Saturday, October 29, 2011

calling all stalkers

a39df666c8bd91eaa16ab0f5aed68eef43before i address my stalkers, let me tell you all about how the taper is going. i still hate it more than anything but i totally get why it is so important and have kept with the program as much as the balls to the wall side of me has been itching to come out. i have actually enjoyed the shorter, more intense workouts as of late but do miss my long, steady runs and bike rides A LOT! 

it was raining here this morning so i opted to hit the gym for a quick swim and run. i usually always hit the gym right as they open during the week and i am used to seeing the same folks and i'm also used to all their quirks (i don't have any quirks, lol). the weekend is much different and i should have known it would be an interesting outing. first thing that i notice is there is a guy in MY lane (the lane i always swim in during the week) and he is swimming the backstroke and he is breathing so loud thru pursed lips. he sounded like darth vader. at first i didn't know what it was. kinda scared me. thank goodness i can't hear that when i'm swimming. but wait, there's more. so i get done with a fantastic quick 2100 meter swim and immediately change into my running attire. i see a nice treadmill at the very end of the aisle and jump on, put my music on and WTF?? the guy running next to me sounds like he is having an orgasm. even with my music at the max volume, i can hear him. i'm so serious, not exaggerating at all. i give him THAT look. the look that says, seriously dude, is that necessary and would you SHUT THE F UP! i look over at his speed ...6 mph! are you kidding me? i would have thought he was running 10 mph at the very least the way he was carrying on. i could only deal with it for about 0.25 miles and finally stopped the treadmill and went to another t-mill far, far away. oh, and by the way, this guy was not in poor shape, he was tall, thin and athletic looking so i think he's been watching too much women's tennis. 

tennis

Source: http://tctoons.wordpress.com

Ok, enough of that silliness, let’s get to the real deal, the low down, the 411 …cuz Trick love the kids and KC love the stalkers (I only know a few who will totally “get” that last sentence).

For those of you who expressed interest in stalking me Saturday, November 5th, this is the info you need to do it:

Go to http://ironmanlive.com/

Click on Tracking

Enter my bib number or last name: #399 or Concepcion

If you’d like to see the race streaming live, go to: http://ironmanlive.com/

And click on the video stream in the right corner of the webpage. As the athletes begin to finish, the video will stream from the finishline and that is so much fun to watch. I wish I could tell you an exact time to be on the lookout for me but I don’t like to jinx myself. I will approximate as best as I can though. The race begins at 7am, so maybe you can start looking for me around 6pm …how’s that?

Also, for you entertainment, i have employed probably the WITTIEST CHIC EVER to pirate my facebook page and do periodic updates that should prove to be very amusing. 

I have one more blog post to do before i'm off to PCB and there could possibly be a video involved ...maybe. so stay tuned. 

I hope you all are having a fab weekend! Thanks for reading ...

much love and peace out!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

that's a wrap!


I’m happy to report that I made it thru 20 weeks of ironman training without a scratch. Oh yeah, it was sketchy early on with the high hammy/glute injury but with some patience and ART, that resolved nicely and I even think my running is slightly improved over last year at this time. I’ll take that!

I just remembered one tiny incident that happened about 6 weeks ago that I only told 2 others about and it involves a roach. We live on conservation and we have our share of creepy crawlies out there, so when we get a lot of rain, it tends to bring a few in, especially into the garage, which is no big deal as long as they don’t find their way into the house. However, every now and then, one will. This was a typical early morning wake up for me and I was in the middle of peeing when I saw IT …the roach in the hallway! I finished peeing and then I slowly took off my flip flop. I moved in a crouched position as slow as possible so as not to startle this icky bug and took my first swipe and missed. He (all roaches are he’s) took off and I took my next swipe and that’s when I felt the intense, painful stretch in that same area where the injury was. I saw stars and the roach got away! My next thought was, if I can’t run now, how do I explain this ridiculousness and that it was all because of a stupid roach? “Hey KC, why are you running so slow and hobbled”? My answer, “I got my ass kicked by a roach!” I’m sure it happens to people every day, right?

the hay is in the barn, so this past weekend, i wrapped it all up and all the training that could be done, has been DONE! Here is what I have done the last 20 weeks, from june 14 thru october 23rd:

Swam – 104,172 meters or 64.73 miles
Biked – 4,519.20 miles
Ran – 470.72 miles

WHEW!! And you know what? I loved every second of it! some of my non-athletic friends find it hard to believe that I truly love all of the training that I do. yes, even the waking up at 3:30am, going to bed at 9pm, not eating junk or drinking alcohol, is a-okay with me.  nothing makes me more happy or feel more alive than when I’m out there running, biking or swimming. I wouldn’t trade my life, as I live it now, for anything in the world. Amen.
KC bib#399 Ironman Florida here I come!

