I’m back. I think. Maybe.

It’s been quite a long time since I’ve posted here.  I’ve missed it.  I’ve missed writing my random adventures and sharing them with those who don’t mind reading what goes on in my crazy life.

Life, it’s been crazy.  Crazy is most certainly an understatement and putting it rather kindly.  I’ll skip over the crazy and just list some fun races I’ve actually finished.

Elizabeth and I finished our first 50k trail race in February 2016.  Wow!  Ultra running is so difficult. It was most definitely fun, but really hard.   We keep talking about doing a 50 miler so I’m sure we will find one that fits in our race schedule.  Maybe 2019. Maybe.

I finished my second Ironman in July 2016.  Elizabeth and I raced Ironman Vineman. That was AMAZING!!!!!  Our next race was Ironman Texas this last April.  What?  Three Ironman finishes!!!!  Neither of us finished as well as we had hoped we would so guess what?  Yep we signed up for 2018.

 

Ironman Texas

I always seem to struggle with nutrition on race day.  I only managed about 600 calories during IMTexas.  I suffered terribly on the run and ended up walking most of the it.  That sucked ass!  Each race has been a huge learning experience.  One of these days I will learn to eat on race day.  Ugh!

 

I was tempted to do Ironman Santa Cruz 70.3, but there have been way too many shark sightings lately and I’m just a tad afraid of getting eaten by sharks.  Katie and I decided to sign up for the Lake Tahoe Triathlon 70.3.  I was super excited since I love Tahoe and it’s easy to get up there to train on the course.

Well that was the plan.  It was summertime and I was lazy.  I enjoyed the kids being home from school, all the summertime food and all the alcohol.  I did train a little bit and even did some open water swimming.  My lack of training, gaining some weight and not getting up to Tahoe for some training rides made me a bit anxious for this race.

Race weekend came up fast.  I didn’t do enough hill training and this was a tough course at elevation.  No big deal, right?  Ahhhhh!   There wasn’t much about the course description on the website except the bike route.  I did find a link on mapmyride that showed the course had 4400 feet of climbing.  Yeah, I was so not ready.

The race venue was at Sugar Pine State Park.  Oh man was it beautiful.  Tahoe is just my favorite place in the world and I was so excited to be there.  There was only one transition area so that made it easy peasy.  At packet pickup we checked out the swim start and the transition.  The swim exit had a broken staircase and I was not looking forward to swimming 1.2 miles then trying to not fall up those stairs.  Then we had to go up a huge hill to get up to the transition.   This transition alone needed its own training program.  It was such a small amount of time we had to suffer, so it really wasn’t a big deal.

 

AHHHHH!  Look at those fucking broken stairs!!!

 

Race day…yay!  I went into this race with wanting to just have fun.  I knew I didn’t train enough to PR so I figured I’d just enjoy it.   When Katie and I were in transition getting ready we were surrounded by lots of people who were not athletes.  This was a big no no.  There shouldn’t be anyone other than athletes in transition.  We have a lot of expensive gear and it just gets too crowded.  Why the hell were spectators in there?  UGH!  This wasn’t a fun way to start a race.

 

Katie and I freezer our asses off before the race.

 

 

There wasn’t any pre race meeting until we all got to the swim start and were in the water.  This was totally expected since it’s such a small race.  They told us which bouys to swim to and when to turn.  There weren’t a lot of bouys out there so I knew sighting wasn’t going to be easy.   Basically the athletes doing the half iron distance needed to swim to the yellow buoys.

Before I knew it, the race started.  There weren’t a lot of athletes doing the 70.3 and somehow I ended up in the front at the start.  Ahhhh!  Im not a fast swimmer at all so I knew I would be in the way and swam over.  Well, that happened.  I was about 100 yards into the swim.  I was feeling good and already in a good groove.  Then I felt someone grab my calf.  Okay, fine, I thought.  I’m in someone’s way, they will go around.  Then they did it again.  This time it pulled me under the water.  Fuck!!!!  I came back up coughing.  Not just a little bit.  The kind of cough when you’re kind of puking and can’t breathe.  I kept trying to at least go forward, but that’s hard when you are almost dying.  Ha!  I managed to get through my near death experience and kept swimming.  I knew I had to sight a lot or I would have a really bad swim time.  So I did just that.  Everytime I was close to one bouy then I would see one waaaayyyyy far in the distance.  I kept thinking, where is the bouy I needed to turn at????  I was about halfway through the swim when I realized I made the wrong choice of wetsuit.  I should have worn my full instead of my sleeveless.  I was getting really cold.  Who knew Tahoe was cold?  Totally kidding.  I finally got to the turn around and headed to the swim finish.  I didn’t see any other bouys but saw the swim finish so I just kept going towards that.  Then I heard lots of yelling.  One of the volunteers on a kayak was screaming to go towards the bouy.  What?  What bouy?  Oh, the one to my right of where I was swimming.  Damnit.  I needed to go further.  I finally made it to the swim finish.  It may have been the grumpiest I’ve ever felt coming out of the swim.  The good news is I PR’d on the swim.  Yay!  Go me!  The bad news is I still had to go up those broken stairs and up that big ole fucking hill.

It wasn’t too bad going up the stairs, but it would have been nice to have something to hold on to.  Maybe a volunteer or a railing.  Not to be too much of a baby, but going up broken wooden stairs after swimming really sucks.

I made it to the transition area and chatted with some other athletes before we headed to the bike.  I wasn’t the only one who hated that swim.  Ha!  Thankfully it was over and it was time to head out on the beautiful bike course.

The first part of the bike course was awesome.  Once I warmed up and stopped shivering I was able to enjoy it.  I started passing a few people, which was totally awesome.  The bike course wasn’t closed to traffic.  That was totally expected too.  Luckily there was a nice bike lane for most of the course and there were plenty of signs to let drivers know that we were on the course.  Traffic wasn’t so bad for the first half of the course and I was able to see a lot of the other athletes as they rode by on the other side of the highway.  I waved at everyone, cuz why not?  The first part of the course was two loops then you go the other way towards Emerald Bay.  That’s where all the climbing was.  Ugh!  It actually wasn’t too bad.

I really had to go to the bathroom during the swim but didn’t.  I didn’t use the bathroom at transition since I had heard it was super gross and full already that morning.  I had figured I would use a porta potty during the bike.  BUT…I got to the last turnaround and there weren’t any porta potties.  The volunteer told me there were only bathrooms at transition.  WHAT THE FUCK?  The CHP officer told me that many athletes were just going off the side of the road.   I asked the volunteer if this was okay and he just looked away.  I may or may not have gone behind a tree on the side of the highway.

I think the worst part for me was at the top of Emerald Bay there is a cliff on both sides.  I wasn’t looking forward to that.  Since this part of the course was an out and back, we had to go over that section twice.  AAAHHHH!   I talked my way through it both ways and didn’t fall over the cliff.  YAY!  on the way down back to transition is a nice two mile downhill.  I was really looking forward to it since we did have to climb up it.  I actually lucked out.  There was a car behind me that let me take the entire lane in front of him.  I didn’t have to stay in the bike lane and I could enjoy the downhill.  That was my favorite part of the race.  I made it to transition and saw I PR’d on the bike.  What?  I was having an awesome day so far.

