Race Day Tracking...

I am all packed and ready to go!  Somehow it seemed much easier packing it all up this time around.  So easy that I can't help but think I MUST be forgetting something even though I know that I am not.  I sure I probably have at least 10 sticks of body glide, 18 cans of spray sunscreen and 12 pairs of socks.  (I don't believe in packing light...).

Last I checked, the weather was supposed to be 89 with 65% humidity.  I stopped looking yesterday because I realized it wouldn't change anything.  I obsessed over B2B weather because it made the difference between long sleeves and a regular tri kit.  This weather, not so much.  

I practiced changing my rear tire earlier today and loaded my bags with extra tubes and CO2 cartridges (word is there have been incidents of people throwing tacks on the course - what is wrong with people?).  I am prepared.  Just in case.  ...and secretly hoping that 'just in case' never happens.

I am feeling very relaxed about the whole thing.  No nerves to speak of which is a good feeling.  Sometime over the next few days, I will do a practice swim, drive the course and go see the Muhammad Ali center.  Then there is that race...  :)

If you are interested in following me on race day, you can do it a couple of ways:

1.  Through the Ironman website.  They changed the site up a bit recently so you should see something that says Live Race Coverage at the bottom of the page to get to IM Louisville.  From there select Athlete Tracker and put in race number 624 (or Whitlock).  You can also view this on iphone if you have the Iron Trac app.  Love that app!

2.  Through My Athlete Live tracker.  (this was mostly to make it easier for CR on race day but you get the benefit of it too...)  :)   Go to the My Athlete Live website, select Ironman Louisville and find my name on the list.  (Karen Whitlock).

I tracked a couple people using this app before and the total times are usually off a bit because you have to turn the device on before you start the swim and leave it on your bike.  The ironman website is the most accurate tracking in terms of race time.  The My Athlete site tends to be the best choice for your sherpas who are trying to catch a glimpse of you along the race course because you can see where your athlete is on the course throughout the day.

Fair warning -  I used My Athlete during my first iron in 2011 and lost the device in the first mile on the bike (you wear it on a belt and it fell off).  Let's hope I have better luck with it this time!  Last year, I lost my aero mounted water bottle in the first mile so if we are being honest, I am hoping I don't lose anything in the first mile of the bike this time around.  :)  

FYI - My Athlete Live also has an iphone app available.

.... and that is that!  Hoping for a great race day!

Making a list and checking it twice...

...or not.  I need to get on that.  For previous races I had the lists done by now.  In fact, I probably had them done weeks before taper.  What to bring, what to think about, notes for CR, hotel info, find the cowbells.  You know, EVERYTHING.  This time around I am not even sure I know where all my stuff is which might be a problem.  My habit for packing lately has been toss everything into the car and sort it out later.  I can't do that for this race as it would take hours at the hotel making heads and tails of what I have (and of course I would likely forget something important).  Funny how disorganized I feel this time around considering the one favorite tip I give to everyone is to pre-pack your race bags before you leave the house.  It saves a ridiculous amount of time and is one less thing to do once you get there.   I am going to have to get on that this weekend!  Running out of time...

No crazy Ironman dreams yet.  For my first race, I dreamed I crossed the line in 13:23:23.  My actual time was 13:25:05.  Had I realized I was so close I would have sped it up a bit to gain some psychic ability cred.  If I have a premonition for this race, you will be the first to know.

Still obsessing over the weather.  I looked back at my blog posts from the last race in October and I was a little bummed that the forecast was calling for 84.  A little too hot for my taste.  For Louisville, 84 sounds pretty great considering the reputation the race has for being so HOT.  I have been looking at the forecast off and on but it is still too early to tell.  It is a balmy 65 here today.  YES I still live in Atlanta and it is August.  You see why I am having trouble feeling like I have acclimated to the heat!

In other (related) news...  Did you all see that Chattanooga was selected as the newest Ironman race destination?  I could not be more excited!  Asheville, Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach were all also in the running and would have been great choices too.  I had told CR that Louisville would be my last - cross off doing an ironman branded race from the list and all but Chattanooga is so close.  And lovely.  And would be awesome to get to for riding the course in advance of the race.  A two hour trip from home, it really can't be beat.  Somehow they managed to find the flattest roads in the area for the race course which is shocking to me.  (the course is somewhere around 2100 feet of climbing.  crazy.)  I expected more of a hilly course.  I am not complaining about it one bit. Can't wait to register!

