enginerd's geek heaven - FULL (Page 22)

Congrats Bryan on the race. The altitude is significant up there -- did that bother you or do you get up there enough that you're used to it? I'm shipping my kids to Truckee on Saturday and taking off for Hawaii (my parents summer in Tahoe Donner and are taking the kiddos). I'm gonna tell 'em about the Drunken Monkey!Been super-duper out of touch, as my father-in-law died on July 15. We knew it was coming, and fortunately the very very end was fairly fast and he was surrounded by family (including my husband). The kids and I headed out to Tempe, AZ on Thursday and just got home tonight. You athletes will appreciate this. My father-in-law started running marathons at age 59 or 60 (Chicago 2003 was his first). He qualified for and ran Boston in 2005. Logged several great races during his short distance career. For the funeral, my brother-in-law got the idea to get a life-sized stand-up of Howard standing after a race, and put his medals on them. "Standing Howard" was front and center at his funeral and during the reception after. He now is at rest at my bro-in-law's house, complete with his running medals. It was awesome - felt like he was with us all week.Anyway, my training has gone to hell in a handbasket. I ran once -- just once - -while I was gone. 5.5 miles in 100+ degree heat. Not fun!! Home for two days then off to HI. At least I'll be kid-free there, so can sneak out for a few runs, hopefully at least one long one. Looking forward to trying an open water ocean swim too, as we'll be in Kona (although spending most of our time scuba diving). Maybe I can hook up with some fancy triathletes for a swim. Ha! I will go to Lava Java, though!

Grrr freeking left calf tightened on 6 mile run today... It is sooo gona suck if I have to walk the last 20 miles of the IM with a bum calf.  After 2 years of training why now cry. 

Bryan - Congratulations on your race! And blueberry pie sounds yummy.

Kyla - Great to have you back, even if only for a couple of days. Enjoy your trip to Hawaii - it sounds like a good time for you and your husband to have a chance to relax and recover.

Steve - Oh no! again on the calf. Is it as bad this time? I hope a couple of days of rest and massage are enough to fix it. Good luck!!

Bao - in case you haven't seen it, there's a good thread on calf injury right now in the forums section. 

Kyla, sorry about your FIL.  I can definitely relate.

Steve, at this point, best off to not stress your calf in any way this close to the race.  You can't build anything in the last week, but you can make things worse, so just take it easy.  Stretch and massage it.  RICE.

QOTD: a light-hearted one going into the weekend...how bad are your tan lines?

I was at the pool yesterday and after I had finished a long continuous swim, I got out.  In the fast lane, there was a masters group and the woman who was coaching them asked me if I did tris.  She guessed so because of my extreme tan lines on my back from doing much of my riding in a tri top and running in a tank top (and I don't use sunscreen).  Here's a sample from last year after the Nike Women's Marathon.

Thanks, Donato, I needed that. I was laughing too hard to read your whole race report from the Nike Women's Marathon, but I enjoyed the other pictures of your spectacular outfit!

My tan lines are worst on my legs b/c I don't put sunscreen on them. I'm pretty good about sunscreen on my shoulders if I wear a tank top when running (the years of accumulated sun damage make me careful there).  I always feel ridiculous when I take my kids to the city pool, but I wear my funky tan lines with pride when I go swim laps at the rec center!

Edited by treehugger 2009-07-25 9:46 AM

GREAT photo!!!

My tan lines are so-so. I am religious about sunscreen all over (husband has skin cancer and is constantly getting crap fried off or cut out -- not something I *ever* want to to), as I am blonde and fair. I do suffer from white thighs, but it's not horrible. My back is bad news, though, as I often just spray on sunscreen if no one is around to help me. I wear all different kinds of tanks, so I have weird cris-crosses and overlaps and it's just a mess. People (including strangers) often comment if I'm in a sundress or tank that exposes my entire upper back.

Swimming as a kid, I remember we used to get tan lines from the print of our swimsuits all over our torsos and butts. Now THAT was funny!!

Donato, you weren't wearing a BRA for the marathon? The horrors!

KKCB, sorry to hear about your father in law. Its a great story that he started running marathons at 59-60. Who says the silver-stranded have to spend their time eating jello and playing bingo? Its great that the memorial service was a celebration of his life. Have fun in Hawaii... I'm from Oahu and its always great to head out there. Except I like to visit warm climates when its cold where I am so I'm going home in Dec

Oh regarding the altitude I can never tell. I always attribute huffing-n-puffing to being out of shape.

Treehugger you are a wealth of information. Oh BTW the pie was marionberry. Its a kind of blackberry (I googled it).

Have a good weekend everyone!