Transition was a little chaotic.  Most of the athletes were either doing the aquabike or the Olympic distances so they were already done.  I didn’t see my family yet while I was getting my run stuff ready.  I figured I would on the way out.  There were a ton of people at the run out but I couldn’t see where I was supposed to go.  Thankfully the volunteer saw I looked lost and she directed me to go left as well as yelling to the people who were on the run course that there was a runner coming.  Of course no one heard and I had to push through a bunch of people.  That was really frustrating.  The start of the run is on a super steep downhill.  As I was running down the hill one of the Olympic course athletes was running up with two spectators on each side.  They were totally taking up the entire trail.  That pissed me off too.  Then I didn’t see any of my family.  Hello!  Where the fuck were they?

Not even a quarter mile into the run I was already super pissed off.   Not seeing my family at transition was a huge letdown.  They are always such a big support system for me.  My kids haven’t been to one of my races in a while and I was really looking forward to see their smiling faces.  Urg!  I was mad.

So back to the run….I was cruising and feeling good until I hit the dirt.  Where did the paved trail go?  It suddenly became a trail run.  WHAT???????  I was running by the lake in the sand with no one around.   Every so often there was an arrow giving directions on the trail.  There were so few athletes and I was near the back of the pack so there was no one around.  Then the trail turned into a paved path for a little bit into a campground.  Then back to a dirt trail.  I really had no idea it was mostly a trail run.  Looking at the course description it says we run on different trails but you need to google the trails to find they are dirt trails.  Ugh!

I was totally freaking out.  I was in the middle of a forest by myself with who knows what kind of animals watching me.  I was really afraid that if I saw a bear, no one would even know I was eaten.  Yes, I think a bear would eat me.   I did see a few other athletes at the second aid station who were starting their second lap on the back part of the course.  I talked to every athlete I saw on the run course.  We were all struggling.  There was a lot of walking.  Okay, I mostly walked this course.  I finally saw Katie ahead of me at a turn around point.  She was really struggling too.  I tried to catch up to her but didn’t until the same turnaround with about 3 miles left.  At that point I just wanted to vomit.  I had been trying to eat and seemed to do better on nutrition than any other race.  Katie got me through the last 3 miles.  Thankfully I didn’t throw up.   Looking back, I was probably just dehydrated.

Katie and I got to that last fucking hill we had to run up.  All of our kids were patiently waiting for us.  They were telling us to run up that hill, but no fucking way was I going to run up that hill.  We did manage to run through the finish line together.  Woohoo!  That awful race was done.

Yes, I’m glad I did this race.  No, I wouldn’t do it again.  I really don’t like being so negative about a race.  Especially when the race is in Tahoe.  But three big things really bugged me.   1. Spectators in the transition area. 2.  No bathrooms on the bike or run course.  Although there were bathrooms at the campground.  3. The run course is out in the middle of no where and was not spectator friendly.

One good thing about this race was I ended up second in my age group.  Okay, there were only two of us.  But how awesome is that?

My total swim time was 48:14

My total bike time was 3:55

My total run (well walk) was 3:13

Total race time was 8:06:55

 

Katie and I after the race.

I have a few marathons coming up to finish the year off.  During the high mileage of marathon training starts Ironman Texas training.   That should be interesting.  Lets see if I can keep blogging during that crazy time.  Here’s to hoping my next post isn’t so negative.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I’m an Ironman. NBD.

I know, it’s  been over two weeks since Ironman Lake Tahoe and I haven’t posted a race report.  What the heck?!?!?!  I’ve been letting the race sink in and process it all.  Plus, we just finally hooked our computer up since we moved.  Life is just hectic.

The Friday before race I day I drove up to Tahoe to check in.  I had driven up so many times the last couple of months, it just seemed a bit surreal to be driving up for the last time for the actual race.  I hadn’t really gotten into race mode the week leading up to that day since we had moved just a few days before.  It all just wasn’t sinking in.  Once I got to Squaw Valley and saw some friends, I finally started at least getting excited.

I’ll just skip to race day since that’s the fun part.  I did not sleep that night.  It just sucked!  I guess that’s the norm though and that’s why the entire week before the race, you should get lots of rest of sleep.  Well, that didn’t happen.  Not when I moved into a new house and had way too much to do the week of the race.  So, when I woke up at 4:15, I was super dizzy and felt like I had a cold.  Ugh!  Every time I turned my  head I got really dizzy.  That made me super nervous.  It was race day and I had to suck it up.  Eric and Bill, Elizabeth’s husband, drove Elizabeth and I to the swim start at King’s Beach.  Oh man!  Here I was again.  All I kept thinking about was that this was my last chance to finish an Ironman.  I didn’t have the time or money to train for a different one this year.  I was freaking out.  I finally saw my coach, Amanda and her husband, Keith.  Whew! She told me I was probably just dizzy from being nervous.  Amanda also gave me a great calming breathing exercise to do at the swim start.

Time was going by way too fast.  It was already time to say goodbye to everyone.  As soon as I gave Eric a hug, I started crying.  I hate crying.  I kept crying when I hugged Amanda too.  Oh man!  Crying sucks.  Elizabeth and I walked down to the swim start.  The sand was so cold.  I was so grateful for some last minute advice to wear some thick socks on the beach.  I wouldn’t even have thought about the sand being cold.

My plan for the swim was to start with the second to the last group.  After chatting with Amanda we figured it might give me some extra minutes during the race just in case I was getting close to a bike cutoff. So I scooted my way up the shoot.  Elizabeth found me and we anxiously waited together to start.

Ironman changed the direction of the swim to clockwise from it’s usual counter clockwise. I was so excited since I tend to swim towards the right.  Ironman was also great and moved a bunch of the rocks near the shore so we wouldn’t get hurt walking on so many rocks.  The water was really low so we had to walk a while before we could even swim.  Elizabeth took off running and I didn’t even realize we passed the timing mat.  Oops!  I walked until we could actually start swimming.  And then I freaked out.  I couldn’t catch my breath.  The water was so freaken cold.  There were so many freaken people around me.  I did not think I could finish this swim.  I doggie paddled for a few hundred yards.  I looked around and saw lots of people struggling.  A few people were already hanging onto some paddle boards.  A few days before I left for Lake Tahoe my Ironman friend, Alison sent me this picture.

I loved this!  It was so true for me with this race.  I really didn’t have another option but to finish.  And well, it had “fucking” written on the sign.  My favorite word the last nine months during training.  Well, nothing else anybody said before the race or during training got me to actually swim except this sign.  Thank you Alison.  Finishing was my only fucking option.  I put my head in that freaken cold water and I swam.  I passed people, hit people, kicked people, got passed, got hit and got kicked.  Yep, I was in the thick of it.  During the end of the first loop I really started getting cold.  I was shivering.  I don’t think I had ever been so cold.  Then somewhere during the swim, I got a horrible leg cramp.  Usually, they go  away when I keep swimming, but this one stopped me.  It sucked.  Thankfully it went away after a couple of minutes and I kept swimming.

