Calculating, Experimenting and Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Here's a fun Friday idea, when you go to work tomorrow, at 9am sharp, stand outside the office door and have someone fire a cap gun, start swimming through your emails, wading through the things in your inbox, and keeping your head above water in the sea of voicemails. At 10am, get up, see if you can find your favorite ritual morning person to head over to Starbucks, but if you can't find them, go yourself anyway, you'll need the fuel to get through the rest of the day.

After getting enough coffee for your team, transition onto that deadline-based project that you and your co-workers have been working long, hard hours while getting everything to this point. Balance between leading the group and following their decisions, pedal slowly and steadily on the uphill battles and fly downhill with the success of any breakthroughs. For the first hour until 11am, keep the coffee coming. As the hours wear on, make sure you provide substantial nutrients to keep everyone focused and nourished - work through lunch if necessary, eating smaller tidbits of food at regular intervals rather than stopping and losing momentum with a big meal. Success will reach you by 3pm and you will realize that you still have plenty of time to transition to what is left of your own job responsibilities.

Hit the ground running! While this is the most familiar of your jobs, doing it after facing such a large and daunting task could leave you drained. If you're lucky, you'll be able to fly through this part of your day because you've done it many times before, you can zone out and just do your work well. By 6pm, you will be exhausted, but successful - you finished! As you leave the office, have your friends put up a big ribbon at the exit door that you can run through with your hands in the air as you successfully complete your day! Then go hit up happy hour!

You know, this may sound like a wacky exercise, but I've suddenly done the math and figured out that this half Ironman triathlon is going to take me potentially 9 hours! The amount of time you'll spend at work tomorrow! Think about that as you travel through your day. Could you imagine swimming for 1 hour, biking for up to 5 hours and running for up to 3 hours?

Just for fun... Bordering this entry, you'll find the maps here of the bike portion [left] and

the run portion [right - which also, if you look closely, shows the course we'll swim at the start]:

Triathlons obviously require a great deal of training. We've been in training since October, and still have 2 1/2 months til our event. The obvious reason is the conditioning that we must do to get our body to the

level to complete an event which could take a full work day. The other part is to experiment with things so that we learn what works for us and what doesn't. You don't want to do anything new on race day, you want to know what works best for you!

Some of the lessons I've learned so far are:

a) Don't eat a burrito 15 min. before you jump in the pool no matter how hungry you are.

b) Perpetuem drink mix is to be mixed with Gatorade or something, not straight up water - blech!

c) Perhaps sleeping the night before my Saturday Training rides is a better, more efficient use of my resources than staying up all night worrying about the ride.

d) I really do like riding my bike, I just don't like uphill rides because if I go too slowly, I fall over. If I fall over, I have to start again on an incline. If I try to start again on an incline, I fall over. Uphills = fall over.

e) I have to focus more when Triathlon training.

For running, it's a great thing to get in the zone and forget about what you're doing.

For swimming, if I get in the zone - or even think about the great form I see on the swimmer in the next lane, I forget what lap I'm on, and I'm too paranoid to guess so when in doubt, I add an extra lap. That adds up quickly!

For biking, if I get too caught up in the amazing view, or fantastic architecture on the homes in the neighborhoods we've been riding through, I may miss a car door opening in my path or a rock under my tire.

f) It's crazy to me that after a bike ride, my arms hurt more than my legs!

g) The body is an amazing thing and usually the obstacle isn't your physical ability, but your mind and its objections.

I find that the physical changes come easier than the mental ones. I'd always heard that to be in the best shape, do a tri. They hit all the problem spots - the saddle bags, the jiggly arms when you wave. I've been reunited with muscles that I thought I'd lost touch with forever and as a bonus they've brought along a few friends to join the party! I don't know why, but I still allow the mental tricks to have a voice in my head - I let them muddle up my focus. Things such as suddenly changing from "Carbs are bad" to "Make sure you eat enough carbs" =or= the fact that clothes are fitting a lot loser although the number on the scale hasn't dropped.

This has been a tough few weeks for me because I'm coming off a week and a half of not training a lot due to work, and having the kids off school for a week. I know too that me not having a road mid-week ride makes a huge difference in how far I've come compared to the rest. I know that missing a few crucial rides too, has me behind the pack on my weakest sport. I'm really looking forward to trying our first tri in a few weeks in Palm Springs which will be a flatter, shorter International distance, but I'm really getting freaked about the Wildflower weekend and "Beach Hill" - a deceptively tough 1 mile climb; "Nasty Grade" which tops out at "Heart Rate Hill" - complete with people to actually take your heart rate at the top.

This is the point where the end starts approaching at a much faster pace. Training is ramping up, my time is becoming scarce, how will I successfully fundraise the $ so that I can actually do the event, I'm trying to not spend all of my $ on babysitting, not to mention the guilt of missing their first baseball games is a huge thing. I start to wonder what the hell I was thinking.

