To prepare for the Ironman, I train for ten plus hours a week. With all this training, it is sometimes frustrating to not see the numbers on the scale move. It is times like that in which it is important for me to remind myself of the non-scale wins. The good news is that I am seeing them on a regular basis.

Two weeks ago I noticed that I had to clasp my bra by using the smallest clasp. At first I assumed that it was because the bra was a little older, it was probably loosing some of its shape and elasticity, as they do that over time. Then I saw the trend... I have to clasp ALL my bras by using the smallest clasp. That means the circumference of my torso is decreasing! WOOHOOO! Let's hear it for loosing some backfat!

Then there was that pair of Old Navy jeans from 2005. They were practically brand new. I probably had ordered them on line at one point and was never able to fit into them. I October I could just barely squeeze into them, and had some MAJOR muffin top. I put them away for a couple of months, and now they are my favorite go-to jeans... I can evern wear clingy stuff with them.

Then there was the pink Under Armor hoodie. I have not been able to wear it outside, ad it was just too clingy around my torso and belly. You were able to see the outline of my ribs and then it would bulge with stomach fat. Not a pleasant look! Today I tried it on to see how it looked, and voila! It fits perfectly. It is body hugging, which is how I like most of my clothes, but it didn't pull tight across my back and show off my ribs.

Lastly there is my calves. I've always loved my calves. I thought they were trim, slender even. I have never been one of those women who struggle to find boots that fit over her calves... they all do... and my calves have always looked great in a skirt with heels... I didn't think it was possible, but my calves have POPed right out and are now super defined. I finally have the calves of a runner and a cyclist... the calves I look at on other athletes and admire. I now have my own pair of them...

It is wonderful to see these non-scale wins, and compare them to the training wins I am achieving (ie swimming 3,000 yards at a stretch, running 6-8 easy miles, 3.5 hours on the trainer, holding a plan for a minute, etc.)

This training stuff is pretty sweet.

All I Need is a little Pat on the Head

Recognition and acknowledgement go a long way with me. I'm sure they do with most people. Yesterday, as I was texting with my coach on different training topics I was asked a question "if you had to ride the bike course at Lake Placid tomorrow, how long would it take?"

I have numbers and hours already engraved into my head. I will be limited to 8:45 to complete two loops of a 56 mile bike course. I have to be back in transition no later then 5:30pm.

My goal is to complete in 8:15-8:30. This would leave me 15 minutes to spare. Plenty of time! If I look back as to how I was riding last fall, I was able to complete a 50 mile ride in 3:45. Assuming that holds true, I should be right in between that 8:15-8:30 window I am looking at.

On top of that, I've been training on my bike all winter long. I have a trainer which my bike sits upon and I spin away as I try to distract myself with movies and tv shows. The trainer has resistance on it, which I really cannot measure. I just know that I've been spinning a good cadence and only averaging 10 mile per hour rides. I AM stronger, I just don't know how much stronger.

Add that factor in, and a well executed race strategy... I might even bring my bike course down to 8:00 or less!

I am really looking forward to getting outside and seeing some rewards of all the training I have been doing this winter. Hopefully only another week or two and I will be outside again. 

It was awesome to think and talk that through with my coach yesterday... as the bike has been what has been making me the most nervous... Ironically enough, the bike is my strong sport, but it's just coming along a bit slow.

As I have been going through this process, I have always known that the end result was me becoming an Ironman, but today I feel that much more confident and hopeful on the execution of the day's plan. 

Mental Reset and some TMI

Disclaimer... if you get squeamish reading about women's health, you may want to skip past this post.

Ok... you are still here. Let's get into this...

WOW... it's been a whirlwind. I had contemplated deleting my last blog post, but I convinced myself against it. I chose not to because it is a reminder of how raw things can be when I am in a difficult place. When I wrote that post I was mentally, emotionally and physically drained. Yes, training has been challenging, it is supposed to. I am training for an Ironman, if it were easy everyone would be! But I hit a low. My body was screaming at me. I needed to figure out what it was. Due to my handy-dandy super awesome journal I spotted a trend. I was missing a couple workouts and felt poor for a few days prior to getting my period.