This swim was so much better than my IMCDA swim.  That swim with my horrible sighting was 1:52:05.  Boo!  This time it took 1:43:16.  It was such a big difference.  I was so excited.  I saw Eric and Amanda when I got out of the water but I could hardly walk and could only say, “I’m so cold.”

Let me just say that the Ironman volunteers are truly the best people ever.  Triathletes are not modest people.  Most of us got naked in the changing tents, put cream on our, well, you know whats, and do other stuff that you just don’t want to know about.  All of this in front of lots of other people.  I’m sure the poor volunteers have nightmares for days after Ironman.  They just help with all of it, anything we needed they would help.  My T1 took 11:57.  Not as fast as my IMCDA transition, but I did have to go to the bathroom this time and I was shivering so much, I could barely get my shoes and socks on.

On to the bike.  I could barely walk my bike to the bike mount line.  I was still so freaken cold.  It took a few miles before I stopped shivering.  Luckily it was a beautiful and sunny day.  I felt really good once I warmed up.  I really love this bike course.  I knew it really well.  Okay, I thought I did.  At the end of Legacy Trail in Truckee there is a split in the trail where you can go left up this super steep hill that takes you to a parking lot off of Highway 267.  Or you can go right that is still up a hill, but not so bad and it takes you to a crosswalk on Highway 267.  I’ve always gone to the right so I could turn left safely onto the highway.  Well, surprise, the course took us left up the super steep hill.  Lots of people got off their bikes to walk it.  It wasn’t long, but steep and there were two fucking speed bumps we had to go over.  WTF?!?!?!?!  All I could think about was Elizabeth cussing me out when she saw that we had to go up it.  I managed to grind up that freaken hill to look forward to the big Brockway climb.

I was feeling really good and ready for the climb.  Somewhere up the climb I heard Eric and Bill cheering.  Eric ran up the hill for a bit while he talked to me.  The encouragement from the two of them was just what I needed.

The guys taking a much needed break from spectating.

Elizabeth was not far behind me.  I knew she would pass me any minute since she is way better on the climbs than I am.  And sure enough, she zoomed by me yelling at me.  The climb wasn’t bad, just took it slow.  Well, I always go up the  hills slow.  My favorite part of the course is the descent down Brockway.  My max mph was 51, but Eric did not want me to go that fast during race day.  So I listened.  Boo!  I only managed a max of 47 mph.  It was still fun.

Photo Credit to Greg Zirbel. Thanks for taking some awesome shots of all of the athletes.

On the second loop I stopped to go to the bathroom.  I should have racked my bike, but instead I set it up against the rack.  This resulted in something moving and causing my tire to rub on something.  I could hear it, but couldn’t figure out what was rubbing.  This made the second loop a bit more challenging.  Plus, the wind picked up.  During the first loop of the bike course I dropped most of one of my Bonk Breaker bars.  That was a big bummer because that meant I didn’t have enough calories for the last part of the bike.  Yes, I have a tendency to drop things.  I did drop my entire bag of salt tablets and Nuun during the start of the bike at IMCDA.  At least this was just food.  I resorted to using Gu on the bike.  I usually have two, one at the start and one half way through mixed in with one or two Bonk Breaker bars.  Since I was short about 200 calories, I add two Gu’s on the last part of the bike.  This ended up being a big mistake during the run.

My bike time ended up being okay.  Not as fast as I had hoped.  8:25 with an average speed of 13.3 mph.  It was still within the time frame that Amanda had wanted me to be in.  I was really excited to get off  of the bike.  My feet were really hurting.  I’m not sure if it was my shoes or what.  I need to get that figured out too.

I saw my entire family at the transition.    I hadn’t seen my kids since Friday when we dropped them off at school so to see them cheering for me was awesome.  T2 transition was 7:57.  Not bad when it included a potty break.  Amanda told me I had plenty of time to finish the run.  The run was my strongest leg and I was really excited about finally getting the chance to run.  My last 20 mile run I had averaged a pace of 10:23.  Not too shabby.  Of course, my pace wouldn’t be the same, but I didn’t think it would be as bad as it was on race day.

I started out the run with a slow shuffle.  I knew this was going to be a long time before I finished that race.  I shuffled through the first half and stopped at each aid station.  I grabbed pretzels and water at each one and a few times I sipped on some cola.  It was really weird but my brain just kind of turned off and I couldn’t think of what I was supposed to take for fuel.  I always take salt tablets and electrolytes, but I didn’t take a single one on the last half.  I started getting a stomach ache about  mile 18-19 and ended up using the porta potties every time I saw one.  It must have been from those freaken extra freaken Gu’s that I ate on the bike.  Those stops slowed me way down.  I still wasn’t thinking that I was dehydrated or what was really wrong.  I just felt that I needed to get to the finish line.  At times I would try running, but it seemed faster to just walk.  It sucked!  The trail was really dark and the only thing I could see was what was directly in front of my feet that my headlamp lit up.  Not  much.  Katie was so sweet and ran with me for a few miles.  This was even after she completed the Ironman 70.3 that afternoon.  She is such a rockstar.  I had less than a mile left when Katie and Eric joined up with me again.  They told me I wasn’t going to make the cutoff if I didn’t hurry up.  So I kind of ran.  I had already figured that I would at least be able to make it through the finish chute, but I’d be over the 17 hours since I started about 6:45am.  There wasn’t anything I could do about it.  I just made way too many bathroom stops.  It was pretty exciting going through Squaw Valley with everyone cheering.  I wish I could have enjoyed the moment more, but I was completely spent.

All through training I couldn’t wait to hear the Mike Reilly, the voice of Ironman, announce that I was an Ironman.  Well, he wasn’t at Tahoe this year and that was okay.  I couldn’t hear it it anyways.  I could only hear the spectators cheering and the music.   That’s not a bad thing.  It was actually pretty awesome.  I just wish I felt better to enjoy the moment.  I actually did get another DNF.  I did finish, but was over the time by a few minutes.  Eh, that’s okay.  I still felt like I did the work and went the distance.  Plus, I got the medal.

One of my favorite pictures. Me hugging Amanda at the finish line.

The finisher’s area was pretty crazy for me.  The volunteer who gave me my medal and finisher’s hat was super great.  He guided me to where I needed to go and what to do.  I really didn’t know what was going on at that point.  It was becoming a blur.  I remember giving everyone hugs, getting my picture taken and being told by Amanda to go to the medical area.  At this point I was okay.  Just super tired.  I left the med area and wanted to get some food.  Well, really just something warm.  I was so cold.  The day was finally hitting me.  Then I didn’t want to be warm, just to lay down.

