+Web+NEW.jpg)
Monday October 27, 2008
Day off work too, so off to a great start. Up early to go for my 20 min swim, 30 min ride on bike, which happens to be indoors on the trainer, due to the fact I live in Toronto and it’s now the onset of winter. So put Brothers and Sisters on (my new drama series I’m hooked on, to get me all pumped). Followed by a 30 min run, warm up plus 3 x 10 min efforts starting slow and building to race pace. Race pace not seeming too fast these days. My first ironman and I have been told (to help calm my nerves, for the thought of, How on earth are you supposed to run a marathon after swimming in the ocean for 3.8K and biking for 180K) My lovely boyfriend who, conveniently doubles up as Oh Wise One Coach and Guiding Mentor, advises me that I am not training for a marathon, but training for 26 one mile repeats, where I am allowed to walk through each one mile apart aid station. So with this reassuring thought coupled with the fact I know I will not be having such a high cadence on race day (on the run, definitely on the bike) I have been running my long runs alone, more on a time on feet basis as opposed to PB marathon pace. Practicing the Ironman shuffle, which of course my “pro-triathlete sister, turned her nose up at!
My sister Paolina has competed in nine Ironman, her best being Ironman Canada where she placed 2nd overall female. Her last racing as pro in the cream of the crop, Hawaii, and placing 22nd in the pro women field. She did fantastic, as we doubted that she would even get to race due to weeks off training from injury.
So yes, there being the difference, my big sister being an Ironman pro, always racing in the red zone, and me, a mere novice, looking upon my first Ironman as a great day out, one big party…hopefully…all going well and I don’t one, get any flats, crash on bike, and can make it around the run course.
I have only ever done one marathon before, so I do not have the history of being an endurance runner. My longest training run has only been 3hrs. The rest, I will pull out the bag on race day!! Mmm wonder if my adrenaline will have enough in the tank for the 26.2 miles. Oh well, it’s a flat course. One friend called me up today to wish me the best for my journey, but closed with the comment that what I am about to do is not challenging enough. She raced her first Ironman in July of this year, doing 14Hr…… in Placid. Apparently, as Florida is flat I am not challenging myself. I responded that I am taking on an Ironman, and that any Ironman is no mean feat.
So Andrew (boyfriend) loads the bikes onto the car, he is also bringing his bike. Andrew is a fantastic cyclist and cycles with a team. He seldom travels without his bike. We wait on sister to arrive, honestly, for being a pro triathlete her time keeping is not how you would describe, punctual. Since being with Andrew, I have remarkably, become more punctual. I am told by him, the time we are leaving is the time we hit the road, not an approximate time of meeting.
So sister arrives some 50 minutes later, instructs me to put the kettle on, Andrew reloads the car and we are off. Road trip! 21 hours of such to be precise.
We decided taking three bikes and the three of us, and due to flight costs having escalated with the fuel costs, we would be better off driving down. Okay, that’s what Andrew decided and we followed suit. We all mentally prepared ourselves for the ride. Which in Paolina’s and my terms means, getting a good workout in, before sitting on our asses all day. After so long sitting in a car, we can quite literally feel our bums spread over the car seat and becoming same size as car seat.
I take the first shift lasting around 4 hrs of driving. The plan is, Andrew will drive thought the night, and we will try and avoid having Paolina drive. Our journey takes us thought Kentucky, Nashville, Cincinnati, Alabama, and not necessarily in that order. We stop, only to refuel, or for quick comfort breaks. Some of our stops in small town places I thought were like they were straight out of an American movie scene. It was about 2am and there is a “restaurant” in the garage with some sad, lonely looking people, plus the place reeked of smoke. We could not believe it. Having lived in Toronto for the past 3.5yrs, I have been spoiled by the progressive nature of smoking having been banned in all public places.
Anyhoo, I got all state of the art, and Andrew downloaded me some episodes of Brothers and Sister and some chick flicks for me to watch on the laptop, whilst in the car. Fantastic for passing the time and helping me nod off to sleep, see
photo exhibit
The journey passes, I took the 12 pm till 2m shift, while Andrew tried to rest before the worst part of the drive 2 till about 6am.I think Paolina did the best with sleeping
As the sun comes up we start thinking about breakfast, Waffle House would be nice. But, health nut, vegetarian, Scottish frugal me, didn’t pack food for no reason. So I serve Andrew his breakfast, yoghurt with fresh fruit and granola. Looks pretty good, so once, Andrew is finished with the one piece of Tupperware, we rinse it out and serve the same to Polly. Snacks in the car were also, carrot and zucchini cut into pieces for dipping into hummus. That was until Andrew spotted Combos – not so healthy typical American garage fast food snacks and bought up a few bags of those.
So, we arrive at our destination, our 2-bedroom condo overlooking the beautiful Gulf of Mexico Ocean, earlier than we expected. Check-in being at 4pm, we arrived here around 10 am local time.
We are too early to check in so drive around the town. This is after entering the condo, only to find it occupied, so we offer our apologies and go to explore Panama City.
We notice so many homes up for sale. Following sub prime real estate nosedive. There is not much in the town. Tourism must be one of the biggest businesses here and this is for the most part past the tourism season.
It’s freezing and blowing a gale. The locals inform us this is the windiest it has been for the past 10 years. Here’s hoping it gets warmer for Saturday. I’m asked by the very nice local we met if I am excited for trace on Saturday. Coming in from a 21 hr car drive and being met with these weather conditions, not right now is the answer to that.