...and with those bits of rambling thoughts I will leave you ...  I have bags to pack and lists to make.  (...and laundry, dishes and...).

Have a great weekend!

 

  

August 16, 1991...

Twenty two years.  It doesn't seem like all that long but has been literally half a lifetime now.  A small wedding at home.  Truly the world's smallest affair.  When I look back on it now I wonder what I was thinking when I planned it that way.  A backyard barbecue, some cake and nuptials.  The honeymoon was equally low key.  We planned to camp out for a week at Lookout Mountain while Rick did his hang gliding and I swam in the pool.  We ended up leaving the camp site for a "lunch ride" on the motorcycle and were gone for 5 days.  We took a detour from Chattanooga TN to Asheville NC, up the Blue Ridge Parkway and back.  No extra clothes to change into, just a sense of adventure.  The best trip ever. 

Ups and downs.  His love of adrenaline sports, my love of the more mainstream sports :)  College graduations, job changes, leaps of faith.  Lots of maturing took place over the years for both of us.  Here we are twenty two years later and have never been happier.     

Happy Anniversary, Rick.  Love you with all my heart :)

  

 

  

Ironman Louisville Week 22...

Two weeks until race day!  Last week I officially tapered off of Cross Fit which makes me so sad.  Can't wait to get back to it post-Louisville!  I struggled so much in the last workout I did there I knew it was time to phase it out until after the race.  I was just so tired...  Just hoping I don't lose too much of the fitness I gained by the time I get back.  

Monday 
Run (PM):  10 miles  Weird I can't really remember doing it but I know I did...  All the training is running together at this point.

Tennis (AM):   Prep for State Championships over the weekend.  Ideal timing, don't you think?  (yeah, not really...).  Anyhow, I felt obligated to hit some tennis balls since it had been a while.  It actually felt good to do something other than swim/bike/run.

Tuesday
Swim (AM)  2400 meters.  It apparently was an all freestyle week this week.  

Run (PM):  5 miles. It has finally gotten toasty hot here so enjoyed (?) getting out in the heat and sweating it up.  For the record, I normally wouldn't call a 4 PM run in August something I enjoyed but felt like it was contributing to my heat acclimation for Louisville so was happy to get out there and get it done.  

Wednesday
Swim (AM)  3500 meters.  
More freestyle.  It felt a little like the movie Groundhog Day training-wise today. I shared this on FB so some of you may have seen this already but thought it was worth sharing...  This swim involved 3 time trial swims and I was a little disappointed with the times. Towards the end of the swim there was a heavy set woman next to me. She would do a length and rest at the wall for several minutes. When I was done, I stood at the wall drinking water and questioning my readiness for Louisville, my decision to add strength training into the plan this time and whether I should have been spending more time swimming (I went bike heavy in the plan this time). Anyhow, as I was having my little moment of stress the woman next to me says "you are such a strong swimmer, just beautiful to watch... I struggle to get from one end to other I wish I could swim like you". Yep. A reminder to be grateful for how far I have come. So easy to focus on what you "aren't" when training (I can't run 8 minute miles, I can't do double unders...). Sometimes you need to be reminded that you are better than you think. I chatted with the lady a bit more, encouraged her to stick with it and it will get easier. Thanks pool lady, needed to hear that today 

Run (PM):  5 miles. More sweating.

Thursday
Bike (AM):  30 miles at Stone Mountain.  The ride was a mixture of everything - heat, hills, humidity and the last 3 miles or so were in a torrential downpour.  I am fully prepared for all situations...unless it snows.

Friday
Swim (AM) 2000 meters.

Saturday
State Tennis Championships in Augusta.  Not the perfect activity to drop into your IM training plan but I had a great time and it is always fun to be able to make it to state!  I only played a couple of matches so I wasn't playing from sun up to sun down.  Sweated a lot, laughed a lot.  So much fun!

Check out my foot in the pool pic.  I am the one in the white hat.  Clearly I have feet designed for swimming!  LOL.  I am part frog.  That explains why my breaststroke is almost as fast as my freestyle :)

Sunday

State Tennis Championships in Augusta

Ironman Louisville Week 21...

What what???  The doubt has firmly planted itself in my head.  Floundering between "you got this" and "oh dear, I hope I have enough training hay in the barn...".  The typical pre-race jitters, I suppose.  I think I was spared the nerves last year as I had done the race before.  I knew the course, I knew what to do, nothing was unknown.  I was trying to remember if I felt this way before the first IM.  I am certain that I did.  