I ended up not being able to go anywhere on my own so as a precaution I was transported to the emergency room.  Within minutes of the paramedic starting me on an IV of fluids, I started feeling better.  Once I got to the hospital they started me on another bag and took some lab work.  My labs came out great and Mr. Wiggles is doing well.

Stacy Baade, you are an Ironman!

I was so grateful for getting those fluids.  I don’t think I would have been feeling as well as I was the next day.  The only real thing that hurt was my calf from the leg cramp on the swim.   I was doing a weird Frankenstein walk for two days until I got into see the awesome, Dr. Pellegrini.  He found I had pulled a muscle.  He worked it out after a few visits and me almost crying through the pain.  Luckily, instead of crying, he just made me laugh.  Ouch, that hurt!

Keep an eye out for another post soon.  I have so many people to thank and you can read what I’m planning on doing next.  Cuz you know it doesn’t end here.

Taking care of business

It’s been a tough couple of months since my big DNF at Ironman Couer d’ Alene.  My dream of becoming an Ironman was not over.  After lots of discussions with Eric, my kiddos and my coach, Amanda, I signed up for Ironman Lake Tahoe.  The logistics of this race seem to be a good fit for us.  It’s close to home so I’ve been able to practice on the course and there aren’t a lot of travel expenses.  Plus, Lake Tahoe is one of my favorite places.  The big obstacles for this race besides it being an Ironman is the altitude of 6000 feet and you never know what the weather will be like.  The first year it snowed and the second year it was cancelled because of a fire.  So fingers crossed this year will be ideal racing conditions.

Everyone who knows me, knows that I love me a hashtag.  So I was trying to come up with one for this race.  For IMCDA, we had #roadtocouerdalene2015 That was great for Elizabeth, Katie and I, but I needed my own for this race.  I knew this would be my last shot for a finish this year.  During one of my runs I was trying to come up with one.  Since all of this comes back to Tucker I decided to use his initials.  T.C.B.  Eric put a lot of thought into his name, like most parents do.  Tucker, cause it’s awesome.  His middle name is Cassius after Cassius Clay.  Tuck had been a fighter since the moment we found out we were pregnant.  Of course we would name him after one of the greatest heavyweight fighters of all time.  (Kind of ironic that Tucker is the smallest one in his class).  Then there are the initial.  T.C.B.  Eric is a huge Elvis fan.  Taking Care of Business is a motto that Elvis adopted.  I thought T.C.B. was very fitting for Ironman Lake Tahoe.  So my new hashtag for IMLT is #TCB

Of course I had to put my new hashtag on a pink trucker hat.

I had a little break after IMCDA and then it was back to full training mode.  It took a few weeks to get my speed back up on the run.  It really felt like I was starting all over again.  It’s still not what it was before IMCDA, but better.  The bike was a bit of a struggle, but nothing like the run.  And my swim…I never thought I would get faster, but oh my gosh, I have.  Woohoo!  My last open water swim with Amanda was horrible.  On the way back to shore for the last half, she yelled at me to stop looking at my Garmin since it won’t make me any faster by looking at how far I’ve gone.  Okay, she didn’t yell, but she was very insistent.  She was right.  My last half of that swim was way faster. Since then most of my open water swims have been better and I actually kind of enjoy it.  WHAT?!?!?!  That’s crazy!

Elizabeth had been debating if she was going to do the race with me and she finally pulled the plug and signed up.  I’m super excited she will be on the course with me.  Our 7th year kidneyversary is the day before Ironman on September 19th.   I can’t believe all that we have done in these seven years post transplant.  And Elizabeth is going to be doing two Ironmans in less than three months.  Wow!  She is amazing!

This was after our super long swim and last workout of our last week of peak training. I was so happy it was over.

We are a few days into our first week of our taper.  I’m supposed to be getting lots of sleep and not doing so much, but I’m doing the complete opposite.  We are moving this weekend so I’m super busy trying to pack up our house, plan the move, get my workouts in and you know, work a little bit.  I’m not sleeping much which is not helping me get quality workouts in.  Luckily we move the week before Ironman (is that lucky?) so I can at least take my time to unpack our stuff.

I’m also struggling with some tendinitis in my left knee that started hurting a bunch on the last two weeks of peak.  I finally went to see my favorite sports doctor, Dr. Pellegrini.  He is fixing me up so hopefully I won’t have as much pain on race day.  The climb up Brockway is not any fun when you are in pain.

I really am super excited about this race and I feel really ready.  You can track me on the athlete tracker at http://www.ironman.com My bib number is 287.  I’m hoping my race report is more positive this time around.

Race Report and then some from IMCDA

Wow!  This was not the race report I was hoping to write.  So get ready for what Eric calls “the roller coaster of Stacy’s emotions after a race.”

My family and I made it to Coeur d’ Alene on Thursday evening after a super long drive.  Chloe and Tucker were so good the entire way, we took them to get ice cream off Sherman Ave.  I was beyond excited, well just plain giddy, to be down on Sherman Avenue.  The barriers  were set up and there were so many Ironman signs everywhere.  As we were searching for ice cream, we saw my new friend, Dan, that I met on the Facebook training group.  We stopped and met his beautiful family.  He told us that he had already swam in Lake Coeur d’ Alene that day and that the water was great and the current carried you back when you were headed to shore.  That eased my mind a bit about the swim.  It would be great if at the end of our 2.4 mile swim to not have to work as hard.  We found a yummy ice cream shop where everyone got ice cream, but me.  The fresh waffle cones smelled so yummy.   We walked down to the lake and tried to make sense of the transition area.  It was getting pretty dark and we couldn’t see much so we headed back to where we were staying.

The next morning I was planning on meeting up to swim with some awesome athletes that I met on the Facebook training group and of course, Rosie.  It was so fun meeting everyone that I’ve been stalking on Strava and Facebook.  Apparently I am known as HSF.  I really do say and write that a lot on my Strava workouts.  🙂   It was like a reunion seeing everyone. Chloe finally had to tell me to go swim because I was talking so much.  I swam with my new friend, Kim.  The water was amazing.  It was so clear and there were some crazy things at the bottom.  I even saw a can of Tab.  Yep, Tab.  When we got to the second buoy, we ran into Dan again.  We all started chatting and two more athletes stopped to chat too.  It was pretty funny.  I can always find a way to talk to people.  We finished our swim and talked even more.  Athlete check in was open, so we headed to Ironman Village.

Oh my gosh!  I was checking into my first Ironman.  Everyone I was talking to in line was so great.  We were all worried about the heat on race day.  While I was in line Chloe came over to me and gave me an autographed picture of Andy Potts.  Yep, the one and only Andy Potts.  He was over at the Lifeproof booth chatting with athletes.  I was so excited to finally meet him.  Eric had already filled him in on my story and he had some great advice for me on race day.  He is a genuinely nice man.  I was really impressed by him.

Yeah, that’s just me and my buddy, Andy. NBD!

