!)

And somehow I placed 2CD in my a/g. *** out of 8 women.

So, small race, I know.

But still.

A new pair of Twin Six socks - wanted to give them a shout out first.

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Amanda, who was having a birthday, finished 1st a/g and 4th woman o/a. YEAAA!!! Here we are with her Dad, who comes to all her races, right before the swim.

Here are Collen and I. She's another blogger, who I see racing all the time.

The weather was nasty, rainy, cold. We left the house at 5:30 and Dominic was like a zombie. He stays up all night reading rogue mechanic and watches T.V. He had like 2 hours of sleep total.

So, you won't be seeing any other pictures besides after the swim. Because he fell asleep.

He went to his car to read after I left on my bike, and fell asleep.

Usually Dominic hangs around transition and takes odd pictures of me. Here are a few from t-1.

So, no pictures on the bike.

I had a great race though. The water was choppy. The swim felt long. Everyone else I talked to thought so too. Not much else to tell. I passed a lot of men that went in the waves before me. But my swim time was 4 minutes longer than last year. BOO.

After I got on my bike, I just started hammering, like I do in the TT. I just put it all out there, everything I had. There was one hill that seemed GIANT to me last year, and this year I just cranked on up, no problem. I saw 2 girls WALKING the hill. That hill slowed down my avg but I had 15 miles to crank it back up. The bike course was awesome, really nice country roads, lots of windy downhills, etc. Passed a lot of men in their 50's. It went by super fast! And then the bike was over, and it was time to run.

The run always sucks. I won't lie. I like running, except after the bike. And without music, I just slow wayyyyy down. I don't have much to say except that I was glad when it was over.

Amanda got a finish shot, and Dominic was no where to be found. I hung around with Amanda and ate birthday cupcakes. She told me she saw Dominic sleeping in his car. I was kind of pissed at first. I went to transition to pack up my stuff and talked to Colleen and her husband (who just did a RIDE ACROSS AMERICA in 5 freaking days with TEAM DIABETES!) Then I headed over towards the car. I had to bang on the door to wake Dominic up.

He felt so bad, how could I be mad?

Then they started to call out times. I had to run to the bathroom - FINALLY! While I am in the portolet, I hear them call "and for 2CD place age group 35-39, Judi Rothenberg". I was shocked! IN the portolet!

Really, I had a great day, and that's what it's all about.

And I brought home hardware!

Prediction

Dominic is predicting that Alberto Contador wins the TdF this year.

That is all.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

Cyclocross?