Ultraman training and vacation!

This hasn't been a normal training year for for me. When I initially signed up to do the race this spring I wasn't in the best health physically or mentally. It's been a tough year dealing with health problems and the resulting frustration and depression. Many days it was tough to get out the door and when I did I was too tired to do anything. Riding and running had once been what I did for fun but neither was fun anymore. I started taking thyroid medication in June and it hasn't been the quickest road back to health but I'm starting to feel more like me again. I still have some abnormal labs and need to go back to the doctor next month for another workup, but things seem to be headed in the right direction. I'm still on night shift and not sleeping, but I've started finding joy on the trails again. So while I don't have the best fitness or training this year I decided to come participate anyway.  This years race will be a celebration that I am able to do this event at all because a couple of months ago I wouldn't have thought it possible.

This past 10 days in Hawaii has been pure heaven. It is so nice to sleep at night!!  I forgot how nice it is to get more than 4 hours of sleep and feel rested when I wake up. It's been a whirlwind of a trip so far, and I've managed some last minute training. We left Tahoe on the 13th after getting off work at 730 in the morning we raced to the airport in Reno and arrived in Kona by 8pm that night. Really crazy to go from work to the islands in 1 day. Saturday and Sunday were to be my longest and only really long rides of the year as we rode around the island. Ryan rented a bike and off we went. It was a real treat to get to spend two days going around the island with him!! The weather was perfect and treated him to a wind free day in the Kohalas. Thanks to Bike Works for the loner wheel after I broke a spoke on my training wheels!

I haven't done any long runs while here.  It was just too late by the time we got here to do any good. I guess working 36-60 hours of nights a week really doesn't leave time for training or sleeping. I'm hoping there is some muscle memory in my legs from prior years. What I have done a lot of is swim. Even when I probably should take a day off, I just can't stay out of the water. It's such a treat to swim in the aquarium here. This morning a large group of us swam across Kealakakua Bay to the monument and back. As we parked a local said he saw a whale over near the monument and off we went. Marty and I ended up a small bit in front of the rest of the group and when we were about 300 meters from the monument I saw a dark shadow right below me. I grabbed at Marty's feet but he kept on swimming for a short distance before stopping. As the dark shadow got closer I saw a large Humpback whale!! I watched in awe as it surfaced next to us. By the time the rest of the group got to us the whale had dove back down and wasn't visible. At first they didn't believe us, but about 20 minutes later the whale came back up close by them and stayed at the surface for about a minute before diving straight back down. It was a truly magical experience that I will remember always. We are truly blessed! 

The best part of the time here so far has been hanging out with my Ultraman family that has been arriving from around the globe. It is my last year at this race, and I'm really going to miss what has become my annual family reunion. Only a couple more days to go before this years journey around the big island starts!

Kealakekua Bay

Cycle trip to Kealakekua Bay

Sunset drinks

Yum!!

Ryan on the 30 mile climb up the Volcano

Trying (and failing) to swim like Marty

Sunrise on red road

End of another beautiful day in Kona

Bend x2, Portland Marathon, and other fun

It has been another couple busy weeks. The kokanee salmon started running the first week of October and I took this as my opportunity to finally see a bear. I've been living in Tahoe for almost a year and no bears. Ryan and I tried to head down each morning after work trying to get a glimpse of a bear feasting on salmon. What we got instead was the bear running down the road. A couple nights later I got called off work and with nothing else to do I headed down to the creek and got to see a big black bear in the middle of the river swiping up fish. Pretty darn cool!

We got lucky with an 7 day off streak sandwiched in between 6 days on work on either side. We loaded the van up and headed for Portland via Bend. On the drive up I had Ryan drop me in Sunriver so I could ride up around Mt. Bachelor on the way to Bend to get some training miles in along the way. It was a chilly day with highs in the low 50s, but at the upper elevations temps dropped into the 30s. The beautiful scenery made up for the snowy roads and freezing temps.

South Sister on the scenic ride to Bend

Crazy lava flow just above the road 

The Calfee having a fun day 

Mt. Bachelor

Where the snow started

 The higher I climbed the more snow there was.

There would be no "bathing" in the river on this trip. It was a just a little too cold. I did however fit a quick swim in Juniper pool just as they were putting the top on for winter.

The van at the top of Pilot Butte

Bend bike lane art

After a couple brief days in Bend (thanks Ken and Denise for the hospitality) we headed up to Portland. The real purpose of this trip was for Ryan to run the Portland Marathon. Of course I signed up also because there was no way I was going to stand around and wait while he had all the fun. Ryan after starting his run racing with a trail 50K and a 50 miler kept wondering how fast he could run on the road for a marathon. Turns out he did a 3:06!  My run was less than stellar but a good training day and it was a really nice course. We had another short visit with my old roommate from Reno. Thanks Tom, Suzie, and Duncan for having us. We might be back next year..... I think Ryan wants to break 3hrs. 

