Swim, bike, run? Is she serious?

Here we go again on the Team in Training boomerang! You try to run away but you just keep getting pulled back in...

Many of you remember when I started training for the Portland Marathon with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program back in 2007. The next year I decided I hated running so I trained for the Peach of Century (100 mile bike ride). I took a couple years off and last year I mentored the Peach team but ran into a few physical issues (knee pain that was exasperated by a cycling accident last May) that prevented me from biking in the final event. For years now I've been asked by friends "You ran a marathon. You biked 100 miles. When are you going to do a triathlon?" My response? "NEVER! I don't swim. I don't like to swim. I'm afraid to put my head under water!"

So what am I doing this year? The Pacific Crest Triathlon!! That's right. You heard it here, folks. I'm facing that fear and I'm going to do it. I don't even get to swim with a margarita in hand and pool noodles under my feet. Hmph.

WHY you ask? Why would she do something so crazy as to SWIM 1.5 km (.9 miles) in OPEN WATER. Bike 28 miles. Run 10 km (6.2 miles). One after another after another? I'm doing this to support and fundraise for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

This cause has long been close to my heart. When my brother was 9 years old he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He is now a healthy 36 year old man due in part to research funded by organizations like LLS. Team in Training is one of the major funders of LLS and in order to support this organization it relies on it's participants (me) to fundraise while training for these endurance events.

Do you know somebody who has been affected by a blood cancer like leukemia or lymphoma? You know me, right? Every year I train with TNT I learn of a friend who knows somebody or is related to somebody who was recently diagnosed. I hope someday that won't be true. I hope someday I can train and fundraise and find out that not a single person I know has a friend or family member recently diagnosed. That is my goal.

You can help. You can help me beat cancer. You can help me cross that finish line at the Pacific Crest Triathlon. Click a few buttons and donate to the cause. I'll do all the hard work like training 5-6 days a week. At 6am. In the cold. In the dark. In the rain. All you have to do is snuggle up, click and donate $20, $30, $50...

Donate to LLS here: Michele's Triathlon Fundraising Page

Don't forget to keep coming back here for training updates as I splash, pedal and hoof my way through the next 5 months...

Thank you!

And the ride goes on...

Okay, so I've been crazy busy with work lately and my fitness has taken a side turn. Or no turn. Or a ran into mountain full force and stopped. Yeah, whatever. :-)

I've actually gone riding twice in the last week though so things are looking up. Last Sunday (the 5th) I headed out on a ride with Michelle, Becky and Jeff. We ended up doing 28.8 miles around Hillsboro and Forest Grove. It was a completely gorgeous day and a great ride. Of course having not ridden in so long, my back got jacked up and I was on vicodin for 2 days. But the past is the past. :-)

Saturday I decided to head back out for an easy 11 miles along Springwater Corridor. It was a cooler day with a few sprinkles but pretty nice all around. It was a good ride.

While I have decided not to complete a TNT event this year, I did sign up to complete a metric century with Tour de Cure. My company is sponsoring the riders so it should be pretty fun.

If anyone is interested in donating to a fantastic cause check out my page here:

http://main.diabetes.org/goto/pdxmichele

So much for 25...

I really did want to get a longer ride in today but the wind was blowing pretty good! I decided to skip Sauvie Island and just take Springwater from my house out and back. I knew the wind was bad so I told myself - just ride for an hour. That's all.

I started out the trail and instantly knew it wasn't going to be easy. So I shifted into an easy gear, hunkered down and just rode. It was nice and sunny but the wind was blasting into me from the side and front. I actually thought I was going to flop over at one point. I was moving pretty slow I decided to ride out for 45 minutes then turn around and come back. I hit the Powell Butte Flood Restoration area right at 45 minutes. Stopped to take in a little sunshine then headed back. After riding at about 9 mph on the way out, my 18mph on the way back was fantastic! In total I rode for 70 minutes and 13.7 miles. Not as far as I had wanted but I least I rode.

