The past two racing seasons have been challenging ones, both physically and mentally. I felt due for a great season after 2008’s disappointing one. While I did have some great races and overcame some great hurdles, I feel a little disappointed about not having completed my second Ironman race.

The season started out really fun with some short-distance races. They were hard and so much faster than the pace I was used to training at. But they were really fun. I enjoyed them a lot and feel like it might be interesting to focus on short-distance sometime. As Ironman Coeur d’Alene came closer, I felt more and more ready. I don’t think I’ve ever been in that good of shape. I achieved my goal weight and I was feeling confident and comfortable on long rides and long runs (I pretty much always feel comfortable in long swims).

When I didn’t finish Coeur d’Alene due to who-knows-what (the doctors still don’t know what caused my seizure and numbness) I was extremely disappointed. While I know that it was not in my control and for some reason my body shut down, I know that it was not because I didn’t train enough. Maybe it was the cold day or maybe my mind/body didn’t want me to finish. However, the longer-term effects were pretty harsh.

After IM CDA, I jumped right into another one. I wanted to complete an Ironman. I had heard about the Desert Half Iron in Oliver and knew that it was pretty much a sure-thing to qualify for Ironman Canada. I didn’t know why that was until I was actually in the race. I have never experienced a more physically and mentally challenging course. It boasts the most difficult half Ironman in Canada. I believe it. Getting through that race was my biggest accomplishment of the season, and maybe of my life.

Once I had qualified for IMC, I felt so grateful. I knew I could do that race, I just needed to keep training. That’s when the wheels started to fall off. Training. After the Desert half I was exhausted. I got out of the habit of training and I lost my momentum. I didn’t want to go on 4+ hour bike rides, or 2+ hour runs, or even 1+ hour swims. Instead I spent many hours relaxing with friends, playing with my dogs, and drinking beer. Each day I meant to train and each day I decided not to.

In August, I did the Waskesiu triathlon and had so much fun. I broke 4-hours, which I have only done a couple of times before. I thought it was a personal best for that race, but it wasn’t. That race went better than any other race in the past few years. I felt so comfortable throughout the whole thing, even though I was working hard. I finished at a sprint and had absolutely no pain throughout the run (that’s always a feat for me). It was great. I felt strong. I felt that inspite of not training I could maybe do Ironman. But Ironman was 3-4x the distance of that race.

Well, you have already read about my decision not to do Ironman Canada. Since then I have continued to have mixed feelings about not doing the race. I’m disappointed, but relieved. I have decided that next year I am going to focus on shorter races (half Ironman distance and shorter) and do some volunteering for some local races. I am going to take some time off from Ironman. I am going to keep it in mind, but I’m not going to pressure myself. If it seems like a good idea in a couple of years, then I’ll do it. Otherwise, I’m just going to chill out about it.

This winter I am going to be doing some coaching and training and getting the rest of my life in order. I’ll keep you posted on my training!

Ever since I have been home from Ironman, I have been in a bit of a haze. It’s not necessarily a bad haze and it’s not necessarily because of Ironman. It’s summer in Saskatchewan, which is a little bit hectic because here on the harsh and cold prairies we try to fit in a lot of summer into a few short months. Alas, I have been busy seeing friends, walking my dogs, seeing my family, and in there I have been going to doctors appointments and worrying a bit about my health. So what the heck happened at Ironman? Well, this is how it happened for me….