Later that day we had the athlete briefing.  I finally saw Elizabeth, her husband, Bill and Amanda.  It was such a relief to see them.  After the athlete briefing, Elizabeth and I headed off to ride the run course.  I really enjoyed seeing the course.  It seemed to help me mentally prepare for the run.  The course that was by the lake was so much cooler than the rest of the course.  Andy did fill me in on that awesome info too.  We got really close in the few minutes we chatted.  Heehee!

The next day I did a super short run and got my gear ready to drop off at the transition area.  As I left my family, I started crying again.  Oh man, I was so emotional.  They all gave me big hugs while giggling at me.    I had just been so emotional the last few weeks.  We finally met up with Katie and all of the Bobs were together again.  Whew!

Chris, Katie’s husband, had these made for our bikes. Aren’t these awesome?

When I got back to my family they headed off to spend the day at Stillwater, a local amusement park.  This gave me a chance to watch many episodes of Scandal while I rested, ate and drank water.  I love days like that.

Trying to get to sleep that night was not easy.  All week I was only concerned about the temperature of the day.  All of a sudden I was super freaked out about the swim.  I wasn’t at all worried about the bike and knew I could just walk the run leg if necessary.  I just needed to get through the swim.  I was up a bunch during the night because of nerves, people texting me and just having to go to the bathroom.  Finally it was time to get up and get ready.

Eric dropped me off at Ironman village and I dropped off my special needs bags.  I headed to the transition to drop my fuel off and water bottles.  I started seeing all my girls and we were all so nervous.  I got to my bike and realized I had forgot to put my Nuun in my water bottles.  Damnit!  This was my first mistake of the day.  I added my salt tablets to my bottles and found I had one tablet of Nuun, but was missing the rest.  I began thinking of how I could make those adjustments.  I knew I had some in my special needs bag.  I figured I would be okay since there was Gatorade on the course and I still had salt tablets.  I made sure my bike gear was in order and dropped my fuel off in my run bag.  Then to the porta potty line before putting my wetsuit on.  I saw Amanda before I headed with everyone to the swim start.  Just seeing her smiling face eased my mind a bit.  I was so glad she was there.

There was so much excitement and nerves in the air as we all shuffled through to the swim start.  The male pros had already started the race.  The pro women would be headed out in a few more minutes.  HSF!  The time was going by so fast.  I finished my GU and water bottle full of Nuun and gave Rosie and Katie good luck hugs.  Elizabeth and I walked down to the water to acclimate and of course go potty with everyone else.  Triathletes are pretty gross and we swim in our pee.  Yep!  Pretty gross.

I turned my Garmin on and was all ready to go.  Music was playing and Mike Reilly was getting everyone pumped up.  It was so awesome! Then it was go time.  I hit start on my Garmin and just started swimming.  HSF, I was swimming in an Ironman!  I started at the back of the pack since I am so super slow.  I was surrounded by other athletes, but I didn’t have any problems with anyone pulling on me or pushing me down.  I think because I was so far off to the right and not even near the buoys like I should have been.  I continued by swim count and looked up just to sight.  Every time I would look up, I was further and further from the buoys.  FUCK!  I didn’t need to swim any further than necessary.  I looked at my Garmin and noticed I never actually changed it to the multi-sport setting like I thought I did.  I still had it on the run setting.  Ugh!  What else is going to go wrong?  Luckily it still showed me my time and that was really all I needed.  I kept swimming and then looked up to sight and hit my nose on the edge of a paddle board.  Of course I laughed because this stuff only happens to me.  The dude on the board laughed and said sorry.  I thought I broke my nose and was bleeding, but continued on.  What else was going to happen?  I hadn’t even hit the first turn yet.  I kept trying to stay close to the buoys, but it just wasn’t working.  I got to the first turn and then there was the sun.  It was so bright we couldn’t see the next turn buoy.  Luckily, the guys on the paddle boards were helping with directions.  I finally finished my first loop.  53 minutes.  Ugh!  I was hoping for 50 minutes.  That was okay, at least I knew I still had plenty of time to finish the second loop before the 2 hour and 20 minute cut off.  I heard Amanda screaming my name.  That was such a great thing to hear.  Not that I really like to hear my name being screamed out, but just  know that she saw me and was cheering for me.  😉   The second loop was a bit more wavey and my sighting still sucked ass.  I knew I was going to finish the swim with no problems after I started the second loop.  Once I made the second turn and headed back to shore I started thinking about getting into transition and getting on the bike.  Before I knew it, I was done with the swim.  I finished my 2.4 mile swim in 1:52:05.  I was so beyond excited. It was better than I expected on my race plan.  Although my Garmin did say I swam 4.42 miles.  Haahaa!  Apparently it’s not as accurate on the run setting.  I haven’t downloaded my swim yet, but I’m anxious to see how far I really did swim.

The women’s changing tent was AWESOME!  I had a list of what I needed and what their order was in so the lady helping me just grabbed my stuff and started helping.  My transition was 7:17.  WHAT?!?!?!?  I was on the bike in record time.  I saw Eric and the kiddos on the bike out and felt really good.  I grabbed my first GU out of my bento box and out falls my baggie of salt tablets and tylenol.   Fuck!  I should have taken a minute to stop and grab it, but I continued on.  I felt really great on the bike.  It was starting to feel hot, but not too bad.  The start of the bike course took us out by the lake on the run course.  On the way back in town there was a bank that had a sign with the current temperature.  It was already 83 degrees.  No big deal.  I’ve biked in hotter temps than that and I was feeling great.  My speed was a little too fast, but this was the easy part of the course.  I headed out to Highway 95 where the hills soon began.  I’m not fast going up the hills but I will make it up them.  I sure do love going down the hills.  That’s my favorite.  I got to about mile 20ish and started doing the math.  My pace was slowing down and I was getting really hot.  It seemed way hotter on 95 and I was already on my second water bottle.   I was catching back up on my pace with the downhills, but it seemed that everything was uphill.   I figured that I was going to make the first bike cutoff, but I had my doubts that I would  make the second cutoff.  I got to the turnaround on 95 and really just felt like crap.  I had already been feeling dizzy which wasn’t a good sign.  I finished my second water bottle and was waiting for another aid station to get a Gatorade.  I still had two more water bottles with salt tablets already in them, but I figured I should get something cold and Gatorade was probably a better option than water.  I finally got to an aid station.  I asked for a Gatorade and poured it into my front water bottle.  The volunteer kept asking me questions and I just remember answering with an “I don’t know” to each of them.  Oh man!  That wasn’t a good sign, especially for me who really likes to talk.  I remember her putting ice in my bottle with her bare hands.  As an immuno-suppressed person, I am a huge germaphobe.  If I saw this on a normal day, I would have literally vomited.  Not on this day.  I couldn’t even react to it.  I go back on my bike and realized that I was not going to finish this race.  At this point I was not just dizzy, but I was also not able to talk and answer simple questions.  I kept counting down the miles.  The pros were all passing me as well as the age groupers.  I just stayed out of their way since I knew I was already out of the race.  At one point my dizziness got so bad that I almost ran into a barrier. I just felt like I was losing it more and more each mile.  I just wanted to get to the end of the first bike loop so I could end this race.

