Bad Blogger and Taper

Yes yes, I have been a bad blogger. This will be a long post.

My workouts have been good, albeit short. We have been tapering our workouts for the past week-and-a-half and suddenly I have so much energy I don't know what to do with myself. Thursday I went for a 6-mile run and then took my bike to get shipped to Hawaii - so I have been bike-less for the past week! Very exciting. Friday I went for a 2400-yard swim as follows:

600 yards free
2 x 300 yards free
4 x 150 yards free
8 x 75 yards free

Saturday morning was the last official coached TNT workout of the season. I cannot believe it's over already! We met at an elementary school and ran about 1.5 miles up to a cemetery where we gathered around the grave of Louis, a former TNT memeber and Leukemia (or lymphoma, I can't remember) sufferer is buried. There were about 40 of us, in our running gear, scattered on the grass. One member got up and spoke about Louis, the work we are doing, the good that the funds we raise will do. Another member got up and spoke about a young girl suffering from lymphoma who is back in the hospital and is, apparently, not going to make it. Not a dry eye in the house. Then, the floor was opened up to us, and people stood and told their stories.

One woman spent the last three months of her mother's life caring for her as her mother died a slow death from cervical cancer. She thanked Team in Training for giving her her life back. Another member is a wife and mother with two kids, and is currently being treated for lymphoma. Another woman confessed that she'd missed the first weeks of workouts because she thought her cancer had recurred and had to have surgery, and her previous treatments left her with a weakened heart. One man lost his brother to cancer. Another lost his best friend. Our coach's wife survived lymphoma, but her treatment left her with one paralyzed lung. Each of these people is training right next to me. I feel like the luckiest person in the world and I think I will never complain again (or at least until we get to a later part of this post). About halfway through I had to tune out - it felt like we were being flogged with these stories and it was a bit much to take in.

After the sob-fest was over, we ran back to our starting point and enjoyed bagels and fruit and juice before we started talking about our Hawaii schedule...

I go to Hawaii in TWO DAYS! WOO!

The schedule is as follows:

Rob and I arrive Thursday at 11:30 in the morning. We pick up our rental car, and then I take Rob directly to back to the airport where he will go on a check ride with the local pilots for the afternoon. They will make sure he is proficient with that model plane so they feel comfortable renting it to him so we can fly around the island like crazy people.

Thursday I check into the hotel and go for a short jog, mostly to get a feel for how freaking hot it's going to be. Seriously, I might die. It's going to be in the high 70's and humid. Well, more humid than California, which for me is really freaking humid. Again, I might die. I don't do heat, and I certainly don't do humidity.

Thursday afternoon I go back to pick up Rob, and then we have dinner reservations at Roy's. Thursday night I am allowed to have a few glasses of wine and stay up a little late, so we're having a nice dinner.

Friday morning we have no idea what we're doing - maybe scuba diving, maybe driving to see the lava. The important thing is that I have to be back at the hotel by 2 because I have to pick up my bike. Rob is convinced he can bribe a bellboy to pick it up for me so we can go have more fun instead, but I need the TNT people to help me put my pedals back on! Hm, conflict. We'll see who wins. (I will.)

Friday night we're going to another nice dinner but we're not sure where yet (I hear a restaurant called Huggos is good - but I will leave that up to Rob).

Saturday poor Rob is on his own. Guess what he's going to do? It's one of two things - scuba or flying! I know, shocking. Saturday morning I have a practice swim with the team where we will scope out the course, then we might take a little bike ride, then at 12:45 we pick up our race packets. At 5PM there is a mandatory pre-race meeting for all Lavaman participants, and at 6PM there is the TNT "insiprational dinner." Rob and I are skipping that to go have our own quiet little dinner instead. I'm glad I made that decision, as after Saturday's sob-fest we were told that that was nothing compared to the inspirational dinner.

Sunday morning: RACE DAY! TNT meets in the lobby at 5:30AM (ouch), the transition area opens at 6, and the race begins at 7:30. There are five waves, and mine is 4th. Supposedly waves leave 3 minutes apart, so I should be swimming out of there right around 7:40. The swim leg is 1500 meters, we leave from waist-high water, and swim in a giant rectangle making left turns. That is excellent as I breathe on my left side so it will be easier to spot the buoys and turns. I expect we will be swimming with colorful fish and hopefully some sea turtles, and maybe Rob. He's threatening to don scuba gear and hang out underneath the swimmers.

The bike is a 40K out-and-back route along the asphalt in Kona, followed by a 10K run, again on an out-and-back route. The finish line, as if the course was not hard enough, is on soft sand. Actually, the last 1/4 mile is soft sand.

That'll be fun!

For inspiration I watched the Kona Ironman on TV. The Ironman, in case you don't know, is a 2.4 mile swim, a 100 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run. Essentially it's insanity, and the coverage profiled people of all body types and athletic skills, including athletes without limbs. They showed people missing the swim time cutoff and bursting into tears, they showed people wobbling on the bike in the heat, grimacing through leg cramps, they showed people running half-bent over, falling down, sweating and crying and passing out. They showed people being carted off on stretchers. They talked about the heat and humidity. They talked about what happens to your body when depleted of water and electrolytes, and it sounds pretty awful. (They also showed the winners, who were all 20-something incredibly fit professional athletes, but that was much less interesting.) The Ironman is in Kona. My race is in Kona.

So maybe watching that was a bad idea. Hopefully the weather won't be as awful, as we're starting early and only doing a 1/4 Ironman, so should be finished within four hours (hopefully closer to 3.5). That puts me done before 11:40 (again, hopefully closer to 11). How bad could that be?!

After the finish we check out with the TNT tent and hang around to watch everyone else finish (assuming I don't die on the course). Then there's a pool party and then we get a little break before the victory dinner, which sounds like one amazing fiesta! Big dinner with lots of drinks and an after-party that apparently the Silicon Valley chapter is famous for. VERY excited about that!

Monday Rob and I are renting a plane a flying to Hana (because we can, why else?) for the afternoon. Seriously, who gets to do shit like that?!

Tuesday we fly home!

We are staying at the Hilton Waikoloa Village in Kona from the 25th to the 30th of March. Oh, and Rob's birthday is the 24th (tomorrow!).

Whew!

I'm VERY excited and can't wait to get on the plane. I already have a list of things I need to pack but am not allowed to start until tomorrow, because I'll just unpack it all and repack it to make sure the important stuff is in there...

T minus 5 days! Woo hoo!