Then I started googling and asking questions of my Athena Athlete / Triathlete friends. The more I asked questions, the more confident I knew that I was not crazy. I then called my doctor, and she asked me to come in the next day.

First of all, I am on birth control. I have been for over twenty years. Historically, I've needed my prescription to change every couple years. I would know it was time because I would start to get unusually emotional, or my periods would change in duration. I've been on nuvaring for a number of years. It is so convenient to not have to take a pill every day, just pop in a ring once a month and take it out three weeks later. The thing I did not know was that nuvaring is available only in one dosage. My doctor suggested I change to a lower dosage. Bam. Done.

Next we talked about my emotional and mental state. We walked about my training, she asked me questions to make sure that I am taking care of myself physically. Then we talked about options. She suggested that the change in birth control should help, but I expressed my concern for making sure I would not have these issues again. I can't afford to loose 7 days of training as I did last month.

We talked about antidepressants and antianxiety medications. I explained that was not an approach I wanted to take. I'd taken both in the past, and I am an advocate for them when the timing is right. In my case it was 3-4 days of emotional turmoil, and an antidepressant would need to be used daily. I did not think that was the best approach for me and my current lifestyle.

Next we talked about nutritional supplements. I have added Evening Primrose Oil to my diet for two weeks out of the month. I don't want to speak prematurely... but this week is the dreaded week before and I have not had any symptoms as of yet. I have energy and I am not shying away from my workouts... maybe we have a winner?

Now that I have gotten a handle on my emotional and mental state, I want to share some of the findings of my internet searches and reaching out to other women as I was in my struggle:

1. When estrogen levels are high, it may take more time for the body to recover.
2. When estrogen levels are high, the quality of workouts decrease.
3. When estrogen levels are high, it is easier to become fatigued.

Now, when are estrogen levels high? During the Luteal Phase estrogen levels increase until menstruation. Just prior to menstruation, estrogen levels are at their highest. The luteal phase begins at ovulation, which is about 14 days after menstruation begins.

This correlates perfectly with the patterns I have been observing in my training. So not only will I be taking my Evening Primrose Oil as directed, but I will also be sure to pay extra special attention to my body. Making sure to not push to hard, resting as needed, giving myself a little extra recovery time... and getting further along on this road to Lake Placid!!

Six Weeks In

Six weeks into training. I am learning so much about myself. My limits are tested daily: physical, mental, emotional. Its been terribly hard and absolutely amazing at the same time. I've never been happier, I have never been more exhausted. Every day I am seeing improvements. My swim is faster and stronger, my body position is improving. I look forward to being in the water every single time. The bike has been challenging, but that is also because I am pushing so very hard on the bike. Although I have been a cyclist for a number of years, its is still where I need so much improvement. I need to make sure there is NO DOUBT that I will finish those 112 miles in less then 8 hours. Then running. I am in love with the run. Every day I am excited to tie up those sneakers and head out. Unfortunately this past week I am showing some symptoms of planter fasciitis, but I am working on that. My feet are super strong, so coach and I are assuming my symptoms are coming on due to using a pair of sneakers that have too many miles on them coupled with too much time on the treadmill. This week I will officially be running outside in this arctic tundra of New England.

Some days are easy, and I hop right out of bed and get to the pool for 7am. Other days I am dragging and it takes every ounce of my energy just to take that step out of bed. Some mornings I am so tired I could cry. Some days I am so hungry I feel as though I can eat everything in sight.

Some days I just cry, because this is so damned hard... but then I remind myself of what I am doing. I am training to become an Ironman. This is going to be, by far, one of the hardest yet most amazing days of my entire life. Reminding myself of the goals takes away the weight and reminds me of just how awesome this journey is and where this goal is going to bring me.

This is freaking amazing.

Reflections...

Tempis Fugit. Seriously.

The summer and fall crawled slowly as much as they flew. I blinked my eyes and they were gone. Long days dragged by. So much can happen in such a short time, and nothing can happen at all in months.

The primary focus of my life has been training for the Ironman. I live, sleep, eat, breath, poop, Ironman. I quickly dropped 30 pounds as my training began. I've grown stronger, my endurance has been growing by leaps and bounds, but I still have so far to go.