I awoke on June 21st completely calm, excited, and pretty much stoked for the day ahead. My motto as of late is that a day swimming, biking, and running is a great day in my life. This particular day just happened to be a bit longer than a usual day of doing these three sports in conjunction with each other. My support person and friend, Dana, was great in keeping me calm and was extremely supportive in all the right ways. My training buddies and I went about our pre-race routines in the morning and we got out the door pretty much when we wanted to. Trevor did have an issue of forgetting his goggles, which is why his brother and support person was great and drove all the way back to get him the goggles. When Dana and I got down to the start area, it was a zoo. I just happened to run into a body marker and got marked up… they marked my age as 30 even though I told them I am 29. I am fairly prepared for the big ol’ 3-0 thanks to this race and year of racing in the 30-34 category. The athlete area was really crazy and it felt really disorganized. Actually, that is probably my biggest complaint of this race: the set-up of the transition area, the expo, and the whole area where people spent the most time. It was disorganized and was really frustrating to get around. I walked up and down a pebbly sidewalk in my wetsuit with bare feet trying to find the Special Needs drop-off and then trying to find the place to get to the beach. My only other previous IM experience was Ironman Canada and I really appreciate it a lot more now. It probably helps that IMC has been around for >25 years and this was IMCDA’s mere 7th year.

Once I got to the beach, I found some other Saskatoon triathletes and my training buddy, Navarra.  Before we knew it, the gun went off. I thought the swim wasn’t too bad. It was pretty crowded, but wasn’t as rough as I thought it would be with all those people around. I consider myself a fairly “seasoned” triathlete now and can really maneuver my way through the crowd. That was a nice realization. I did have someone actually pull my goggles right off my face. Luckily, I had my goggles in between my two swim caps and it stayed pretty much in place. [Side-note: two swim caps is my open-water tip to all triathletes because it keeps your head warm and the noise to a minimum.] I did say some profanities before I put the experience behind me and kept going. The first lap went pretty well. Doing two laps was pretty fun, actually. The swim didn’t feel nearly as long as Ironman Canada. I came out at 1:24, which was almost 10 minutes slower than what I had wanted, but I was all right with it anyway. The day was just about getting through it.

The morning was actually pretty nice in terms of weather.  It was sunny and fairly warm. The water was warm and I didn’t feel cold at all getting on my bike, but I think the temperature dropped and/or the wind picked up because it was not warm for the rest of the day. Because I’m a fairly fast swimmer and not as fast on the bike, I got passed about 1000 times (this is not an exaggeration!). It can be a bit disheartening, but I kept my spirits up by cheering on every person that passed me. The first lap of the bike was great. I smiled, cheered, thanked volunteers, and was really enjoying the beautiful scenery that was all around me. The course was pretty technical and extremely difficult. Lots of big ups and downs. Some sharp turns at the bottom of hills, which made me grateful for my mountain biking background. It was pretty obvious that lots of the other riders were not as comfortable on the technical sections, but it was heaven for me: risky, fast, and fun! I loved it! Plus, I was going at a good pace. After the first lap, my average speed was >26km/hr. That exceeded my expectations a lot.

However, it was soon after the halfway point of the bike that I started to feel a little “weird,” for lack of a better word. I thought that maybe I was low in blood sugar. So I took in Gatorade at the next aid station and an extra gel. My lightheadedness was strange and not a sensation that I was used to feeling. I have felt low blood sugar, I have felt cold (it was pretty windy by this point and getting cold on the bike), and I have bonked. This was not like any of those feelings. I started to feel really dizzy and nauseated. Actually, the only other time I felt even remotely similar was when I had inner ear vertigo and was dizzy for no reason at all. At the Special Needs area, I stopped and got off my bike. The patient volunteer held my bike while I sat on the ground to eat my Clif bar (mmm… chocolate mint is my favorite!) and drank more Gatorade. I felt heavy as I got up and got back on my bike. This is about where the smiling stopped. I kept going on the flat section and decided to keep going until I saw my support people, who were cheering us on a few kms up the road. I was extremely relieved to see them at the 120km point.

I immediately got off my bike and sat down on the road. Dana rubbed my arms to warm me up. I felt really really cold, which was weird because I had trained in weather EXACTLY like that wearing EXACTLY what I was wearing. It was about 12-13 degrees Celsius (I made someone convert it for me) and pretty windy and cloudy. All of a sudden, I couldn’t sit up any more. I laid down and started to hyperventilate and have a seizure and convulse on the ground. Dana held my head in her lap as I did my thing for a few seconds. Then my mouth went numb and I couldn’t feel my fingers or toes because they were numb and tingly. Dana said that one of my eyes was shut while the other one was open and the right side of my mouth drooped. The paramedics were called and they took me off the course in an ambulance. I couldn’t talk very well because my mouth was numb, but it came back after about 15-20 minutes (I think – time was really hard to tell at this point).