I finally got to the bike finish and told a volunteer that I was done with the race.  Defeated!  I just felt freaken defeated.   A volunteer took my bike and I sat in the shade on the grass.  I took off everything but my jersey and shorts and a few volunteers dumped water on me.  I couldn’t stop shaking.  I had my heart rate monitor on so they started monitoring my heart rate from that.  It wouldn’t go down.  I couldn’t stop the dizziness.  I texted Eric to tell him I was at the transition.  The medical peeps wanted to take me to the med tent at that point, but I declined and went to go meet Eric.  I saw Bill and Amanda waiting for me outside the transition area.  Oh man!  I felt pure disappointment and failure.  I couldn’t believe this was happening.  I saw many other athletes leaving with their bikes and gear bags who decided to not finish the race.  I knew that any other day I could have finished this race.  With Amanda’s coaching, I was trained for every aspect of this race.  They urged me to visit the med tent since my heart rate was still pretty high and I was still dizzy.  My blood pressure was super low and they kept me in there until it came back up.  The med tent was quickly filling up with athletes.  The medical staff was amazing.  I felt really bad for them since their day was just starting to get busy.

This was Amanda’s Facebook post that I have read numerous times.  I couldn’t get through this without crying.  It was a very tough day and only made better by watching my friends cross that finish line.

“Yesterday was, without question, an historic Ironman race day. With temps up to 105 (and 125 on the asphalt!) – IMCDA 2015 was a humbling day for athletes and spectators alike. I watched so many stories unfold; stories of angst and triumph, struggle and victory, sadness and unbelievable joy. I watched in a single day, a bit of an encapsulation of what it means to live a human life, with all its ups and downs, celebrations and losses, pain and love. If you’ve never been to one, an Ironman 140.6 is simply an unparalleled event for this sort of experience.

As a coach, one of my main responsibilities is to watch. To watch what an athlete eats and drinks. To watch how their arm enters the water in the swim and how their feet move behind them, to propel them forward toward their goals. To watch RPM on the bike and pacing on the run. To watch how much sleep they get, how faithful they are to doing what is in their best interest. To watch how training load is either enhancing or stalling performance. To watch heart rate and mood and travel stress and family commitments and work schedules. It is my job to come alongside an athlete, or an aspiring athlete, and to listen to their goals. To learn about their challenges, and to understand their dreams and then, to the best of my ability, craft a plan to help them reach out towards and one day grasp hold of these goals they have for themselves. It is my job to hold them accountable to this plan, to push them when they need pushed and pull them back when it is warranted. It is my job to walk alongside them as they navigate all the things they expected on the journey and try to help them deal with all the things they didn’t. It is my job to carefully watch them in what is ultimately, always, their own unique journey.

I watched a lot of athletes yesterday. I watched them fight hard, SO hard for what they wanted. And it was my very great pleasure and privilege to see so many of the athletes I care about succeed in their fight and reach their very long-held and oh-so-difficultly earned dreams of an Ironman finish. I saw you out there, Elizabeth. Oh, man. I saw you and I am so very proud of and amazed by you. You are absolutely made of the very strongest of stuff. Just unreal. And I saw you, Katie, Brian, Richard, Rosie and Faith. I saw each of you fight and fight and dig oh so deep to finish what you started.

And I saw you, Stacy.

I watched you cheerfully take on your prior nemesis of swimming. Not only once, but twice, due to the out of and back in nature of the swim course. I watched that head bob with our stroke count/breath count pattern. That pink cap always tucking back down for more. I watched you exit the water with an absolutely huge smile. And right there, I had my first ever swim-finish cry. I watched you FLY through transition – wearing everything you were supposed to and all of it facing the right direction smile emoticon. Then, remotely, I watched you clip away mile after mile on the bike. I got to watch you on that course for a split second, too, chasing down your formidable dreams. I saw you minutes behind the friend with whom you share a bond so sacred that those of us around you can only begin to understand it.

Then I saw you do one of the hardest things you will ever have to have done. I watched you painfully, and oh-so-very-graciously, set aside something that means so very much to you. I saw you so wisely choose this because the people who love you and need you mean more.

And then. Then I watched you tenderly see to the needs and hearts of your children in the midst of your own heartache. I watched you, with more grace and dignity and strength of character than many of us will ever hope to have, spend the rest of your day, in the same brutal heat that mandated that you end your race, set aside your disappointment. I watched you cheer, encourage, run alongside and positively will every one of your friends across the very finish line that you so very much want for yourself. Mercy. And then, when our part of the day together was near done, I watched you genuinely, and absolutely beautifully, celebrate every one of these friends.

I watched you fight to outwardly manifest your inward strength and beauty, Stacy Baade. And it was one of the most inspiring and lovely things that I’ve ever seen. There was no medal at the end of your day. But there should’ve been.”

This blog post took me 5 days to complete.  I have been processing my defeat all week.  Eric pointed out to me that my kidney transplant has never defined me.  I don’t complain about the frustrations and struggles I deal with every day.  I have never let it get in the way of me living my life.  This was the first time it really did.  This week I got back in the open water to swim with my awesome triathlon group, I’ve ran with Chloe and am going on a bike ride today.  I will get back on track with training and I have no doubt that I WILL become a Ironman.

HSF! Ironman is on Sunday!

This tapering stuff is driving me bonkers.  I was really looking forward to having the extra time to spend with my kids, do some work for the coffee shop that I’ve been putting off and maybe even clean the house.  Nope, I’m just too tired.  I think I’m more tired now than I was during the peak training weeks.  It’s driving me bonkers.  Luckily I’ve been able to get some naps in during the day.

Not only am I beyond tired, but I’m super duper extra emotional.  The thought that I won’t finish this race goes through my mind at least a hundred times a day.  I even cried four times on Saturday.  Yes, four times.  What is going on?!?!?!?  Apparently I’m not the only one.  Katie, Elizabeth and I text each other multiple times a day with describing our mini freak outs, doubts and reasons why we’ve shed our most recent tears.

Like any athlete does the weeks before a race, we check the weather updates daily.  The two weeks leading up to IMCDA, I’ve been checking it multiple times a day.  The latest forecast for the day is this.  Yes, Sunday is race day and it’s expected to be 106.  WTF?!?!?!?! How the heck am I going to complete an Ironman in that kind of heat?  Just another reason to freak out over this race.

Completing this monster of a race in this kind of heat is already difficult for any athlete.  Buuut….with my one kidney that only works at a 30% function, it makes it a bit more difficult.  I will be racing smart and taking in enough electrolytes and salt tablets.  If I have any signs that I feel like I’m going to die, (aside from the normal signs when competing in an Ironman) then I will stop.  My contingency plan is to complete Ironman Tahoe in September if something happens in Coeur d’ Alene.  At this point, I’m going to stay positive and keep thinking that I can do it.  I’ve been through way worse things in my life than doing an Ironman in 106 degrees.  #pieceofcake

Sunday was my last training day with my super awesome friends.  Amanda had us do a 15 minute open water swim, 10 mile ride and a 2 mile run.  When we walked to the beach, we saw that our friend, Amanda, had left beautiful flowers and a card on the beach for us.