Day off work too, so off to a great start. Up early to go for my 20 min swim, 30 min ride on bike, which happens to be indoors on the trainer, due to the fact I live in Toronto and it’s now the onset of winter. So put Brothers and Sisters on (my new drama series I’m hooked on, to get me all pumped). Followed by a 30 min run, warm up plus 3 x 10 min efforts starting slow and building to race pace. Race pace not seeming too fast these days. My first ironman and I have been told (to help calm my nerves, for the thought of, How on earth are you supposed to run a marathon after swimming in the ocean for 3.8K and biking for 180K) My lovely boyfriend who, conveniently doubles up as Oh Wise One Coach and Guiding Mentor, advises me that I am not training for a marathon, but training for 26 one mile repeats, where I am allowed to walk through each one mile apart aid station. So with this reassuring thought coupled with the fact I know I will not be having such a high cadence on race day (on the run, definitely on the bike) I have been running my long runs alone, more on a time on feet basis as opposed to PB marathon pace. Practicing the Ironman shuffle, which of course my “pro-triathlete sister, turned her nose up at!
My sister Paolina has competed in nine Ironman, her best being Ironman Canada where she placed 2nd overall female. Her last racing as pro in the cream of the crop, Hawaii, and placing 22nd in the pro women field. She did fantastic, as we doubted that she would even get to race due to weeks off training from injury.
So yes, there being the difference, my big sister being an Ironman pro, always racing in the red zone, and me, a mere novice, looking upon my first Ironman as a great day out, one big party…hopefully…all going well and I don’t one, get any flats, crash on bike, and can make it around the run course.
I have only ever done one marathon before, so I do not have the history of being an endurance runner. My longest training run has only been 3hrs. The rest, I will pull out the bag on race day!! Mmm wonder if my adrenaline will have enough in the tank for the 26.2 miles. Oh well, it’s a flat course. One friend called me up today to wish me the best for my journey, but closed with the comment that what I am about to do is not challenging enough. She raced her first Ironman in July of this year, doing 14Hr…… in Placid. Apparently, as Florida is flat I am not challenging myself. I responded that I am taking on an Ironman, and that any Ironman is no mean feat.
So Andrew (boyfriend) loads the bikes onto the car, he is also bringing his bike. Andrew is a fantastic cyclist and cycles with a team. He seldom travels without his bike. We wait on sister to arrive, honestly, for being a pro triathlete her time keeping is not how you would describe, punctual. Since being with Andrew, I have remarkably, become more punctual. I am told by him, the time we are leaving is the time we hit the road, not an approximate time of meeting.
So sister arrives some 50 minutes later, instructs me to put the kettle on, Andrew reloads the car and we are off. Road trip! 21 hours of such to be precise.
We decided taking three bikes and the three of us, and due to flight costs having escalated with the fuel costs, we would be better off driving down. Okay, that’s what Andrew decided and we followed suit. We all mentally prepared ourselves for the ride. Which in Paolina’s and my terms means, getting a good workout in, before sitting on our asses all day. After so long sitting in a car, we can quite literally feel our bums spread over the car seat and becoming same size as car seat.
I take the first shift lasting around 4 hrs of driving. The plan is, Andrew will drive thought the night, and we will try and avoid having Paolina drive. Our journey takes us thought Kentucky, Nashville, Cincinnati, Alabama, and not necessarily in that order. We stop, only to refuel, or for quick comfort breaks. Some of our stops in small town places I thought were like they were straight out of an American movie scene. It was about 2am and there is a “restaurant” in the garage with some sad, lonely looking people, plus the place reeked of smoke. We could not believe it. Having lived in Toronto for the past 3.5yrs, I have been spoiled by the progressive nature of smoking having been banned in all public places.
Anyhoo, I got all state of the art, and Andrew downloaded me some episodes of Brothers and Sister and some chick flicks for me to watch on the laptop, whilst in the car. Fantastic for passing the time and helping me nod off to sleep, see
photo exhibitThe journey passes, I took the 12 pm till 2m shift, while Andrew tried to rest before the worst part of the drive 2 till about 6am.I think Paolina did the best with sleeping
As the sun comes up we start thinking about breakfast, Waffle House would be nice. But, health nut, vegetarian, Scottish frugal me, didn’t pack food for no reason. So I serve Andrew his breakfast, yoghurt with fresh fruit and granola. Looks pretty good, so once, Andrew is finished with the one piece of Tupperware, we rinse it out and serve the same to Polly. Snacks in the car were also, carrot and zucchini cut into pieces for dipping into hummus. That was until Andrew spotted Combos – not so healthy typical American garage fast food snacks and bought up a few bags of those.
So, we arrive at our destination, our 2-bedroom condo overlooking the beautiful Gulf of Mexico Ocean, earlier than we expected. Check-in being at 4pm, we arrived here around 10 am local time.
We are too early to check in so drive around the town. This is after entering the condo, only to find it occupied, so we offer our apologies and go to explore Panama City.
We notice so many homes up for sale. Following sub prime real estate nosedive. There is not much in the town. Tourism must be one of the biggest businesses here and this is for the most part past the tourism season.
It’s freezing and blowing a gale. The locals inform us this is the windiest it has been for the past 10 years. Here’s hoping it gets warmer for Saturday. I’m asked by the very nice local we met if I am excited for trace on Saturday. Coming in from a 21 hr car drive and being met with these weather conditions, not right now is the answer to that.
No comments:
Post a Comment