They took me in an ambulance, which was my first ambulance ride ever. Exciting. No sirens or lights, though. The paramedics took me to the med tent instead of the hospital, much to my Canadian doctor’s chagrin. It took them a really long time to warm me up. My friend Dana said that the moment she knew I was going to be all right was when they offered me chicken broth and I said, “No, no. I can’t eat that. I’m vegan!” I then proceeded to argue with the paramedic that I did not need an IV because I was not dehydrated. We argued for a bit, but I lost and he poked me not once, but twice to get the IV in. Actually, Jessie and Butch were great EMTs and I was glad to have them helping me back to health. Actually, I realized on the ride to the med tent that Jessie was pretty cute and kind of wished that I didn’t look like shit from swimming 3.8km, biking 120km, and having a gas mask on my face after a seizure. Oh well, I flirted anyway! That was the other moment when Dana knew I would be all right.

Once in the med tent, they warmed me up with space blankets and heated bottles of water. Dana entertained me later on that night by using the space blanket as a cape and made me laugh as she jumped around the house. Eventually, I got my dry clothes bag and I saw other people come in and out of the med tent. I had strict orders to go home and not to cheer my friends on from the sidelines, which I was not very happy about. At the same time I didn’t want to be cold anymore so I did as I was told. My training buddy Navarra also left the course by ambulance later on after 14 miles on the run because of hypothermia. Trevor was the only one of the three of us that made it through the course. We watched it on our laptop at the house and cheered him on. There were big hugs and lots of beer once he got home. A big congrats to the newest Ironman in my life!

Actually, after I warmed up I felt great and was really disappointed to not be finishing the race. The next day I was a little fatigued, but my muscles were ready to go. I was ready to go. I wished that I could have done the whole day over again. Since I have been back, I have seen two doctors and they both said that they think I had a mini stroke. Apparently I could have been doing “anything,” which I find kind of hard to believe given the circumstances. It was probably because of the increased blood-flow that made it happen during Ironman or something like that. I am being referred to a neurologist and she’s trying to get me some other tests. However, it’s been almost two weeks since I saw her and have not got any tests done other than some blood tests, which came back normal. Another doc wants me to get some fasting blood tests, so I’m getting those tomorrow.

Since getting back and taking in the whole ordeal, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with myself. However, I quickly made an alternative plan and talked to my coach. This weekend coming up I’m going to go to BC to do the Desert Half Ironman and attempt to qualify for Ironman Canada at the end of August. I just don’t want to waste all of that time and energy on a race without finishing it. I feel like I’m in a slump of some sort. My last three major races over the last two seasons have been flops. My minor races have gone all right, but I seem to have a hard time with injuries and technical difficulties at my A-races. I am going to try to push through the slump and maybe I’ll get to the end of the tunnel for a great race in Penticton at the end of August. Even if I don’t qualify, I’ll be happy to do another race so soon. I’m ready for it. Did I mention I’m going to bike there from Saskatoon? With my two dogs? Oh yeah, I’m doing that too.

I’m putting together some photos from the race to put up here. Stay tuned for an Ironman Coeur d’Alene 2009 Phupdate!

We got to Coeur d’Alene a few days ago and are settled into our rental house nicely. My training buddies, Trevor and Navarra, are here and we have a great team of support people that are helping keep us sane and fed. We’re staying in a house in Post Falls, about 10km from downtown CDA.

Yesterday we went for a ride into town and it was pretty chilly and wet. This morning we went for a swim along the route, which was pretty awesome. The water was a little choppy on the way out, but coming back it was a sweet tail wind. Last night was the welcome banquet, which was pretty good. We hooked up with the other Saskatoon triathletes and ate some grub… and lots of Endurance Gatorade. I’m glad that I brought my Nuun tablets and don’t have to choke down Gatorade through the bike. I’m going to enjoy my Gu gels and my Clif bars at the Special Needs areas.

