update

Like I previously said, 2008 has brought a bit of strange luck to the girls of Camp HTFU. What is important is that we keep our perspective. I believe we have.

Two days ago I cried through a half mile walk with my son. Today I woke up to ..... less pain. For 5 days pain has been 9 out of 10. This morning it was a 5. That's a gift. Tuesday I spent an hour on a massage table getting worked on by the magical hands of Kevin at Breathe. The rest of the day was a disaster. I worked a 12 hour Pediatric ED shift and I burst into tears several times due to pain. You think my Nurse Manager would have cared.

Uh..... no.

But my wonderful colleagues did. Including the doctors I work with. They have helped me in more ways than I know. I finally agreed to a prescription for Flexoril. Funny how I have such an aversion to medication. Just took my first dose and I feel the muscle continue to relax.

At noon I will head to the pool for some light laps and no flip turns. Now let's talk about ego. How much does it absolutely kill me to do an open turn? Can you say SWIM SNOB? But I will eat my piece of humble pie and do the open turn. No intervals, just swimming.

All I want to do is move today.

Should that feel good I will do a very easy water run and spend some time in the hot tub. Thursday I spend with Dr. Les Lange of Greater Rochester Chiropractic.

I am holding hope that if I can get out of pain by Sunday, Monday I can ship my bike and Austin is still on. The training I have done is not for nothing. I can put in a good easy week next week and come Austin just race from my heart. Will it be fast? I don't know. I will ride completely on feel, meaning if I have pain I shall slow down or I shall stop. I am okay with that.

I just want to move.

There's one thing that's for sure, this is something that will heal. This is not the end of the world. Sure I have worked so incredibly hard for a season that was crappy. There were many things that were beyond my control, and just as many that were.

Like I could have just been paying attention last Thursday instead of riding with my head down. Admiring those great big watts bought me no watts today.

Humility Mary. Humility. I know.

Day by day. That's all i can do. I will only do what my body shall allow. I am approaching this recovery like I approach everything. With a big heart, great hope and a lot of faith.

Just like my teammates in HTFU. One day at a time girls. One day at a time.

another one bites the dust

2008 Has not been kind to the girls of Camp HTFU. Marit crashed first. Then Ashley. I crashed last week, which for the past 6 days has rendered me having a difficult time walking. The pain I am currently in is so excruciating I can barely write. Today Jen Harrison was in a car accident. She will be okay.

We will all be okay. My injury is going to heal. We are all going to heal. Together we will pull through.

live strong ZACH!

A message from Michael Hollstrom...... friend of Zach DeRidder, who is surviving cancer:

And click here to see a great inspiring video!


My friend Zach DeRidder is a 23 year-old cancer triathlete and a finalist in a video contest to win an autographed bike signed by Lance Armstrong. During the summer of 2007, I followed him around New York State filming him and cheering him on as he finished an unbelievable 16 athletic events with a tumor on his liver the size of two grapefruits. While undergoing treatment for liver cancer, Zach completed a total of 8 triathlons, 1 dauthlon, 6 foot races, and 1 century bike ride. I helped my friend start his own foundation to raise money for cancer, launch a website, and raise over $1000 for a cross-country bike trip he hoped to take in the near future . . .

Then in Sept 2007, Zach was hospitalized unexpectedly and fell into a near-fatal coma. In the hospital he lost his strength, his weight, his memory, and almost his life. With surgical removal of the tumor impossible and after being rejected for a liver transplant, Zach returned home to his family in November and began re-learning how to read, tie his shoes, and do just about everything. Not surprisingly, Zach quickly started gaining his strength back by doing push-ups, sit-ups, walking, and biking. Throughout 2008, Zach has been in and out of the hospital for comparatively minor issues such as kidney stones.

Miraculously, an MRI in August 2008 found that Zach's tumor shrunk for the first time since it was discovered in December 2005. Liver cancer messed with the wrong man! Zach's on his way to accomplishing his biggest goals of beating cancer, going to college, and starting a family.

Today, Lance Armstrong offers us a chance to share Zach's incredible story to build public awareness of cancer and inspire everyone we know to face difficult challenges with courage and optimism. He put out a video contest last month daring you to send him a video describing how you dared to make a difference in your life and in the lives of others by overcoming serious obstacles.

Lance's team selected Zach as a finalist (mhallstr4). Now it's up to us to select Zach as the winner of the autographed bike.