I've been dealing with a bit of a shoulder injury the past 6 weeks or so. That has been holding my swim back a bit, and has resulted n me reaching out to a swim coach for 5 weeks of private lessons. I'm excited for those lessons to start and refine my technique.

My riding has been coming along well. In September I rode on my first 50 mile ride in a few years. It was EASY!! Training brings great results, it was awesome to see the rewards that day. I have a goal of being able to complete the bike course in 8 hours, so I have a lot of work to do, at this moment it would tae me approximately 9 hours to complete the bike.

...and the run. I've been pushing the 5k training. Next week is a goal race, where I am trying to complete a 5k in under 35 minutes. I'm feeling pretty great about that.

The next month will be about me adding volume to the bike. I also need to be more diligent about my core work, strength training and yoga / recovery time. It's a lot to balance and has resulted in me having little no social life, but I cannot complain. Training make me happy. I've never been happier in life. I am happy with myself more then ever.

I think I've finally found what makes me happy in life.

#IMLP2015

Five Days In Kyoto

When we settled into our  house in Kyoto we quickly found a grocery store and bought items to cook breakfast. We were all very grateful to have some food that we recognized, enjoyed and did not need to have an adventure to find. I was VERY happy to have this great breakfast on our first full day.

 

 

Our first day was dedicated to getting our bearings and making a game plan. We had seen on-line that there was a tourist center close to the Imperial Palace grounds, so we made our way there. The palace grounds were about a two mile walk away, and the weather was beautiful.

Unfortunately we were unable to locate the tourist center, so we took advantage of our location and explored the palace grounds.

We eventually found the tourist center and were given some advise on what were the key sights to see in Kyoto. A quick train ride brought us to Fushimi to see the first of many temples. There was a station where we were able write down a wish and have Bhudist priests burn and pray upon it.

We walked around the grounds and explored the many Toriis. These were in the formation of a larger tunnel with writing on one side. When you look into the tunnel, it is solid orange, and the reverse is filled with writing.

That evening we decided to try Japan's version of tacos, which we lovingly named "Japacos" They were on a sweet soft bread and our selections were Japanese curry or your traditional meat / cheese / lettuce / tomato combonation. 

After dinner we went to a brew pub we found. It was time to try some craft beers and see how they compare to ones from the States. We tried quite a few, but the overall consensus was that Japan was not known for having the worlds greatest beers.

The next morning we made our way to Gion. On our way there we visited a few more temples, including Higashiyama, which was just massive.

 

When we made our way to Gion, we came across some tourists, dressed as Geisha. This is something that I wanted to do, but there were only so many hours in this trip and with the heat, I am certain that the white face paint would be dripping and smeared very quickly.

We found a little place to have lunch... and ended up having more traditional Japanese food - and not by choice!

The next day I had the opportunity to wear a Kimono for the day. I hired a service, where a Japanese shop
owner came to our house to dress me and set my hair. It was a great experience, but the Kimono was not easy to wear. It was a tight fitting cloth, with many layers of fabric underneath. It felt similar to wearing a corset.

Our first stop for the day was the Bamboo Forest. There were many tourists exploring the area by bicycle and rickshaw. We walked around for a mile or so before we headed to our next destination.

 

Kinkakuji Temple, also known as the Golden Pavilion. This was another area that was popular with tourists. The temple was very pretty to look at, surrounded by a beautiful Zen garden. As I was walking around and taking pictures, a few people stopped and asked to have their picture taken with me. I thought that was odd, but still a great compliment, mostly because I am clearly a Western in a traditional Japanese garment. Unfortunately, I only had the kimono until 6pm, so I had to make my way back to the house before it got to late and return it to the owner. 

Here is a close-up of the detail.

And my hair setting for the day...

and amazingly enough... this was everything that was underneath the kimono! So many layers of ropes to hold everything up and in....

That night we had more good luck by finding a Spanish restaurant. It was great to have some nice wine and piles of tapas.

Our last full day of Kyoto brought us to a Sake Brewery. This is a 300 year old plum tree that was in the chairman's house. The brewery was named after this tree.

The hospitality was amazing. We were given a lesson on Sake brewing, followed by a tour of the brewery itself. Sake season was over, but Plum Wine season was ongoing, so we were able to try plum wine from the vats and eat plums that has been taken out of a previous batch.