The food at the banquet was salad, buns, macaroni w/ marinara sauce, and chicken. I asked them if they had a protein source for vegetarians. The guy at the table looked a little shocked and looked over to another worker, to which she replied, “There is pasta with marinara sauce.” I repeated myself and asked for the protein, but she shook her head to indicate no. I said, “That’s ok, we don’t need it anyway.” She didn’t really get it, but the guy next to her did and we had a little chuckle. I’m not sure when it’s going to happen, but one day I will go to a race dinner and us veg*ns will have an option. I look forward to that day!

Actually, a cold and wet race would be all right with me. I’m a pretty warm person so I don’t have much problem with 63F weather, but Navhas renoids and is making back-up plans to keep her feet and hands warm. We made an emergency trip to the outdoor store for winter gloves and Hot Shots. Hopefully this will be enough to keep Nav’s fingers warm through the race. Luckily, I remembered to pack a long-sleeved shirt, which I will use if I need it. I am not planning to, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

So we’re packing up our gear bags and getting ready to check in our gear and bikes. This is a beautiful town – tons of great scenergy, bike trails, and people. Lots of small shops and it is very clean. There aren’t even any seagulls! This morning I saw a hawk-like bird circling the lake and dive down to get itself some food. It was really beautiful and I take it as a good omen. This is going to be a great race. I feel really calm and ready to rock this race!

Tonight I’m going to write down my time goals, even though my coach told me not to worry about it. I’m not going to worry about it so much, but I like to have goals… even if I don’t really plan on making them.

My experience training for my second Ironman has been quite a bit different than training for my first. Firstly, I actually trained with a schedule and mostly kept to that schedule. I really do owe a lot of that to my coach, who was always willing to shift things around for me and listen to what I wanted and needed. I felt like I had some flexibility in my workouts, but knew that I needed to do them. That was very helpful. Also, I was able to put in a lot more time and energy into it due to some life changes. When training for Ironman, one really does need to let go of other things.

So here I am in the middle of race week. 5 more days. I’m excited and nervous and terrified all at the same time. Thoughts rush through my heads like, “What if I’m no faster than last time?” “What if I am not as prepared as I think I am?” etc. etc. I remember in my first Ironman meeting a woman in transition after the bike. She was crying so hard. I asked her if she was all right, thinking it was a physical pain. It wasn’t. She was upset because she didn’t take any time off of her first one, the year before. I talked to her for a bit about how completing it once is amazing, let alone going for a second time around. I asked her if her goal was to finish, to which she answered a tearful, “Yes.” I told her she was amazing, but that she wasn’t going to finish Ironman a second time by crying in the transition tent and that we needed to get out onto the course. We ran together for a while and she was much more excited once we got onto the course, where the crowd of people lining the street couldn’t help but give us the energy to start the marathon. She saw her family and stopped to chat so I kept going. She finished that race… maybe not in the time she wanted, but she finished. I need to remember that no matter what my time is, it’s about finishing. My #1 goal of every race I start is to finish. Sometimes it doesn’t necessarily happen, which can be heart-breaking. But even that experience has made me a stronger athlete.

My race-week preparations so far have been just to pack and get everything ready. I might go for a run tonight, actually, because I have some pent-up energy that I think needs to be expended. Running is good for that. I look forward to getting on the road, getting to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and getting the show on the road. In the Olympic-distance, warm-up triathlon last weekend  people asked me how my day was and I said, “If I’m doing anything related to triathlon, it’s a good day. I’m doing what I love and loving what I do!” And it’s true. I’m so excited to have a whole day of support to do what I love. To have people cheering me on, and finding energy and inspiration from what I love to do is a great feeling. On top of that, I get to experience this with two other people who have become two of my closest friends. They have pushed me out the door in -40C at 6am, they have invited me into their home for early-Saturday-morning bike training sessions, and they have encouraged me just as much as I have encouraged them. Above all, though, I can’t wait to hear the words again: “Crystal Clarke from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada… YOU. ARE. AN. IRONMAN!” It’s the greatest feeling in the world. Nothing else matters more in that moment than those words and that feeling.