1. Email this message to everyone you know.
2. Vote for Zach's video (mhallstr4) on this website once a day through Sunday, Sept 21: http://www.livestrong.com/contest/youtube-share-your-story/

Thank you on behalf of Zach, his friends, his family, and everyone affected by cancer for forwarding this message to everyone you know and helping Zach win the autographed bike.

motivation

CAMP HTFU 2007

One of my former students emailed me this morning to ask me how I stay motivated. She is doing the Rochester 1/2 marathon tomorrow and her long term goal is to compete in a natural body building competition next March. Actually she has two lined up. She admitted to sometimes losing motivation to do her workouts and follow her diet.... and I could identify.

I thought it was a great question.

While I admit that I was born with a tremendous amount of motivation, there have been times that I too have struggled. I have been in this sport about 12 years now, and honestly the last 3 seasons have brought more disappointment than achievement. Injury, falling short of time goals, etc.

However I will say that Ironman Florida was the shot in the arm I needed. That's carried me through all of the difficulties I have had this season. Even with my crash 2 days ago. Things are getting better but truthfully I worry that I won't compete next weekend.

Give me 2 more days to work this out.

Those small moments of achievement, and that one big moment like Ironman Florida 2007, those help me stay motivated. Why? Because I know that I can do it. I may face every hurdle on earth on my way, but this streak of difficulties has ended and the lessons I have learned along the way are much more important than the ones you learn from winning.

In 2004 I won 14 out of 15 races and set the Musselman 1/2 IM record in 4:48. Honestly I learned nothing from all of that. Nothing.

It's the past 3 seasons that I have learned. When I have fallen (literally) DNF'd..... its almost as if there is a natural progression of this whole thing. We can't have the good without the bad.

But back to motivation.

I see it a lot when people sign up for the Ironman. You have to sign up a year in advance. The biggest athletic goal of your life has been set. Paid for. Locked down. You know where you will be on that day in 2009. It's as if it is so far away you want to get psyched for it and you want to start the training right here and right now.

Let a few weeks and a few months pass. Let be January 15th at 5am when you are rolling out of bed for a run. It's dark, winter, the plows are out. The goal is far away. The motivation may seem low.

The excitement you feel when you hit submit will fade, and you should let it. It's a long year.

Start by setting smaller goals. Weekly goals, monthly goals and / or quarterly goals. By quarterly goals I mean...... aim for a particular 10K or 1/2 marathon. Then the next quarter it might be time for another road race, then maybe a particular triathlon, or a few. A longer ride. Anything.

As you look at your season don't just plop Ironman on the calendar and not know what else you would like to do. There are stepping stones to get there. The road races, the 1/2 Ironmans. Etc.

Set small goals along the way.

The next thing I think is important is along the same lines of planning a progression of your season. Let volume build, segway into intensity segments. Work on your weakness. Don't forget about recovery.

Training for a big event isn't about 52 weeks of 100% focus. It's a progression. It's building volume and recovering from the workload. It's shifting the focus to help you improve your weakness and build on your strengths.

What it comes down to honestly is taking things one step at a time.

The third piece of advice I would give...... love what you are doing.

With all of my setbacks I can honestly say I have not ever felt like I wanted to quit my sport. Every single day I look forward to the swim the bike and the run. I feel happy to be doing it. (There are days when I get out there and I don't feel happy..... those days I go home.)

This sport has enriched my life in so many ways. Beyond titles and awards and nominations and records...... I have met so many truly amazing people that I am so blessed to call my friends and family. I came into this sport to find myself. I did that. What I didn't come here to find was the community. That was a great big bonus.

So not only do I love this sport, I adore all of the people it has crossed my paths with. That's the biggest motivation of all. The people I have met have inspired me, cried with me, hell one even married me.

The day I stepped foot into that first open water swim I was just hoping to get to the finish line. While I did just that, the experiences a long the way have managed to take my breath away.

So I shall tell my friend, whom I am so very proud of to search deep and reveal the reason she has set those goals in the first place. I will tell her to plan her training with stepping stones that all lead to the big event in March. I will tell her to find the joy within her training and within herself. And I will tell her to treasure the people she shall meet along the way.

And I will remind her to not get so focused on the end result, the big day that she missed everything that will happen along the way.

the hurdler

I can't believe it. I crashed my bike. Not because of anything glorious either. I was in the middle of a 120 minute tempo session. My head was down. My preceding tempo run was great. reverse acclimation was in full swing and my feet were frozen.

When I rode off the rode and into someones lawn. Crash, flip, boom.

Ouch.

The good news: I kept my wits about me as I was falling and I kept my head up.

The bad news: I landed on my right hip.

The good news: I have no road rash.

The bad news: I have nothing to show for this!