After the tour, we were then given sampling. As you can see, they were quite generous with the line up. We were able to "taste" each one of these. In this line-up included multiple Sake (Jumai and not Jumai, aged and not aged), fruit infused, plum wines, sparkling plum wines... it was all very tasty!

After the brewery we went out for lunch at a traditional Japanese restaurant... meaning more fishes, cold noodles and gelatinous stuff.

We then went to a temple for Macha.And to the 'Deer Place" which was exactly as it sounds....

More temples, this one contained a massive Buddha.

And at the end of the day.... we decided that Pizza-La was the necessary way to go. It was awful, it was expensive, we didn't know quite what we were eating... but it was awesome all the same.

SHINKONSEN and MEAT

Rest and relaxation time was over and now it was time to make the trek to Kyoto. This time was much less hectic. We reserved our tickets, even had places for our ginormous luggage.

We waited on the track for our train, and got the full experience! Every train does not stop at every station, so at times a train will rocket by at crazy speeds, practically knocking your socks off!

We finally got to see what these look like up close. You can see how pointy and aerodynamic the front ends are.

Once we were on the correct train (small mishap when we got on the wrong one and almost ended up who knows where) and we were Kyoto bound!

The trip was easy and comfortable. After one quick subway change we found our neighborhood and our house for the next 5 days. We spent a few minutes getting our bearings on the neighborhood, then walked for dinner. Our sites were on "Kyoto's best steakhouse" it was a small  adventure trying to find it, but once we did, we're were in for a meat-filled treat... Something we definitely needed after the past few days of transitional fare.

Relaxation time in Hakone

After out trek up Mount Fuji, it was now time for the relaxation and the fun part of our trip. The hard part was over!

We had to lug our big American luggage, backpacks and poles across four busses to get to a point where the resort would send a shuttle to pick us up.  The place we were staying at sounded nice in the write-up but we wouldn't really know until we got there.

Our rooms were traditional Japanese style. Very simple, clean lines. 

Note the absence of any beds! This is on purpose. While we were at dinner, we came back to the room to find the tables slid away and the beds made up for us. Again, traditional Japanese bedding, which consists of mats/padding on the floor.

We passed our time by Onsen, laughing, talking, having some drinks and finally relaxing a bit.

The food was a challenge at the resort, it was also traditional Japanese. There were many dishes that were mysterious gelatinous blobs, cold noodles and picked vegetables.

Don't ask what any of those was, as most of it was a mystery to us. We were able to recognize miso soup, sushi and rice... Other then that it was an experiment to guess what everything was. Also, the above food pics are only a small sample of the many components of our two meals at the resort.

FUJISAN!

We woke up early to catch the bus up to the 5th station. It was cloudy and raining when we arrived the previous morning, so we hadn't actually seen Mt Fuji at this point. We had such a wonderful surprise as we walked out the front door of our hostel...

Spectacular views of Mount Fuji! 

The bus dropped us off at the 5th station where we picked up some provisions and had some breakfast...

Which was absolutely aweful. The rice balls were very fishy, since they were wrapped in seaweed. The orange juice was very similar to Tang and this came with miso soup and more picked stuff we could not figure out. After a few bites, and knowing I had a full day of hiking ahead, I ordered a "breakfast pizza" which essentially was a piece of bread with tomato sauce and cheese on it.

After breakfast it was time to make our way up the mountain.

The views along the way were spectacular. The trail was not technical at all, just never-ending. There were guide ropes to keep you on course for most of the way, and the hike started very close to the tree line, so we were alpine most of the day.

There are many stations along the way, in which you can have your hiking staff branded with different markings. This was costly, but a good way to force yourself to stop and acclimate for a few minutes. Since we were up so high, it was important that none of us became too sick from altitude sickness. The stations also had a number of sleeping or resting huts. These huts were not free of use, and were quite expensive.

Here I am, representing the Ironman shirt and posing with my staff in front of a hut.

As we got higher and higher, the weather became more challenging. The temperatures started to drop, the wind picked up and it became more difficult to push through. I was frequently reminded of my hike up Mt Katahdin a couple years ago. I noted that this was a physically challenging hike, but not nearly as mentally exhausting. 