On the Team, when we're down and people are struggling we take a moment to and reflect on why we're really here - the blood cancer patients and their families. Reminding ourselves of the bigger picture helps bring us back to reality and regain focus of why our training is so important.

Here are some lessons learned from our amazing honored teammates.

a) I chose this for myself, it didn't choose me - as cancer would.

b) My pain is temporary, and much easier than chemotheraphy

c) My first goal is not just to cross the finish line, but to fundraise $4,000 to provide valuable research to find a cure by 2015, to provide patient aid to current patients and their families in the form of education, support groups and financial aid. Plus, as a fundraiser, I'm also an advocate, helping spread the word on LLS and all that it's trying to achieve.

d) Yes, the economy sucks, people are losing jobs, houses. Let me tell you, it could always be worse - someone could tell you that on top of all of those challenges, you have cancer. In this lowered economy, donating $5 to blood cancer is money much better spent investment than treating ourselves to Starbucks, or movie rentals, or the drive-thru. Plus, the good feeling from a $5 donation lasts a lot longer than a 45 min. coffee, 2 hour movie, or 1 hour lunch out.

e) While I do have challenges to overcome in my training, I am training alongside honored teammates who not only have battled "Nasty Grade" but CANCER! Who am I to give up with such great role models beside me?

SO, in the spirit of calculating, experimenting and changing, I'm going to work on the mental battles for the next week and see if calming down, focusing and pressing on will work me through this rut. I truly try to learn something from everything that I do so there are lessons hidden in this when I just slow down enough to take the time to see them.

Please share my blog with anyone that you know who is considering doing a triathlon or joining Team In Training so that they can hear from someone firsthand. Share my blog with anyone battling blood cancers so that they know that there is an army fighting blood cancers on their behalf and that there are resources available to them. Share my blog with anyone looking to challenge themselves, better themselves, or give back.

To make a donation, no matter how big or small, please visit

http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/wildtri10/sharris

I'm trying to raise $4,000 by April 1st.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

30 Miles on a bike makes my butt hallucinate!

Saturday, January 9th started off as any other Saturday. I usually prefer to remain somewhat ignorant as to the training at hand because the less I know, the less I worry. I remained fairly calm on this morning as I looked forward to exploring the new area of Ventura, and figured it couldn't be much worse than the week before with the hilly 15 mile ride.

As Debby and I arrived, we removed our gear, pumped air into our bicycle tires, and welcomed teammates. We searched for any reference as to what to expect, and the one mentor we found simply smiled and said, "I don't know what to expect, I've never done this before." Somewhere during our inquisition, I heard the words "We're doing 30 miles today" float into one ear and out the other but without another confirming statement, I chose to release the thought.

I searched for our newest teammates hoping to offer some sort of support since this would be their first time with clips. Now that I was a week past being brand new on clips, I sounded so wise suggesting that they practice in the parking lot. I passed the "new to bikes" stigma and my confidence went up a notch...

...Until they handed out the workout and the bottom number definitely has 30 before the decimal point. It also contained a street towards the end of the workout with the words "Conquer the hill" or something kick-ass, causing my mind turn to instantly turn to jello to prevent me from dreading the hill on my 27-mile approach.

As we pedaled into the empty business park road to begin our large 30-mile loop, my optimism (or gelatinous brain) got the best of me and I convinced myself, that it could be equal, but no worse than last week.

The first hill was already visible within the first 100 yards. It was a long but gradual uphill and push come to pedal, I talked myself out of stopping and resting, arriving at the top victorious and panting.

The city streets gave into residential streets, which melted away into beautiful horse country. The fields were waving in the wind, the roads became narrower, the scenery became relaxing. The ride, however, became a bitch! I don't recall when the wide open spaces became a vertical, rocky mountain road, but next thing you know, I'm riding up a 2-lane road trying to curse at myself again "Don't stop or you'll never get started!" I did exceed my first goal of making it to the turn but when I arrived there and saw how much longer the hill was, my legs started to shake. My muscles were very tired from the first hill, I didn't want to ride 'til I slowed down and fell over into jagged mountain rocks, so I stopped, took a breather and planned to push off a rock and sheer determination would get me started again.

As people started to catch up to me, I attempted to start again at least 3x with the last one toppling me over into the street right next to a moving car. Anticipating this fall, I was able to turn to land on my cushiest part of my body, and tried to make myself as small as possible to avoid denting the car, or having it dent me. I don't know how close I was, and my life didn't pass in front of my eyes, so I'm telling myself I must not have been that close - please don't try to talk me out of that idea for now.

My coach had caught up to me at this point and said my choices were to either ride downhill to get started then repeat the first part of the hill, or just get started. I opted for option "C" which was walk to the next part where a flat feeder road fed into the street so I could go long enough to get clipped in, then we screamed our way to the top of the hill - literally screaming, cursing, groaning - whatever it took.