The good news: I landed on my right hip which triggered the old "right side of my back / hip tightness problem" that I frequently encounter, from when I was hit by a car running some 10 years ago.

The other good news: I am in one piece and my bike is fine. I am lucky.

I picked myself up and finushed the ride. I completed my second tempo run and headed to the pool. The tightness grew so much I could not flip turn.

Game over for today.

We all have our litte injuries and we have our own way of dealing with them. For example I partially tore my Achilles in 2006. What works for me when I have any sort of AT issue is heat. The AT's have a poor blood flow. The only time I ice my AT's are in an ice bath. For me heat on the AT works wonders.

My back.... I have scoliosis so there is a weak spot there which I combat with strength training and flexibility. So when it gets tight I can tell because my hamstrings will get tighter. I never use ice on my back.... I use heat. For 24 hours I don't touch it. I let it be still. Then I go to work.

There is nothing a chiropractor can do to fix it. It's my structure. I also won't make an angry muscle angrier by touching it all of the time. So I do my fix for an hour and then I leave it be.

Already much much better. I am grateful because I know this injury.

I am lucky that I broke nothing. I am lucky it is just this. And I know I know..... intervals like this should be done on the trainer!

not again!

For the record..... thank you for the emails about Ironman Canada again opening spots for the 2009 race. My decision not to sign up is final. We are over for another three years. Ironman divorce is final. I am not signing up. I am not signing up.

Moving on..........

Kelly and I continued our Austin heat training program with a 120 minute ride in 65 degrees of sunshine today. To make it really worth it we dressed warm. I even wore my favorite Postal Service Jersey.... fleece on the inside!!!!!!

We swam today at Nazareth.... which just might be the coldest pool in the area. I figured if I was freezing my butt off I would wish I was in the warm balmy waters of Austin.

Yeah.... this is so the way to go! Reverse acclimation. I shall start a new thing!

Today is picture day, so I shall share a few pictures while I am out completing my uptempo brick:

Here is how my car looks after a traditional day of training with Kelly..... it is also called "The locker room". And in case you were wondering...... it does smell like it too!


I received this hilarious gift from two of my craziest athletes: Karin and Matt Kellman. It is a giant poster of the Ironman swim. I am the one in the pink cap....... just in case I have forgotten my Ironman lake Placid experience...... (and that white spot is the flash..... not the sonic boom that happened when I got hit....)

And while we are on the topic of picture day..... Curt's racing bike is packed and shipped off to Oregon..... here's how I pack er up:

Here's my little sunshine on his first day of second grade.......

Here Luc is jumping off the three meter dive....... something Curt Eggers will not do!

strategery

An email from the Longhorn 70.3.... or what are we calling these races now...... Ironman Texas 70.3 .... revealed that the lake in which we shall be swimming in next month...... is 90 degrees.

90?

90. Ninety. Nine zero.

I don't think I have ever swam in water that warm. Like..... ever. Which is why you might have seen Kim, Kelly and I doing our workout in the hot tub this morning. Next to cups. Who drinks from cups and jumps up and down at the end of the lane.

That is not a joke.

Anyhow...... 90 degrees of swimming may change things a bit. Like no wetsuit. And maybe not even a skin suit. Possibly just skin if you know what I mean. This could very well become the nude swim in Texas.

A look through last year's results and the seemingly slower times were well explained by the hundred degree heat. Suddenly this race could easily become about who races the smartest rather than who races the fastest.

I have never been stellar in the heat but each time I race in Africa Hot weather I handle it better. While I might take a bottle of S! caps I get through it. And I will find a way to persevere through this one as well.

Now comes the question....... how on earth do I simulate Texas heat in Rochester NY when outside my window it is a chill 65 degrees?

Clothing of course. It is scientifically proven that if you simply dress warmer...... that it is just like the hotter climates. I swear! If you believe that then click here for SwimmingPeaks 1.0, you will fall in love with this software.

The truth of the matter is..... I can't really simulate Austin up here in Rochester. Sure I could bring the bike into the bathroom with the shower on HOT and the steam .... but that truly wont' simulate actual conditions. I can dress as warm as I want.... but again that won't do.

I just have to rely on past experience and plan ahead. Strategery as they call it, my favorite George W Bush invented word.

Strategery is devising a strategy. Combating fluid loss, salt intake, caloric expenditure, pace, etc. Trying to figure it all out and then when the gun goes off hope that like the lotto.... I have more than just close enough.

Actually close enough will do me just fine as well.

So I can spend the next few weeks worrying. Or I can spend the next few weeks working hard and preparing to have the best race I can in any conditions. What it will truly come down to, more powerful than heat or distance...... is that space between my ears.