best laid plans..

OK first of all I want to say:

CONGRATS TO ALL YOU IRONMAN LAKE PLACID-ERS!! Special congratulations to Jennie Hansen on her 2nd OA pro finish in her debut Ironman, her husband Dave getting 4th in the M25-29 age group (also his debut Ironman), my Bradford County, PA friends Rachel and Mike Murphy (they crossed the line together!), Rochester QT2 athlete Tim Karch, and famous Rochester neurosurgeon K-Dub! Also many more that I am forgetting I'm sure. I wish I could have been there cheering like last year, but with our short-handed staff at work and me taking last Sunday night off, I just didn't want to do it. Plus, that's a really long drive to be making alone. But I was thinking about you all (and stalking tracking you too) all day!

Anyways.

I had a really strange week(end) of training.

I had a hard time bouncing back from Musselman last week. I think mostly it was due to being unable to sleep for a few days after the race (and working nights) and also, just running that far on very minimal run training. My legs were killing me through Thursday and mentally I just couldn't get going. I skipped workouts Monday and Tuesday in favor of dying on my couch and/or in my bed, and finally dragged myself out the door on Wednesday to swim (which felt awesome, btw). After that, things went as per usual. Note to self: active recovery is a very real, beneficial thing! All those people that told me to get my ass moving - you were all right! And next time I'll even listen! (Maybe.. I am nothing if not stubborn as hell).

Saturday I was scheduled for a 3 hour ride (no rest for the weary) so I mapped out a loop and rode from Mendon Ponds Park. I didn't get started until 11 am or so because I didn't sleep well that night either (probably because I spent Friday night with my friend Sam having a few drinks and then watching JAWS). I may never get into open water again. My ride really went well, especially since I was expecting it to be horrible. It was beautiful out, it was a new loop, and even when I ran into major construction on the road I was supposed to be riding on (giant rocks on the road instead of pavement for miles), I just looked at google maps on my trusty iPhone and found a way around. My 30 minute transition run did NOT go well. I ran ok for 10 minutes, then just kept getting hot, dizzy, and eventually walked the last 10 minutes in.. couldn't figure out why this happened (nutrition on the bike was good) but as I was reflecting on the day before (Friday), I had worked until 5 am, then went home and slept til 11:30 am, then I had to get up and go to a retirement party for a newly retired coworker. That is where I ate my ONLY meal of the day and it was not-good eggplant parm so I ate like 1/10 of what I actually got. Oh, and then I went to the pool and swam, showered again, and went back out where I had 2 drinks and stayed up until midnight-ish.

Really.. not the best planning in the world. It was a stupid thing to do but I honestly didn't even realize that I had barely eaten all day until I really was troubleshooting the problem as I walked back to my car after the failed T-run. My appetite and eating schedule are so f-ed up when I work nights.. I know I don't eat enough because I am never hungry (or I am hungry at really weird times, such as right before I go to sleep at 8 am) or I am nauseous from not sleeping.. it's definitely not good for me. I KNOW that affects my workout motivation on those weeks of nights! Something to work on for sure. I am still having difficulty balancing my training with my social life but I refuse to go back to hermit-land where I lived for the past 2 years!

Sunday I ran 1:13 at 7:30 am (which is definitely early for me). It was in the upper 60s so I started out actually wearing a shirt - SHOCKING, I know - but that stayed on for 4 minutes before I was too hot, and I left it sitting on top of one of those power box things at a red light - picked it up on my way back. The run went well for about 45 minutes and then my pace kept getting slower and slower. My running is so frustrating this year and I don't know what else to do about it.. Happily, getting up at 7 caused me to be done with my workouts by 10:30!

Later I went to see "The Dark Knight Rises" since I had some time to kill Sunday afternoon and I didn't really know anyone else that wanted to go see it. I haven't decided how I feel about it (and I don't want to spoil anything) other than a) it was really long and b) I froze my ass off for 2 hours and 45 minutes in the theater. I've had this weird things with motorcycles lately and if I could ride the crazy Bat-cycle thing (without accidentally killing myself) I might die happy. Oh, and Joseph Gordon Levitt is H-O-T with a capital H. I just want to hug him! (Naked hugging....?). I do love hugs.............. and I'm rambling.

And because everyone loves a post with photos.. here are some from Musselman!

typical mid-race "Alexa refuses to smile at photographer" aero photo

VERY typical "Alexa stares at Garmin with confused look on face" photo!

I actually left out the typical "Alexa's ass looks gigantic" photo that Brightroom got of me running from the swim exit to transition.. a sopping wet race kit hanging off of me = not flattering. And I thought my wetsuit made me look big. I'm sorry to whoever had to follow me and look at that! The tri kit in general is just not a flattering outfit on me! Haha.

I like hugs

My bad mood has dissolved! I don't know if it's because it's Friday, or because I got half of my workout done this morning, or because I am racing this weekend, or because I get to see my TEAM tomorrow, but I am GLAD! :)

For stalking purposes, my bib # at Syracuse 70.3 is: 1021.

There is a rather fervent discussion happening on the Train-This google group about water temperature at Syracuse 70.3 (and the Finger Lakes Tri which is the same day but in Canandaigua, NY) and how to dress. I am less concerned about the water temperature for the swim, but more concerned about freezing my ASS off on the bike. It's going to be cold! It has been in the low 50s (sometimes even high 40s) in the morning in Syracuse lately. I rode at 8 am in Syracuse last weekend and I was ok.. but I was wearing a baselayer under my jersey and legwarmers. I actually ended up kind of hot. But I was also dry. At the race - I will be soaking wet! Arm warmers are definitely going to be worn because 3 hours on the bike is a pretty long time to be cold. I have never raced while wearing any kind of excess clothing before - I always just suck it up - and I've never been cold during a race. However, I think I am drawing the line at the arm warmers and I will just rely on adrenaline to keep my hands and feet from freezing off. For as cold as I am most of the time - I never am cold when I race so I am counting on that to help me out!

I will just be needing someone at the end of the race to hand me some dry, pre-warmed articles of clothing! :) I don't care how they are warmed up. I don't care if you stuff them down your pants! I just think it would be awesome to change into clothes that were freshly taken out of a dryer. So someone needs to make that happen! I will pay! But be forewarned, I only pay with hugs.

Tomorrow I can take my time getting to Syracuse (after I stuff myself with chocolate chip pancakes of course) because bike check-in isn't until 2 pm, which I totally forgot about. So it is pointless for me to show up at registration at 10 because then what am I supposed to do until 2!?

The on-site Ironman Store better have the IM backpack that I was eyeballing in Lake Placid or I might cry!

We have a team dinner tomorrow night at Mike's! Oh man, I love it! There will be hugs flying EVERYWHERE!

I am assuming I will not be blogging tomorrow, so I am going to give good luck wishes to everyone racing Syracuse 70.3, Finger Lakes Tri, and to my ex-XC coach Mike M. because he is doing the Tour de Shunk century, which is honestly something I NEVER want to do. It's not called the "Endless Mountains" region of Pennsylvania for nothing! Also good luck to anyone in blog-land who is racing! Syracuse 70.3 race report to follow!