Worst Day of the Year

Last Sunday was the 8th Annual Worst Day of the Ride. It's held on or near the historically worst weather day of the year in Portland. The ride is filled with costumes and revelry. This was my first year. I had intended to costume up but didn't actually look for the wig I was hoping to wear until the night before. I had apparently lost it sometime in the past few months so I ended up not wearing a costume at all and felt weird! Next year it's definitely a costume. The ride was 18 miles starting at the Lucky Lab on Hawthorne and it circles around through the Pearl, up through NE and back to the Lab. It was a great route, lots of fun people and a good time.









I've decided to add a couple metric centuries to my schedule. I'm not sure if I'll be ready for the Monster Cookie Metric on April 26 but I'm going to try. If I don't feel ready for it when it rolls around, I'm not going to sweat it. The other one I'm thinking of is the Tour de Cure in July but I have some college friends come up to visit during the month so depending on the weekend we are planning a reunion I may not be able to make it. In any case, I'm getting my fat butt back in the saddle and it feels good.

Tomorrow morning I'm taking advantage of the nice weather and want do about 25 miles. I'm thinking Sauvie Island. I'll let you know how it goes.

Laziness

Okay, so my big plan for revamping is going much slower than I intended (perhaps even backwards). I seem to be lacking some inner motivation to complete the things I really want. I know I want them but I can't make myself do them. I want to get back to working out 5-6 days a week. I want to be riding to working 2-3 days a week. I want, I want, I want. I just can't seem to do. My usual excuse is it's cold, rainy, I feel like I'm getting sick. I have to just snap out of it. I made a small bit of progress yesterday.

Yesterday was a gorgeous. Sunny, a little breezy, a gorgeous February day. I went on a 2 mile walk with mom in the morning. I rode my bike to my hair appt (8 miles round trip). Yes, this is the first time I've ridden outside since November 29th. It was more painful than I'd like to admit. I've used my trainer a couple times but it's not the same. After my appt, I washed my Rav4 and mom's truck.

This isn't much compared to where I was 6 months ago but it's a step back in the right direction and I'm pleased.

I've also come to realize that I need a new mattress. Every morning I wake up hurting, stiff, sore. Considering I have been doing nothing, it's not right. I bought my mattress less than 3 years ago and I LOVED it when I first had it. It's a rather expensive futon style mattress which now has a giant canyon in the middle that my cat loves. So now I must hunt. The best mattress I have ever slept on was at the Marriott in Arlington. Wow - I could lay in that all day. With a $1300 price tag, I probably would! I am hoping once I find the right mattress, it will help in my motivation to wake up early for workouts.

Revamping

A new year is here and I thought it would be a good time to revamp this blog as well as myself. Since the century, I haven't been cycling nearly as much as I would like. Some of that was due to a short recovery time, a bout with sickness and sheer laziness. I've been on a couple short rides and one 25 miler but that's it. My butt and waist are showing it too.

I'm joining a girls riding group that my TNT coach is organizing. We'll be going out once a month for a 30-40 mile ride so I really need to get back to weekly riding and more.

In addition, I'm re-focusing on my health and starting to eat better and exercise more. I need to. We won't discuss how much weight I've gained back since starting my new desk job in April 2007. Even training for a marathon and then a century didn't help.

So follow along as I revamp my health and exercise routine. Today I intend to pull out my trainer and get at least 30 minutes in (something about buckets of rain and wind gusts of 30-45 mph is keeping me from heading out doors).

I did it.

I did it. I actually did it. I biked 102.5 miles and raised $2,445 for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

My greatest joy is that I raised more than $600 over my minimum needed and I have all of you to thank for that. I know some truly generous people and I am so grateful to have you in my life.

The Peach of a Century team raised $50,000 to fund research to cure blood cancers. $50,000! As a team we rode 2,200 miles on the event day. Amazing accomplishments all around.

So event day. I won’t say race because it wasn’t. The ride was not timed (thank goodness!), there was no official start time, you just had to finish. I drove down to Salem on Saturday and stayed at a hotel with the rest of the team. We had the usual pasta party that night along with inspirational speeches from those personally affected by blood cancers. It’s a good reminder that what we might have to endure the following day is nothing in comparison to what cancer patients deal with on a daily basis.