Much love and peace out!











Monday, October 10, 2011

nervous nelly

allow me to step up on my soapbox for a bit here …

soapbox

with less than 1 month to go before ironman florida, I’m a hot mess. seems lately that every time I turn around, I read about another person going down on their bikes and just like that, in a blink of an eye, they are out of commission for a while, with a broken clavicle, busted ribs, and the list of fractures and injuries go on.  welcome to my current nightmare.

some of you may recall last year as I was preparing for my first iron distance race, I had a few close calls. like this:100_0665 thanks to the stupid owl watching ladies, read story HERE. and then a month after that when I was at rainbow river celebrating my b-day, I slipped on an algae infested boat ramp and went BOOM on my already compromised left hip. I remember thinking that I should wrap myself in bubble wrap for the next 2 months because obviously there were all kinds of outside forces doing their best to make sure I did not show up for my big race. Which brings me to today, I keep seeing and hearing all kinds of examples of cycling accidents lately and I know you can’t go thru life thinking like that something bad is going to happen but when you keep getting these little timely reminders, you can’t help it. This post focuses more on other cyclists as perils and not as much emphasis on the animal encounters, although I’ve had my share of those too.

Case in point, Tuesday night on our normal, evening, usual, vanilla, uneventful, no big deal ride at Flatwoods (our local stomping ground), a deer ran out in front of us as we were going about 24mph and the 2nd guy in the pace line went down hard. There were 5 of us riding, which is a small group compared to what it can sometimes morph into, so thankfully, everyone else was able to save it and walk away unscathed. I may have walked away unscathed physically but my mind is not so unscathed as I cannot stop thinking about it and how it could have easily been any one of us that night. I’ve had several counseling sessions conversations with the J-man about my fear and he is great about not allowing me to focus on the negatives.  My fear is not unfounded, this fear of mine is deep rooted and for real. click  HERE to see this blog post for more info about when we hit a hog head on at this same park while doing about 24mph. And, it was 3 weeks before I was to run the Boston marathon in 2008 …once again, I dodged a bullet, even though I landed hard on my left hip and was bruised and scrapped up, I was able to walk away without any broken bones.  I also want to point out that it isn’t just animals darting out that scare me but also the abundance of oblivious, earphone wearing cyclists, runners, walkers and roller bladders that frequent this same park. They will u-turn right in front of you without even looking behind them so you have to cycle defensively, much like driving defensively. I truly believe that I am safer riding on the street with cars than I am at this park with no car traffic allowed. I’ve said this for years and the more accidents I see and personally experience there, the more I find myself not wanting to ride there. I also find myself not trusting other cyclist, especially the one’s who feel that it’s perfectly fine and their god given right to just join in your ride without the courtesy of asking if it is okay to join you. Sometimes, the j-man and i will go out with a specific goal (average speed) in mind and it gets totally screwed up because some jackwagon has to butt into our ride and once it’s his turn to take the lead, he (always a he and never a she) disrespects the pace we’ve been maintaining, and decides it’s time to go 30mph or way to slow. It bugs the shit out of me that I can’t ride with the j-man alone anymore b/c there is always someone out there that feels the need to suck our wheel. I started writing this post on Friday so now I have some more examples to add from our ride this weekend at flatwoods. I think we made it about 10 miles before doe boy triathlete on his guru decided he needed to join in. thankfully, the j-man and I are privy to a little strategy on how to get rid of these wheel sucking pests, without having to mess up the ride we set out to do. here is how we do it: there is a section of the park where you can either continue on the 7 mile loop or go straight and head towards the road or parking lot/restroom area so we just go straight and can always count on the offender to continue on the loop … see ya sucker! The other incident was these 2 rather large (not muscular large) guys riding side by side at about 15mph max. we had already passed them a couple of times when all of sudden they decide it would be a great idea to join us. WRONG! I immediately stood up and pedaled ahead and got up right next to the j-man to see if they got the message I was sending but apparently not since they were still there so I turned around and said, “get off my wheel man, I don’t want anyone behind me.” He started mouthing off something but I didn’t hear him which is a good thing because I’m not shy and I won’t back down. I don’t feel bad about my behavior at all and if I came of as a bitch, too bad. Here are these two guys who clearly are not used to riding in a paceline and I didn’t feel comfortable riding with them.