Isn’t Amanda the best?

That’s me, Elizabeth and Rosie.

It was nice to train without any pressure.  We really just had fun.  There was a lot of dancing, gossip and of course laughing at me.  One of the hilariously stupid things I did that morning was after the swim I had my wetsuit half off and I was just wearing that and my sports bra.  Then I put my helmet on which I should have done after I put my bike jersey on.  So then instead of just taking my helmet off, I struggled to put my jersey over my helmet.  I really need video of all the stupid things I do so I can make more people laugh at me.  A few weeks ago I put my helmet on backwards three times.  I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

With only five days left, I’m trying to get packed, organize and pack my race gear, fit in my final workouts, work and try to stay sane.  I’ve noticed I’ve really just been going around in circles when I’m home and can’t focus on doing any of the above.  Sitting here to write this post is the most I’ve sat still all day.  I think I’ll go for a run now.

Elizabeth, Katie and I managed to fit in a pedicure this morning. Aren’t they awesome?!?!?!

Eek! Raceday is almost here.

Two weeks from now I will be recovering from Ironman Coeur d’ Alene.  What a sec, what?!?!?!  Two weeks?  Man, the time has gone by so fast.  These last 5 plus months have been filled with laughter, anger, frustration, fear, pain, F bombs and countless hashtags.

Never in a million years did I think that after my transplant that I would be training for an Ironman.  My idea of swimming was floating on a raft in the pool with a drink in hand watching the kids swim around me and yelling at them to not splash me.  Cycling wasn’t my thing either.  I had a mountain bike that I only road maybe twice.  Running, well I did enjoy running.  In fact, I went for a run the morning of our transplant surgery.  Thanks to Elizabeth who has a way of convincing me to do things, I started doing triathlons a few years ago.  Although, I will take full blame for getting us into racing a full Ironman and Katie and Elizabeth both love me for it.

The last two weeks were full of pretty big firsts for me.  I was able to conquer swimming 2.4 miles in the open water at Folsom Lake.  This was really tough.  I seriously hate swimming.  I’m nauseous every time I have to get in that lake.  I still think that I’m going to see dead bodies coming up out of the water.  It’s bad enough seeing fish swimming by me or egrets dive bombing my head.  I just kept hearing Amanda’s voice in my head saying to just count.  Then I do.  I keep counting with each stroke and try not to think of anything but the next number and just finishing the freakin’ swim.

Then last Sunday Elizabeth, her husband Bill, Richard (another awesome triathlete doing Coeur d’ Alene) and I rode 100 miles in Lake Tahoe for America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride.  This too was quite an accomplishment.  I had never ridden 100 miles before even with training for Race Across America.  I was really excited to be able to finish this ride and finish it strong.  No training ride comes without an issue.  I was riding next to Elizabeth when I hit a rock.   I slowed down to check if I got a flat and sure  enough I did.  I yelled to Elizabeth, but she didn’t hear me.  So I got to change the tire by myself.  I really don’t think I’ve ever changed a tire by myself before.  Luckily, when I was just about ready to bust out the CO2 cartridge, some nice man stopped to help.  I’m always so nervous using those things.  By the time it was done, I was a greasy mess.  I met up with the group at an aid  station and grabbed some wipes to clean off a little bit.  When we finished the ride we had to hurry up and transition into our run gear for a short little run.  When we were done with our brick, I looked at my stats from my ride and saw my top speed was 44.5 mph.  That was my fastest speed yet.  Woohoo!

Bill, Elizabeth, me and Richard after 100 miles and a little run and lots of great post race food.

Today marked day two of the two week taper.  I woke up at 4:10am to head to the pool for a short swim.  I did NOT want to go at all.  I just wanted to sleep.  I laid in bed trying to figure out a different time of the day when I could go just so I could sleep a little longer.  But it’s summer time and the pool is packed in the daytime.  So I needed to get ready and go.  My first F bomb of the day was at 5:26am.  Then they just kept on coming.  Amanda had me do a 1000 yard time trial so I only needed to swim 1300 yards with the cool down and warm up.  I just had nothing.  I think this was my slowest swim TT.  I ended up swimming 1450 yards and heading home to get my bike for a million hill repeats with Elizabeth.  When I got home, I saw Eric and told him how crappy my swim was.  After I got all my bike stuff ready, I gave him a goodbye hug and kiss and just melted down.  The tears started and I just felt done.  Completely done.  What if I don’t finish the race?  What if I spent all the time and money on this race and I don’t finish?  Eric told me not worry and gave me all the awesome encouraging words he could think of.  But ugh!

When I met up  with Elizabeth at my coffee shop for our ride I told her it was my melt down day….again.  More F bombs were dropped by the both of us.  I think we had a new record for the amount of F bombs said in the shortest amount of time.  Do we get a medal for that?  Neither of us wanted to do hill repeats this morning.  Sitting at my shop drinking coffee sounded way better.  We finally got off our butts and did the ride.  I seriously had nothing and we had a headwind going up the hill for all three hill repeats.

When I got home and walked into the kitchen I saw that Eric had left me a present.  I’m not sure how I would have gotten through this training without him.  That’s it’s own entire blog post.  It’s nap time already so I’ll save that for another day.

Can’t wait to not live off of Power Bars.

National Donate Life Month

If you haven’t seen it in the news or on social media, April is Donate Life Month.  I am obviously am a big advocate of spreading the word of organ donation awareness.  I wanted to do something different to promote the cause.  In light of all the people bashing others for their differences, I wanted to show off my own differences.  I wanted people to see that I can embrace my huge scar that I have on my stomach where I had my life saving transplant.  And if they have a problem with it, then they can suck it!

I asked my friend Jadelyn of http://www.alvarezphotos.com/ to take some pictures of me in my swimsuit.  What?!?!?!  Me?  That is totally not me.  I do not take half naked pictures of myself for my friends to see.  This took a lot of courage for me.  Of course I am self conscious of the normal stuff that all of us women are self conscious of.  But people, check out that awesome scar!!!!!!

Please get the pink dot so the 123,361 other people who are waiting for a transplant can get this awesome scar too.

Take what I’m given with grace.

A few weeks back I was driving by my old dialysis clinic on the way to the gym.  I looked in the window and saw a patient standing by his chair getting his blood pressure taken.  This completely took me by surprise.  I was that patient not too long ago in that exact chair and at that time.  This just reminded me how far I’ve come since my transplant.  I’m now training for a full Ironman.  What the heck?