Sunday morning I got up at 5:45, got dressed, finished organizing my stuff for the ride (packing snacks, gear, etc). At 6:30 I got some breakfast (bagel, banana and coffee) and then at 7 we all headed to the starting area. After picking up our packets we gathered as a group for some pictures at the Team In Training tent. Around then I really had to use the bathroom but there was a huge line. So me and another participant heard rumor that a few people snuck off into these nearby woods to go all natural. So we did. Yes, I really did. I would have been standing in line another 30 minutes if I didn’t! Check out the pics. You’ll understand.

So we take off around 8am. The first 22 miles were great albeit a little cool. A fog had come in and numbed the fingers quite quickly. It was definitely pretty though. We had done this portion of the route before during a training ride so it wasn’t anything new. At the 22 mile mark was the first rest stop. Again, HUGE lines for the bathroom. Luckily I didn’t have to go again. I rested up a little, chatted with some teammates, the coach and supporters before taking off. The next bit was also pretty comfy riding. There were some moderate rollers but it was up and down so pretty fun riding. I even hit my top speed of 37.1 mph! The second rest stop was at 55 miles. I ate my PB&J along with other snacks. The sun was finally peeking out from the fog and I could tell it was warming up. I checked in with mom (who couldn’t be there to cheer me on due to knee surgery) to let her know I was surviving. It was only 12:30 so I was making pretty good time.

I took off for the next leg of the ride. I instantly knew I was going to be in trouble. I was so sluggish – just on a flat spot! The sun was out in force, the food was settling in and I was tired. I had been fighting a cold and allergies all week and I could see it taking toll. Then we hit the hills. I had been told this was a relatively flat course with one lengthy hill around mile 74. Yeah, not even. The hills hit around mile 61. And they weren’t little. We’re talking STEEP. As steep as the horrid hill of the Eola Hills ride. Yes, I admit, I had to walk a hill. I tried, I really did. But my asthma failed me. Dang lungs anyway. At the top, a large group was waiting for me and another team mate. After a rest we headed down a fun slope only to be hit by more hills. And more. I swear it was never ending. That 22 mile segment took about 2 hrs. There were lots of friendly people on the road giving encouragement as they passed me on the hills. Slightly humiliating but it was okay. I was doing my best – who cares if I had to stop 5 times up a 300 foot hill.

I hit the 3^rd rest stop at mile 77. I kept my break short because I knew I had to keep going or I might just quit. I ate some pretzels, cheese and orange slices. Oh, and some macaroons. Those were tasty although quite sweet. I also checked in with mom again and started feeling the tired and pain set in. I was so tired. She reminded me that I’d done 84 miles before so at least I knew I could do that. That was true but it didn’t make me any less tired. So I set off for the last leg. It was only 24 miles. Right? Only 24. I can do that. I biked for awhile with a couple of people from my team but eventually had to let them go on ahead. They tried to wait for me but I was so low on energy I couldn’t keep up. But I pedaled. And pedaled. I hit that 84 mark and thought, I should call for the support vehicle. At least I’ve done what I did before. I’m not a failure. I’m doing my best. But I kept going. It wasn’t hilly – just long, flat, and hot. I was at 91 when a friend texted me asking how I was doing. I was so ready to quit. I told her I had about 10 miles left and she said “you got it girl”. So I kept pedaling. I could get it! It was the longest 10 miles ever. One of coaches drove by to check on people. I kept pedaling. I could have easily thrown my bike in her truck and gone back but I didn’t. Another cyclist was heading backwards on the course at about mile 99. He yelled to me “You’re almost there”. I yelled back “I sure hope so!”. It was hard not to swear at him – he was being encouraging after all.

I rolled in to the finish line around 5:45pm. Yes, I was on the road from 8am until 5:45. The first 55 miles took 4.5 hours and the last 47 miles took 5.25 hours. I was so happy to be done. I called mom and almost started crying. I was so, so tired. Weepy tired. I finished though. 102.5 miles. That was the official course length. My cyclometer only read 100.5 miles I’m sure all my stopping and starting and walking on the hills threw it off. I rested a bit, stretched, had a small bite to eat and then headed home. Mission accomplished. I hit my fundraising goal and then some. I biked 100+ miles. A day well spent.

For the pictures I took, check out my usual spot:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdxmichele/sets/72157607572751096/