What I have noticed about training so much lately is how much sleep and food I need. They are two parts of triathlon that often get overlooked or undervalued, but are extremely important. After a bit of a weird week for sleeping, I realized that for me to train I must get around 10 hours of sleep each night. That’s right 10 HOURS!

In general, I am a high-functioning person. I like to do many things every day and I have high expectations of myself. Now that I am training 2-6 hours most days, I am often left exhausted. Even though I am not “working” I am still in bed by 10pm and get up around 8. If I need to get up earlier, I go to bed earlier. I am beginning to understand why the pros do nothing in between training. They’re just too exhausted. It really does give an interesting perspective on life and what the body is capable of doing. I never thought that I could train this much without being injured, but I’m doing it (knock on wood! knock on wood!!!).

It’s true that my injuries seem to be non-existent at the moment. My knee feels fine, my IT-band is not tight, and my back feels pretty good. My chiropractor says that my spine is completely different now that I’m not doing a desk job… in a good way. He said that even though I’m training so much, not sitting at a desk all day is the better option for my body. It definitely does feel better.

Anyway, I’m off for a swim-bike brick!

I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: hills are a walk in the park compared to the prairie wind! This morning I embarked on my first outdoor ride of the season. That’s right, it’s April 18th and I’m riding outside for the first time this spring. It’s just the way it is all the way up here in Saskatchewan. The snow isn’t even all gone.

I met my training buddies and we headed due south, directly into a head-wind. We planned it that way. It’s the best way to plan a ride so that you can have the wind at your back on the way home. For the first hour, we rode at 20km/hr into a 35km/hr wind. My one training buddy remarked at how demoralizing it is to ride for so long at such a slow pace into the wind. I replied with the fact that Ironman is demoralizing and this is good practice. We decided to cut our ride pretty much in half due to the strong wind, but we still ended up doing 55km. The ride home was much nicer, but every year I forget about how frustrating it can be to ride into the wind. I have cried and yelled at the wind before. “Why, oh, why don’t you just STOP?!?” No matter what, though, she keeps blowing.

This is why I never worry about racing in places with hills. With a hill, you can go up and up and up, but you know that you’re going to go down. I have never seen a hill in a race that I have had to climb for an hour. Although, that would be one amazing downhill.

So now I’m home with a sore right knee (big surprise) and an empty stomach. I had a freezing shower for my legs and back and did my IT band stretches. I’m icing my knee and eating pasta. Ahhh, another Saturday ride done.

Today I was in my bathroom and I had my first unique “You know you’re a triathlete when…” moment. Mine is this: You know you’re a triathlete when you realize that you have not showered in your home for many weeks! I realized this when I saw that my “home” towels have not moved from their spots in a long time and probably need to be washed because they have dust on them! Actually, that brings me to another one: you know you’re a triathlete when you have “home” towels and “gym/pool” towels. It is funny to me at how normal it is now to shower in a public shower room and to always be wearing flip flops in the shower!

Alas, I went to the pool today to get in my swim. I ditched out on the 6:30am swim with my training buddies, but was glad to hear that they ditched out too. It was a mutual ditching! We went in the afternoon instead, but at different times. Oh, communication is important! The swim went well, but I was doing my repeat workout when I realized that doing backstroke hurts my neck a ridiculous amount – definitely more than it should. The way the arms move must pinch my neck in “just the right way” to make a big difference in my comfort level with the stroke. In fact, it downright hurts! Other than that, I generally don’t hate backstroke. My coach has said that I can forgo the backstroke in lieu of my second-most-disliked stroke: the free pull. It’s not so much that I don’t like doing it, but I hate pull buoys! More specifically, I hate how when I turn at the end (flip turn or just regular turn) the pull buoy falls “down” from between my knees to between my ankles. This causes me much irritation and I spend most of the next length trying to work its way back to between my knees. Maybe I need to work on holding onto the pull buoys tighter. Oh, the drama in the pool! My coach has accused me of just hating to train… I told him that I love to train when I can just do freestyle!