Screaming down the backside of the mountain meant that I hit speeds of 32 mph on the downhill even bending down to be more aerodynamic! I sped past the roadside thoughts reading "What if you hit a rock," "Hope your tires don't blow," "Hope a bug doesn't sacrifice itself on your teeth!" If there was an aid station for us, I blew right past it. As the wind made that little windmill in my brain operate, the lessons learned so far that day became clear: a) When on a busy street, always remove the left foot so that if you start to fall into traffic you can catch yourself with a free foot and b) When going uphill, never, ever, under any circumstances, no matter how slow you're going, or how much it hurts - never STOP!

After shaking off the Post-Traumatic Hill Stress, the roads turned into suburban neighborhoods and things were challenging, but great. We regularly used our road-signals, turned from left-turn lanes and our support staff was fantastic as always about circulating throughout the riders to ensure we were still moving.

At one point, one mentor questioned me on the hills, and I excitedly reported that I'd ridden to the top of the first hill, but not the second. He replied, "Really? The first hill? Great job!!" Then when I explained my brush with death on the mountain roads of the second hill, he said, "I thought that was the first hill." Apparently the first hill I'd overcome didn't even rank as a challenging hill to the support staff. While I wanted to rip his legs off (for those of you who've never seen me crabby, come ride 20+ miles with me and get to know my Gemini darker twin side), at the same time, I felt calmly hopeful that someday, those hills will be small to me as well - if they can ever convince me to get my butt back on that course.

As we worked our way through the residential neighborhood, I noticed that my bike seat moved from side to side, my arms ached, my ass alternated between numb and throbbing, and my leg muscles roared. When the idea floated in one ear and out the other, "Hey, you still have that hill at mile 27 to worry about!" About that time, the support staff rotated back to me again and I told them I needed the bike seat tightened because it was moving, and I knew it had to be making my stroke less efficient. I did realize in my head that if it was really that loose, my seat should also have gone down, not just side to side, but immediately discounted that rationale.

Turns out, I was having butt hallucinations! My seat was fine! The support staff took me stopping them as a cry out for a rest, so I didn't argue that fact as we rehdrated. Finally, I took off to face the final frontier and my goal was to not be the last one back.

I don't really recall that last hill, except it was long, it was gradual, and I did stop one more time and was struggling to get started again, but this time the roads were wider and I didn't start when there were cars around for my own safety. I celebrated the fact that we were in the home stretch now and I couldn't wait to get rid of the bike and hit the road for 10 min - our first "Brick" workout!

As I started my mental celebration, the odometer on my bike crept upward to somewhere around 34 miles! I started to panic that I'd passed the turnoff for our parking lot and was just about to call someone when the welcome sign of the 101 Fwy showed up and I finally recognized where I was. Re-entering the business park loop, the 30 miles had taken it's toll and while I've never ridden a carbon bike, I was imagining that my arms would not feel like glass had I ridden a carbon bike rather than aluminum. I contemplated how 58 miles will feel and optimistically hoped that my body will be fine with a bit of glucosamine.

I pulled into the parking lot victorious, the support staff were there all clapping and cheering - MAN! I LOVE TEAM IN TRAINING! That makes it so worth it!

I rode to my car, changed shoes, put away my bike and saw that Meghan returned a minute behind me. As I waited for her to change so we could run together, I saw our coach scoping out our situation impatiently. He barked "Enough time girls, hit the road!" The coaches words of advice consisted of "Start slow!" Truly, that was the only option as after sitting on the bike for 30 miles, my hips felt like they were dislocated and that my pelvis bones were going to fall apart to pieces in my ankles. I realized that my posture and gait changed completely from my normal running form and I felt more like a triathlete, yet I chuckled at the thought that this form was because it was the only one that felt comfortable after the other 2 sports, not because it maximized efficiency. Somewhere along the route, my hips re-engaged with the rest of my body and I felt somewhat normal again. Meghan and I did our due 10 minutes and trotted back.

Debby magically brought chocolate milk for us to start our recovery and it tasted and felt like gold - THANK YOU DEBBY! She and I didn't linger in our success for long, as we both had to be elsewhere. We headed back to our hometown, speeding up to the pace of the rest of our day.

I surveyed my legs for new bruises or hints of a large one where I'd made impact, but didn't see anything. However, somehow, I managed to bruise my abs! A few bruises did show up on my legs within the next few days. I admit that I was proud that when I got home and shared with my ex, who was there watching the kids, how far we'd ridden, he sincerely showed his amazement stating it was farther than he ever rode back when he was a regular road racer. That and the fact that we now had one thing that we could talk about that was completely out of our regular carefully choreographed and scripted discussions on the children, made the day even sweeter.

I may have ridden 30 miles, but I felt like I covered even more ground!