another case in point: a few months ago, the j-man and I were riding with a friend of ours who we ride with on a regular basis, so we all are familiar with each others tendencies on the bike. sure enough, some dude gets on us who we’ve seen before but clearly know that he is not super experienced. I like to describe these riders as being all over the place; not steady riders. As we cycle thru our paceline, this dude (who I have since nicknamed Stinky) is now in the second spot. Our friend is leading and he flicks his elbow to indicate, he is coming off the front and now it was Stinky’s turn to lead. Well, stinky doesn’t “get” this elbow flick and he starts following the lead guy over to the left and his front wheel touches the back wheel of the guy coming off the front . Stinky goes down hard and takes out the J-man who is behind him. I was behind the j-man and narrowly missed this guys bike as it was still moving across the path. My heart was in my throat as I was thinking, here we go again, another novice taking us out b/c they are oblivious and don’t understand how a paceline works. Thankfully, I was able to keep the rubber side up and not eat it like I have other times before. Bottom line is, when you ride with people you aren’t familiar with or who lack proper biking etiquette and skills, you are taking a big chance.

my friend Heidi at Tri Angel recently wrote up a great post similar to this one and I think she did a great job of expressing the disdain we have for uninvited guests. I second every single word Heidi wrote in her blog post: http://heidileeaustin.blogspot.com/2011/07/leeches-stay-away.html

I think if I weren’t so close to doing ironman florida, I wouldn’t be as on edge as I am now but I just don’t think it is necessary at this point to take any chances. I know there are no guarantees, but at least I can try my best to minimize the risks as much as I possibly can within reason.

as for anyone’s feelings getting hurt because of my edginess and lack of friendliness when riding lately, I’m looking out for myself right now and for that, I make no apologies.

be careful out there people, it’s a mad-mad world!

much love, peace out and stay off my freakin’ wheel!

Monday, October 3, 2011

YOU inspire ME

I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am to be doing Ironman Florida in 4 weeks. I really don’t think that I was this ecstatic for the Great Floridian (iron distance race last October). I guess there really is something special about an IM branded event. The videos that I have seen recently that show the last 15-20 minutes before the 17 hour cut-off are just magical. The crowd is so energized and embrace each and every athlete coming down the road to the finish line, especially in those final minutes. I couldn’t remember where i first saw this Ironman Wisconsin video posted but i loved watching it, all 12 minutes of it and for me, with the attention span of a gnat, it had to be good, totally worth the time to watch. Check it out here:

Not only am I looking forward to racing, but I’m also excited to do lots of cheering after, until the last triathlete comes in before the clock strikes cutoff time. I get goose bumps just thinking about it. I’m also looking forward to meeting so many people (people I call friends even though some of us have never met in person) that I have had the opportunity to come in contact with via my blog, facebook, twitter, and dailymile. Each of you will be with me on race day, in spirit, and some will be out there volunteering, some will be racing and some will be out there cheering like crazy. You may not this but all of you have inspired me these last few months of training. The words I hear over and over are, IRONMAN WAITS FOR NO ONE (once again, thank you Jason @ CTER for burning that phrase into my head). Those are the first 5 words I think of when the stupid alarm goes off at 3:15am and when I have to quit watching the Rays make a killer come back because I have to go to bed at 8:30pm. No regrets whatsoever.

IRONMAN WAITS FOR NO ONE!!!! Remember that the next time the little voice in your head tells you to sleep in or to skip a training session.

Since I haven’t posted any of my training numbers in a while, here are the last 2 months. I must say, I’m ready to do this 140.6.

August:

S - 20,921 meters

B – 1,052 miles

R - 97 miles

September:

S - 27,359 meters

B - 983 miles

R - 108 miles

And thankfully, after all of this swimming, biking, and running, there are no aches, no pains, but just a well oiled machine ready to go to work.

Much love and peace out!