This is the 7th station Torii (gate) 

After the 8.5 station came the 9th then the summit. This last 600(ish) meters were exceptional challenging and took over an hour to push through. The air was thinner, resulting in a headache. My legs were exhausted since I basically had been going up a stairmaster for seven hours. Just as I thought I couldn't go any further, I made a trail friend. A guy from Vancouver cheered me on, said a few words of encouragement and distracted me from the physical discomfort. He have me that last push of energy I needed and took this pic of me at the final torii. 

I summited Mount Fuji!!!! It took me 7.5 hours, which included a fair amount of rest stops. It was exhausting, and now we had to go down the mountain. Luckily for a majority of the return trek, there were soft lava rock switchbacks which allowed us to return in about 4.5 hours. 

WE HIKED MOUNT FUJI!!!

Prelude to Fuji

Our next adventure was to travel from Tokyo to Kawaguchi-ko, to hike Mt. Fuji. We began our morning with some breakfast from the local mall and checked out of our hotel. A difference we quickly noticed was that public eating seemed to be frowned upon. As we tried to find a place to enjoy our take-away meals, we were repeatedly turned away. A quick observation here is that there are a lot of rules / protocol that are followed and exceptions are not made. It is difficult, if not impossible to order food substitutions. If you ask a question and the answer is no, there are no exceptions. With our take-away food, we ended up having to eat at some outdoor furniture in the rain. I was happy to try these very tasty pot stickers.

Next we were to haul our luggage to the station and make our way to the Fuji area. We had no idea ahead of time, but when we arived on the platform, we saw that the train was very kitchy and quaint. The hostess was happy to take some touristy photos for us.

When we arrived at Kawaguchi-ko we were very distraught to hear that extreme winds were occurring on the mountain and people were not being allowed past the 8th station. We had traveled this far to hike the mountain and were determined to not be turned away.

After talking about our options, we decided to check into our hostel and figure out out next steps.

The manager of the hostel was wonderful. He looked up weather conditions and we quickly came to the realization. That we needed to forgo our plans to hike overnight and see the sunrise, instead we would hike the following morning. Although some of us were sad, we all understood this was probably for the best, as now we would have the opportunity to get another nights rest in before the big hike.

We spent the evening havering some tea and relaxing before an early night.

Tokyo

Day two of Tokyo was just as overwhelming as the first. We felt more comfortable with navigating the local JR line and subway system, so we made a trek to Shuboya for some shopping. Unfortunately we did not have a clear direction of where to go, so we spent a lot of time walking around and picking up some small items.

Later that day we went to visit a bar owned by a friend of a friend in an older part of Tokyo, which was not destroyed in the war.

The streets were pedestrian and bike only. The buildings were narrow and quaint. This picture literally depicts the entire bar. It held ten people, in extremely close quarters. We were shown wonderful hospitality while we had a few drinks and snacks.

Next we returned to Shinjoku to try a Samuari themed resteraunt, not very far from the hotel. The highlight was a plastic sword given at the end of the meal. I ordered some "chicken with tartar sauce" and literally received that, chicken with a huge pile of tartar sauce on it.

I was surprised by how difficult it was to eat while in Tokyo. Most places did not have English or picture menus. Often we would just randomly point at something on the menu and hope for the best. Unfortunately that did not always work, since some foods that I've tried so far have been kinda gross. I have been trying to keep an open mind and try different foods. Some have been excellent, others not so much.

24 hours in Tokyo

Our first evening was fun and an adventure. We ventured out to the red light district of Sanjuku. It was all very busy, bars, host and hostess clubs, resteraunts and many other various businesses we could not understand. It was very busy, people were handing out flyers and trying to encourage business.

We explored for a while before finding a place for dinner... which was aweful! I had an extremely fishy spring roll which I had to force down a bite of. We continued exploring until we stumbled across this very cute and quaint 1950s era bar. It was small, smokey, the walls were a dark blue with red crushed velevet seating. The drinks were horrible, but the ambiance and laughing over came everything.

After our very unfulfilling dinner, we ended up having to settle with a hotel room picnic with some fun beverages. 

After such an early morning, and getting very little sleep during the flight, we were ready to call it a night after a very sensory-overloading day.