You can't really read the bike counter in this photo but there were over 1400 bikes that had crossed the bridge that day. Got to love a bike friendly city!

Matchy matchy

Post race we drove to Astoria for a little museum time and then headed down the Oregon coast over the next 2.5 days. We did stop in a couple National Parks on the way south. Ssshhh, don't tell. There wasn't a gate and I did have an annual parks pass so I figured we already paid. Sand Dunes was amazing and we were the only people there. Redwoods had a few people but it was also mostly empty. I wonder what Yosemite was like. The last day in Oregon I headed out in the morning on bike and Ryan let me have a couple hour head start before catching up. I ended up getting 4+ scenic coast miles in before he picked me up and we hightailed it home. Back to work the next day for 6 straight. :-(

Sunny day on the Oregon coast

 Haystack Rock 

The route was so scenic it took us all day to go 100 miles with all the stops

 Got to love empty national parks!!

 Oregon or California? I can't remember but it was somewhere along my bike ride.

The turn into Redwoods National Park

Riding among giants

Bliks getting sprung from dog jail

Home again!! We live in an amazing place!

Ryan and Bliks enjoying the river

Fall is here

Being chased by zombies on the Freakin Fun Run.

Freakin Fun Run was freakin fun. 

Road trip, Ironman Tahoe, and being sick

After our bike ride adventure down the coast Ryan and I flew home and worked 6 days straight. During the flight home we could see the Rim Fire in Yosemite. Little did we know how it would impact Tahoe during the following weeks. Each morning getting off work we'd walk out to our ash covered cars with more ash raining down from the sky. During the last night of work I looked at our schedules and realized that we had 8 days off. We got off that day and loaded up the van and fled town. 

Our first stop was at my dad's in Foresthill for a quick visit, waterski and to drop the fur child off at the grandparents. She loves staying there.

Day one of our trip was spent at Crater Lake. We had planned to run this day, but I woke  up feeling a little sick so we ended up driving the crater road and taking a nap at one of the pullouts in the back of the van. Love having a cozy bed to climb into at any time! 

The next couple days we spent camped out on a forest service road near the top of Broken Top above Bend OR. We left for rides and runs right from camp and enjoyed the amazing stars at night. I still felt a bit sick but not bad enough to keep me off the trails. This cold ended up lingering for 6 weeks so I probably should have just listened to my body and taken a couple days off. The trails were just too amazing!

 Ryan on the trail near Green Lakes

Juniper Center- My favorite pool!

We were bummed when we headed home to clearer but still smokey skies. Usually you can see the lake from this scenic point off 50.

The next couple weeks consisted of both of us working too much and me trying to cram some training in around 4-5 12 hour work nights a week. Ironman Tahoe was around the corner and I was still not feeling great. I didn't feel terrible, but the cold just seemed to linger and settle into my lungs. My energy levels were good, but I just felt congested. I enjoyed some of my last swims in Tahoe with Ryan and Bliksem as my escorts. The water was cold. Okay I'm a bit of a wimp, but the air temp plummeted the week leading up to the race with morning temps in the low 30s. The worst part of my post work morning swims was walking on the beach before and after.

The day before the race Tahoe welcomes Ironman with a dusting of snow in the mountains and a downpour at lake level. I wasn't looking forward to the race. I suffer in the cold and never really warm up once frozen. I decided on a full kit change in T1 to get out of everything wet. I also had heated foot beds for my shoes and hand warmers in my gloves. Turns out none of it made any difference for me. The swim was actually really nice. I like the new rolling starts and the water felt relatively warm after walking across the frozen sand. I felt descent until I got out of the water. The changing tent was a mess of frozen women trying to put dry clothes on over wet bodies with numb fingers. Eventually I got all my dry clothes on and I headed out. I felt okay on the bike, but was having a hard time breathing. A couple other athletes heard my wheezing and said "elevation is rough". I was too winded to reply that I live here and this wasn't the elevation. I think it was a combination of the chest cold and the cold air. On the climb over Brockway which I've done many times with no problems I stopped a couple times.  I ended up laying down on the side of the road for 15 or so minutes just trying to catch my breath just before finishing the climb. I considered dropping, but figured I would just try to get back on the bike and slow peddle the rest of the course. Lap 2 of the bike I finally started warming up except for my feet and I enjoyed the easier parts of the course. It's a really beautiful place where I live! I ended up stopping a couple more times on the second climb through Northstar and Brockway trying to catch my breath, but I finally made it to the end of the bike course. I still wasn't feeling good, but I decided to start the run and see how it went. I walk and jogged my way through the run course and slowly sensation came back to my feet. It wasn't pretty but eventually I got it done. 

While I loved having a close IM that I didn't have to travel to get to, I'm not sure I like the odds of racing in late September in Tahoe. This time of year here is known for beautiful warm fall days one day and snow the next. 

Less than 24 hours after finishing I was back on my feet at work.