Yeah -- July is not my first choice to hit Hawaii. Summers here in WA are so fabulous I hate being away at all. But my parents don't volunteer to take the kids for a week in the middle of February, so I gotta get while the gettin's good. Cuz a trip WITH the kids would be much different. We plan to scuba, scuba, and scuba some more. Run a little bit, drink a little bit, and dive some more.

The altitude in Tahoe kicks my . Seriously, I get out of breath just going up stairs. I have no doubt you are in excellent shape!!

Happy trails to all!

I think my truck suffered more in the altitude than I did. It was 100+ outside and it started overheating climbing the hill so I had to turn off the A/C and instead turn on the HEATER full blast.

Enjoy Hawaii sans kids. Scuba sounds like fun. I'm looking forward to post-season too when I can run/bike for fun instead of heads-down training mode.

I signed up for IM Lake Placid 2010!

At 9:54, I get an e-mail from Bryan saying he's not going to sign up.  At 10:07 I get an e-mail from him saying he's registered.  LOL.

I had to hurry and pay before I changed my mind again.

Oh well, time to start packing soon for Vineman.  I have a pretty decent chance of DNF if the calf blows out too early on the run.  Very sad, I am just kind of numb.  I know I will be fine for the swim and bike and then well, no idea for the run.  The calf might hold, might not, might threaten and I have enough time to walk the rest.... all a crap shoot.  I suppose I could just start walking the whole run portion and see if I have time, but then what if it is ok by then and I just walk it and could have actually done much better?  And there is my life daily back and forth.  

You ever regret telling everyone that you are going to do a full IM?   

hey baowolf, did you see a sports doc? maybe you can wrap/tape the offending calf to give it enough support to make it through, although 26.2 is quite the distance to muddle through. is it too late to get a store credit for next year? otherwise, take it easy and jog it... nobody ever asks an ironman how long did it take.

Good luck on the calf just keep using RICE and like the poster above said, see a doc. 

I have only told a handful of people about my IM plans; we have several people (athletic has beens) at work who basically attack anyone who does something to stand out.

Baowolf - you sound so bummed. I second poweredbyfear's suggestion to look into wrapping/taping it or maybe getting a compression sleeve. Even keeping it wrapped in the days leading up to the race might help. I really hope your calf lets you run the race you want to run! Good luck!

Steve, we're all hoping your calf is strong for Saturday.  Obviously, nothing much you can do at this point, but RICE and not do anything to aggravate it.  After that you do what you can do on race day.  Any IM finish is a good finish.  There are plenty who weren't able to make it to the start line.  I know it's your first so it has a lot of added significance.  Regardless of how it goes, there will always be races and you've already proven to all of us that you're fit enough with your monster workouts!

Got swimmers ear last night.  For such a cutesy name it sure is painful.  Guess I'll be out of the pool for about a week.  Anyone have advice for dealing with this? (i'm using drops now)

Going between 62 miles and 72 tommorow, my first long ride of the year.  Not planning on any speed records just going to take my time, stop when I feel like it and bring alot of food.   I'm not anticipating any issues I typically go 40 miles Fri, Sat, and Sun.

Donato, Steve, and Bryan - Good luck this weekend at Vineman! I look forward to reading about it next week!

 

Chris - I feel you pain, or at least I have many many times in the past. Are you using OTC drops or did you see a doctor? A doctor might give you oral antibiotics or stronger drops to clear it up faster. Pain reliever for the pain and don't let anyone elbow you in the ear (happened to me, I thought I was going to die). I hope it's better soon, and have a good ride tomorrow!

 

Jules, I was using otc at first but after hearing some chilling stories about what an ear infection can do I went to the doctor.  I got some antibiotics, and some prescription drops.  I actually like the otc ones better; the prescription ones feel like they're doing nothing while the otc gives a slight burn when its in your ear. 

73 miles done, a tad over 5 hours.  Not the time I wanted, but I took alot of breaks and rode the whole way with the rear brake rubbing the rim.  I didn't think it was a big deal until I noticed I couldn't coast at all on slight downhills.

I'm looking forward to the results this weekend and the race reports; it doesn't look like they have a real time race update system so we're going to have to wait.  GL tommorow!

Edited by furiousferret 2009-07-31 11:43 PM

bryan and I met steve at the pre-race talk along with several other BTers.  I think Steve finished in a bit over 12 hours and bryan finished in just over 13.  Major congrats to the two of them and looking forward to the RRs!

As for me, I had a bike crash and a trip to the emergency room.  Fortunately, nothing broken or separated.  Road rash and contusion so I'm likely largely out of commission for a couple weeks.