Tonight I have a bike planned with intervals. It should be fun. I’m going to watch Sex and the City and sweat. I can’t wait to start biking outside! Please, Spring, come sooner rather than later… this is getting ridiculous!

This year’s season is starting a bit earlier than I’m used to Feb. 8th will be my first race. As I mentioned in my last post, I signed up for a 10km run in a race called The Brain Freeze. The name says it all. However, it looks like the weather will be very nice and I’m looking forward to a good run. I’m using this race as a training day. I think I’m going to learn how to [properly] use my Garmin so that I can “race” myself later doing a 10km in my training. Also, it’ll be a good precursor to my half marathon on Feb. 22nd (a race called The Hypothermic Half). Normally, at this time of year it is very cold here in Saskatoon. However, this year we have had a fairly warm January and February (so far). I doubt if it will continue, but I’m taking full advantage of it.

This morning I went for a nice 4.5km run with my puppy and enjoyed the balmy -8C temperatures. I’m having a bit of foot pain in my left arch, but I’m hoping to get that worked out soon enough. I’m going to self-massage to see if I can find it and also ice the crap out of it. I am on a strict massage and chiropractor regiment for the next little while as I ramp up into training again. I love my health support team. I just wish I could figure out how I could get paid for doing my hobby without having to wreck my body.

I’ve been pretty good about logging my workouts, which is cool. Beginner Triathlete isn’t the easiest website to figure out, but it works pretty well. I’m hoping to get some biking and climbing in this weekend as well as the run. I’ll make sure to log it!

I should try to find more interesting things to write in here other than just my training. I’ll work on that for the next update!

Right. So it’s been a while since I’ve updated. It’s also been a while since I have trained. My two weeks “off” for the holidays turned into four. This was mostly due to my health being very poor. Not my physical health, my mental health. Usually I can work through one of my “downs” quickly and with the help of exercise. However, with the weather being utterly miserable, my schedule being out of wack, and my motivation being at zero, I just couldn’t do it. I could barely get myself out of bed, let alone to the pool for a swim or to the gym for a run on the treadmill. It felt terrible and I am so glad that it has now passed. In fact, right now I am riding high after a great run this morning. It is currently a balmy -2C outside. It’s like springtime! We had brutal temperatures between -20 and -40 for several weeks in a row. So this is the equivalent of being in Cuba!

I have been thinking about my overall health lately. I find it really funny that just as I had given myself permissed, and asked it from my coach, to take a hiatus from training without any pressure, I felt like I missed it and wanted to get back into it. So here I am on a big up-swing and making goals for myself while doing good things for my brain chemistry like eating lots of Udo’s oil and taking Vitamin D supplements. I think that this week will be my first official week back from my hiatus from training and this blog.

I feel like I need a better way to keep track of my training. My coach gives me my workouts, but I feel like I should track how much sleep I’m getting, what I’m eating, and how my workouts felt. I signed up for Beginner Triathlete’s Training Log things, but it’s not very user-friendly. I mean, I’m getting the hang of it, but it’s not great, and I wish that I could put it into this website. Maybe I’ll see if there isn’t something better, even though I paid for this already.

Another facet of my life that I would like to work on is my nutrition. As a vegan, I am generally very careful  about what I put in my body. However, for the past few months I have developed some very bad habits, which are very unusual for me. Instead of making a “real” meal, I have been relying on processed foods a lot (ie. veggie dogs are my favorite food right now). I eat potatoes a lot and lunch generally consists of a Clif Bar, some toast, and an apple. This is not good and so unlike me! However, I have been thinking that maybe this is just the kick in the pants that I need to start transitioning to a raw food diet. I have essentially decided that I will not be 100% raw.