This year, the training has been the same but different.  I followed my plan that has worked in the past but amped up the biking and added in strength training.  Because I upped the biking, some of the long weekend training plans were changed quite a bit.  I hope I didn't alter them so much that it changed some master plan of readiness.  All that remains to be seen on August 25th.

...and if you have been following me for long you know I always get nervous, over-analyze the training and normally do just fine.  I am counting on that again :)  

I saw this on FB last year and can't remember who I borrowed it from but I love this!

This week I felt more tired than usual.  Not sure if it was the road trip from the weekend or just training in general.  I haven't been getting great sleep so that it not helping either.  I took off a couple of workouts to try and help that situation.  Not ideal, but...
   
Monday 
Run (AM and PM):  20 miles.  The intention was to do this all in one brick but after the road trip extraordinaire on Sunday, I was more tired than I thought on Monday AM.  Regardless, I rolled out of bed and hit Stone Mountain.  After 5 miles I knew the full 20 wasn't going to happen so I decided to do 10 in the morning and come back and give it another go in the afternoon.  The 10 in the afternoon felt effortless.  So very different than the morning run.  I took it as a good sign since my Louisville run will be well into the afternoon/evening :)    Not the ideal way to do the long run but I am happy that I at least logged all the miles.

Tuesday
Crossfit (PM)
I had a swim and run on the schedule for this day but dropped it.  With the long run Monday and the activities of the weekend, I felt like I would be better served skipping it and moving on.

Wednesday
Bike (PM) 30 miles
Run (AM) 6.2 miles (guess that was my own personal 10k race)  :)

Thursday
Swim (AM) 3500m  This was a lot of speedwork and a time trial.  I really like the swim workouts in this plan, just the right mix of pulling, kicking and stroke work (besides freestyle) to keep me from getting bored with it.
Crossfit (PM)

Friday
Swim (AM) 1800m  This one was all IM and I loved it!  (or maybe I just loved that it was short...)  

Saturday
Bike:  100 miles, Covington Century.  Last year I did this ride with Summer.  It was her first century!  We laughed the whole way because this ride was billed as the "flattest and fastest in GA".  So. Not. True.  Easily the hilliest century ever, there was even one hill that we were sure was a wall in the distance.

Summer:  is that a hill up there
Me:  that is a wall, we must be turning up ahead
Summer:  um, sure OK
Me:  oh wait...  crap.  (starts riding up a wall)

This year they reversed the course so we rode down the wall (hooray!).  Overall, it still had about 4600 feet of climbing but we both agreed it was soooo much easier than last year.  I will say I FINALLY got to ride in the heat this day.  After a summer of unseasonably cool temps, I think we were high 80s/low 90s for the ride.  It wasn't too bad!

Sunday:
REST!  (Also known as the day I do laundry, straighten up the house a bit and go to the grocery store).  I did go get a pedicure and used the time to read which was so great.  I used to read books by the dozen as a kid but as I got older other things took that time away.  I need to make more time for reading.

Hope you guys have a good week!  Kids are headed back to school around here this week, can't believe their Summer is over!

Ironman Louisville Week 20...

We have a bib number kids!  If you want to follow along, I will be #624 on race day.  Not sure why but knowing my number is always so exciting.  I also am happy that it is an even number as I am kind of OCD about odd numbers.  The thermostat, volume, etc. MUST always be on even numbers.  Ha ha.  No really...

... and for those of you who are following along, here is my training for last week:

Monday:
Rest!  No clue what I even did that day.  Must have been some good resting :)

Tuesday:
Bike (AM) 18 miles
Tennis - normally would not count this but it ended up being three sets of singles which went on for three hours so it merits being on the list this week!
Crossfit (PM)

Wednesday
Bike (AM) 15 miles
Run (AM) 5.25 miles

Thursday
Run (AM) 5 miles
Swim (AM) 2850 meters

Friday
Swim (AM) 2100 meters
In my post swim hot tub which has become a Friday tradition, I ended up in a conversation with a man who managed to tell me his life history, how to can vegetables and how he came to own part of a cow so he could have raw milk (it is illegal in GA to buy raw milk...).  All of that information in just under 10 minutes.  I am not much for hot tub talk but I will say it was fascinating.  :)

Saturday:
Bike 103 miles - the HOT hundred!