I’ve thought back that moment when I saw him quite a bit this past week.  This week of training was mentally and physically exhausting for me.  I’m working way more hours and the number of training hours have increased as well.  I’ve had to remind myself numerous times that I when I was on dialysis while pregnant with Tuck, I couldn’t even play with Chloe because I couldn’t breathe.  There were days that I couldn’t even get out of bed.  While on dialysis, I had also gone into heart failure.  I really didn’t think Tuck or I would make it through the pregnancy.  Tuck was born at 32 weeks due to my heart.  He is a true miracle.  His 7th birthday is next week and when I look at him I still can’t believe he made it through all of that with me.

Now that I’m training for an Ironman, I have a new set of struggles.  Time management is a huge struggle.  It seems that when I think my week has cleared up and I can actually see that I can get a nap or two in during the week, something else pops up.  These last few weeks I have felt that I have to take each day hour by hour.  Just checking things off as I go along and then quickly on to the next task. Last Thursday before my Friday brick workout, I got up at 3:30am and didn’t stop working on my feet until 10:30pm only to be up at 3:30 again the next morning.  Luckily, I’ve been able to get  my workouts in but it all makes for a really long day.  So far this week, I feel like I’m getting a handle on things.  We will see though.

Another struggle that has been mentally exhausting for me is knowing that my dad is really sick.  In 1999, he was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL).  This type of Leukemia is a slow progressing cancer that worsens over time.  These last few years have gotten increasingly worse and the last six or so months he has been miserable.  My dad will start chemotherapy in a couple of weeks.  We all knew he would eventually need to start, but to actually hear the words is difficult.  It’s hard to think of my dad as being so sick and in pain when he is always the strong one of the family.  We will soon all be taking care of him while he goes through chemo.  Roles will be reversed as my mom, brothers and I become his strength.  As weird as it sounds, I’m grateful for him to start chemo.  The CLL is causing so many things to break down in his body.  He even said his bones literally hurt all the time due to the tumors getting so big that they push on his bones.  He struggles to breathe and is always coughing. I keep praying that he has the strength to get through this treatment.  His oncologist said the first three weeks are very aggressive treatments.  Cancer Sucks!!!!!!

My dad and I on my wedding day. I’m always keeping him in my prayers.

I’ve been pretty close to having a few meltdowns this last month.  I wouldn’t be able to do this training without Elizabeth, Katie, Rosie and Holly.  We all seem to be having our meltdowns at different times and we all have been there to listen and pick each other up.  We’ve made each other laugh with the stupidest things, but it’s what keeps us going.  If we didn’t laugh at it all, I really think there would be way more tears.

This was after a horrible time trial on the bike. We were both spent from being so tired, hungry and having to ride in the wind.

We still have two more months until the race and many, many more miles to swim, bike and run, but I have these girls by my side to get me through it all.  I am one lucky girl.

As I was swimming this morning, I was listening to my Waterfi iPod.  I’ve downloaded some of my favorite songs on there to get me through my least favorite workout.  One of the songs I listen to is “For My Wedding,” by Don Henley.  Eric’s friend played this on his guitar during our wedding ceremony.  One of my favorite lines to this song is, “want what I have, to take what I’m given with grace.”  This seemed very fitting today since I’ve been struggling with my workouts.  I may not be fast, but I’m going to apply what I’ve learned in training to finish this race.  This has really applied to every aspect of my life.  Including all of those hours I spent in the dialysis chair.  I will be continuing to think of all that I’ve been through these last few years and what I still have left to accomplish.

It’s really happening.

All of these months of talking about  training for Ironman Coeur D’Alene and it’s finally here.  I’ve already completed 4 weeks of training.  It came up so fast.   Now that I’m back into training mode, I’m back to posting on this blog.  Yay!!!!

I’ve joined a terrific triathlon group called Epic Tri and I signed up with a wonderful coach, Amanda.  So far the training is totally doable.  I think I need to enjoy this low mileage stuff because I know I will not be saying that it’s doable for too long.

Amanda has switched my diet up and I am now metabolic efficiency training.  I won’t even begin to try to explain what it is since I’m not an expert and I’m still working on getting it right.  The first couple of weeks went great.  I lost a bunch of weight and inches but I had my calories way too low.  I am working on increasing my calories as well as trying to get the correct ratio of carbs to protein.

As part of training, Amanda has us do a VO2 Max test.  Those are never any fun.  This is my second time doing it.  Let me tell you, I do NOT like the mask.  During the treadmill portion I completely freaked out.

I’m getting fitted for the dumb mask here. Amanda was so sweet and snapped this terrific picture of me.

But it’s done and now I know what heart rate zones I need to train in.  This has been an adjustment as well.  I’ve always just gone out and ran or rode my bike.  I never paid attention to what my heart rate was.  This Ironman training has been a whole bunch of relearning how to do things and really trusting what Amanda tells me.

I am super excited that there is a great group of us headed to Coeur D’Alene this year.  It makes the hours of training every week a bit more fun.  We’ve also been changing our run routes and bike routes up too so it’s not so boring.

Holly, me, Elizabeth and Katie out for on a trail run along Folsom Lake.

This coming week will be a jammed packed workout week.  Not only do I get to strength train twice, bike and run three times each and do my regular two swim workouts,  I also get to add a swim lesson with Amanda.  I really truly suck at swimming.  I am by no means a natural athlete.  All of this is way beyond my comfort zone, but I’m still out there trying this stuff.

A side note about my health, I see my dermatologist twice a year to check for skin cancer.  Skin cancer is one of the side effects of the anti-rejection drugs I take to keep Mr. Wiggles healthy.  Every time I go see my doctor I am diagnosed with at least two new skin cancer spots.  I have lost count of the number I’ve had.  Well, good news!  This last week I went and I didn’t have any.   Not a single biopsy.  That’s a new record for me.

That’s it for this week.  I hope to post again at the end of this week’s training.  Well, if I don’t drown.

Ironman Coeur d’Alene, here we come!

Yep, that’s right. I signed up for a full Ironman. June 28, 2015 will be the day I become an Ironman. The good news is I don’t have to train alone. My amazing friends Elizabeth, Katie and Rosie have all signed up for this adventure too.

I pretty much took the entire summer off from training, well really any exercise, due to my work schedule, the kiddos being home from school and a long illness. So I’m starting from scratch. The last two weeks I’ve slowly started getting back into running and biking and did one swim. Ugh, only one swim. I sure lost my endurance and speed fast.

It’s been discouraging to see my pace as slow as it is right now. The good news is my pace has already gotten a little faster since I started. Now that my family is back on a schedule I have figured out when I can fit in training. It’s a hectic schedule and sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe, but it should get better….I hope.

My next race is the California International Marathon. I’m already a month behind on training for that since I was sick and recovering for most of July. We will see how this one goes.

The next few months while I train for CIM I will be building my base for IMCDA. I will also be going back to clean eating so I can lose some of this weight I’ve gained this summer. Ick! Training starts January 1st!

I am beyond excited to train with my awesome training buddies. They are so encouraging and inspiring. This will truly be an amazing adventure.