There are several reasons for my decision to not be 100%. It is essentially impossible here in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where our food in the winter comes from very far away. I have been looking at books and recipes and we just don’t have access to a lot of things that other people do. Coconuts are rare here! I have heard that you can find a “young” coconut, but I have yet to find one on my own. Also, there are certain things I’m not willing to do, like not go to restaurants or see friends in that social setting. Food is social, absolutely, and I will not compromise my veganism, but it is just way too hard not to eat out with friends. Also, I love crunchy things like toast. Toast is probably my biggest complaint about raw food. I know that bread is generally not good for one’s body, but I think that my body might be the opposite. My body LOVES carbohydrates! If I don’t have enough carbs in my diet, I start to feel all wonky and devoid of energy.

That being said, I would like to be 50 to 75% raw to start with. I’m hoping this transition will be done by February. I started tonight with having an awesome salad with Red Star nutritional yeast, Udo’s oil, a homemade tahini dressing, some baby bok choy and a mix of greens, tomatoes, and some hemp seeds. It was fantastically delicious and super filling! It was quite large as well. This week I’m going to do some grocery shopping and see if I can stock my fridge with some awesome raw stuff. I’m going to make a really great raw chilli that I learned from one of my former raw food potluck friends. It is really tasty and is super easy to make. I figure if I can incorporate a few new raw recipes into my life a little bit at a time, it will be fairly easy to make this transition. While veggie dogs will likely still have a place in my life (15 grams of protein in ONE!), they will not be such a staple.

Here is my training log for today.

As I was laying in bed, listening to my alarm clock sound at 5:30am I couldn’t help but swear at the Triathlon Gods who have cursed me to love this f-ing sport. I promptly turned off the alarm clock, swore at the Pool Gods, and slept for another hour and a half. When I finally dragged my butt out of bed at 7am, I thought about the “things” that get in my way of training.

1) Weather – it is currently -30 degrees Celsius. How, praytell, am I supposed to run for 15km (1.5 hours)?!? Sweat starts to freeze after about 45 minutes. In theory I could run to a gym and then run home after that, but I get caught up in the logistics of the whole situation. Firstly, my shoes would be frozen, and I would have to carry lots of clothes because I would have to change when I got there into “gym clothes” and then change into DIFFERENT clothes for the run home because my clothes would be wet from the run there. You see? There really is no easy answer. And anyone that thinks I will run for 15km on a treadmill is deluding themselves. It’s enought that I get on my wind trainer!

2) Music, concerts, and staying up late. I love music – it feeds my soul. However, concerts usually happen in the evening. This week, I did my bike workout and then went to a concert until after midnight. For a “regular” person, this would be no problem. But for a triathlete, getting 5 hours of sleep really puts her off her “game.” Sure enough, I have been paying for that night all week.

3) Socializing. Socializing always takes more time than one thinks it will. I have reduced my social outings each week and I often try to accompany socializing with other things like eating, training, and concerting. However, there are times when a nice cup of tea and conversation is needed with a good friend. Also, this time of year is hard because there are TONS of Christmas parties and potlucks and gatherings. Last night I went to my work Christmas party, had one glass of wine, and was so tired this morning that I couldn’t get up to go swimming.

4) Change in schedule. I have been adapting to changes in schedules, but it is difficult sometimes. For example, today, if the pool near my work would have been open, I would have went at lunch time. However, it is not open because it is closed for cleaning. I have been really good about swimming early in the morning, but sometimes a noon swim is needed!

To train for Ironman, one has to be able to adjust to so many variables in one’s life. If anything changes in the least, it causes my whole training schedule to go off.

The plan this weekend is to make up for my conert-goings, my Christmas parties, and my lack of sleep. In addition to that, I have to finish my *mas cards, make *mas presents, and go to more parties. At least I’m single and there is nobody in my “way” to make sure I get all of it done. Or maybe I need to go back to my old mantra of “I’ve done enough” to help me get through the holidays.