Sunday:
Rest Day - I ended up driving from AL to MS and then back to GA all in one day.  The word "rest" may not be the best to describe this day.  I ended up swapping Sunday and Monday this week so I did my long run Monday when I got back from my road trip.

Coming up this week I have my final century ride before Louisville and then I start sliding into taper mode!

The (not so) Hot Hundred...

In preparation for Louisville, two main thought processes have been top of mind.  One, I need to ride more.  Check, and double check.  I had five hundred mile rides going into the Hot Hundred and one more this weekend.  All those miles have to help for something...  Right?  Right????  The second thing is to prepare for the heat.  Louisville is notoriously hot.  It isn't a matter of whether you can travel 140.6 miles on race day but more a matter of whether you can do it in hot and humid conditions.  When I signed up I figured heat training would be no big deal - I live in Atlanta.  It is both hot and humid all summer long...  and by summer I mean from at least May through September.  I got this heat thing.  And then the weather got weird.  It is has been raining way more than usual.  It is has been 5 to 15 degrees cooler than usual most days this summer.  There have not been many hot days to be found.  (which admittedly is something I normally would not complain about!)

Enter the HOT HUNDRED!  This ride started in Tuscaloosa, AL at the University of AL.  Ever since I registered, I had been getting updates from the ride organizers letting us know what to expect.  Misters at the finish, icy towels at each stop, one even mentioned shaved ice at one rest area (yes, please!).  All in anticipation of HEAT.

I loaded up the car Friday night and headed to Tuscaloosa.  It is about 3.5 hours from home so a little far to drive over the morning of the ride.  I was actually kind of excited because you gain an hour traveling into the central time zone which meant an hour more of sleep!  (Yes, I love my sleep!).

Ride morning, I gathered my things and checked the weather.  There was a rain shower kind of hanging out to the west of us and then the temps were forecast to be mid-70s for most of the ride.  What the what?  I had brought the cool weather with me....  If we are being honest I wasn't too disappointed as it really was perfect riding weather!

I met up with my friend Keith in the parking lot who is also doing Louisville.

The ride started off at U of A and then headed out into the country.  Lots of farmland and country roads which I love.  (assuming said country roads aren't bumpy in which case I don't love them quite as much).

 Keith I rode together for a lot of the ride but he is a bit faster than me so we would get split up when he went into Tour de France mode.  On one such occasion, I found myself pedaling along by myself (so I thought).  I went to dodge a pothole then glanced back to the right to move back over out of habit and there was a line of 3 people behind me drafting off of me.  Weird (and creepy) how they can tuck right in behind and you have no idea they are there.  The first guy asked me what I was training for, complimented my pace and then got over to the side at which point I hit a bump and launched not just a water bottle but the whole water bottle holder off the back of my bike.  I knew something was wrong by the feel (and the way the others were yelling "mechanical" as they kept going - they were just using me for my pulling skills - no need to stop folks, thanks...  ha).  I pulled over thinking it was the rear tire but was thankful when I realized it was the rear water bottle holder.  The bracket was completely gone so there was no way to reattach.  I left it and moved on.

We were worried it might be a little sacrilege to lean our bikes on the church sign.  At least we didn't lean them on the cross that was at one of the other stops...  That would have been bad form.

I can't pass up many cow photo ops.  Inflatable or otherwise.

Funny story...  Keith and I were discussing what would go in our special needs bags and he mentioned he wanted a little poster of a wet cat hanging on a limb that said "hang in there".  LOL.  Of course, I forced him to pose with this cat inspirational poster at one of the stops. (of course now that I look at the pic, that is actually a raccoon.  Don't tell Keith.)

As for the rest of the ride, it was mostly uneventful....   High marks for the shaved ice!!

I went for lime.  There were about 15 options including some unusual ones like Wedding Cake and Tiger's Blood.  

Keith (304) and I discussing whether we should turn off our watches for the shaved ice break...  We decided to pretend it didn't happen then saw this photo later in the official photos.  LOL

I will say the rest stops had a Christmas in July theme going on which was lost on us until someone explained it.  We showed up at one which was going for Hawaiian Christmas with grass table skirts and Christmas music.  All the rest stops were top notch and well stocked.  The ride was one of the best organized I have seen.  There were plenty of SAG vehicles, the volunteers and the route were great.  If you ever are looking for a long ride in the middle of July I give this one two thumbs up.  :)

First century where I was awarded a medal!