I didn't realize how hard it would be to recover from the Ironman and get ready for the shorter race season. 

With TNT coming up, I am trying to get back in shape to be FAST after all the long, slow distances of the Ironman...but I am having trouble because I am still TIRED!  I don't know if it is the heat, the let-down after all the build-up to CDA Ironman, or just the beating I took during the event, but I am (at best) sluggish.  I have done a few spins and runs, and have been in the water a good bit since the 22 June event - but I can't say I've had a really good workout since the race.

Tonight I'll do about 6 on the trail, and will ride tomorrow.  Culpepper is coming up (3 August) and I was hoping for a great time - given all my Ironman training.  Any advice on getting my mojo back would be welcomed!

Jay

PS:  Please let people know about the Tony Snow Family Trust sponsored by Wachovia Bank and the Center for Health Transformation.  Find out more at:

Center for Health Transformation
Attn: Tony Snow Family Trust
1425 K Street, NW
Suite 450
Washington, DC 20005

http://www.healthtransformation.net/cs/TonySnowFamilyTrust

My muddy buddy Holly and I completed this event today in Richmond, Virginia and had TONS of fun! Really recommended for a very fun change of pace! Many fun costumes on hand plus children's event made it festive. We dressed up as the "Mud Kittens" with custom-designed shirts (courtesy of Holly) and cat-ears on our helmets.

Over ~6 miles of trails, with 2 runner/riders and one mountain bike (people leapfrogging and alternating on bike or running) we traversed:

4 obstacles:
Climbing wall
Balance beam
Ranger wall (climb over/under)
Cargo net climb/ vertical slide

Plus river crossing (~knee high water which poor Holly had to carry the bike over) and crawl-through mud pit

Trail running/biking was extraordinarily fun (it was my first-ever outing on a mountain bike) - I'm already thinking about buying a mountain bike for next year's event, naturally!

We finished near the back of our competition group (don't know exactly where yet - grouped on the basis of the sum of the participant ages) but the bike had a flat and Holly had to run the bike in for the last leg - but I'm pretty sure not many people had more fun than us!

My friend died Saturday morning.  He was a wonderful man - an inspiration to me and to many, many others.  Last year I dedicated my race to him because of his perserverence and positive nature and his continuous will to live and struggle against cancer.  This year, sadly, I will dedicate my race to his memory.

He was a man of character who lived the life he knew was right.  A patriot and loving father and husband, with a strong intellect, a deep abiding faith, and an unfailing positive outlook on life, he cared deeply for his family, his friends, his community and his nation.  He was accomplished in many things, he was a writer, philosopher, media personality, musician, teacher, inspirational speaker, editor, athlete and pundit.  Yet what he was most proud of was that he was a father and a husband and a friend.  A towering figure, he cherished the moments when he was just a regular guy, hanging out with the other dads in the neighborhood, watching his kids play basketball or swim of sing or play an instrument.  He was true to his words, and he lived a great life.  

He loved so many, he laughed often, and he made the most of every single day.  This year I will dedicate my race to his memory as just one tiny gesture of thanks for the compass that he provided, one which guides me still as a man, a father, and a citizen.  I hope there are many tributes to this great man who died too young at 53.

John O'Donohue wrote these words in his book "To Bless the Space Between Us:"  May you see the reflection/Of you life's kindness and beauty/In all the tears that fall for you.

There have been and will be many tears shed for my friend.

But he would have said "Don't sit around moping, get out there and DO something!"  And so we will.  We will race, and we will raise funds and awareness and we will fight to remove cancer as a cause of death.  I have no doubt that we can do it, and that some day we will lose far fewer of these wonderful people in the prime of their lives. 

JMcConville

Tony with me and his sister Jenny at last year's Nation's Triathlon.

Training is going well this week.  I have completely recovered from the vertigo that plagued me last week.  Whew!  Having that episode of vertigo reminded me how important it is to rest.  I think my body was crying out for sleep and rest and that's what it got.  I don't know about you, but I really prefer to do it with less drugs and doctor's visit and especially without MRI.  Having MS just makes me more vulnerable to exhaustion.  I am realizing I am not giving my body enough downtime.  So, I have actually started to record my sleep and rest periods along with tracking my workouts. 

I have made 8 hours of sleep each night my goal and 7 as an acceptable substitute.  I have been pushing my body, but still going to bed at 11 or 12 and waking at 5 or 6 expecting my body to go just as it always does.  There are a lot of people that that kind of schedule works fine for them, but not me.  So, my goal of getting in bed by 10 and allowing myself to sleep until at least 6 is harder to execute than I thought.  I have done it 5 out of 7 nights this past week and I am feeling a real sense of peace and I'm more concentrated on my training when I'm doing my workouts.  I'm realizing just now how important it is to sleep and rest.

It's as important as training.  I know the experts and lots of seasoned triathletes have already figured this one out, but I am neither, so I'm figuring it all out along the way.

Shannon

I knew the road to TNT was going to be challenging for me since I've never done and Olympic distance triathlon and I have been fighting MS for 12 years.  But, I had no idea how difficult!  On Tuesday morning of last week I woke at 5AM to get ready for my short bike workout.  I got out of bed and immediately felt like I drank 2 bottles of wine by myself and I didn't know if I wanted to fall down or throw up.  Ugh, vertigo.  I tried to fight but the more I moved around the more I felt it would be best to retreat to the bed.  I got into my doc that morning (with a lot of help from my wonderful husband).  After I got some good drugs I proceeded to sleep the next two days away.  An MRI and blood work showed no MS activity.  It must have been some freak virus.  Friday I started to feel better and by Monday I stopped the meds and got back to work.  Whew!  I got back to training this week, but I am really taking it easy since I've had almost a week off and am still having some dizziness.

My TNT dreams were almost squashed.  Had the MRI showed MS lesion activity, I would have had to undergo an IV steroid treatment to reduce the inflammation in my brain.  And, that would have meant the end of my triathlon season.  So, I am celebrating this week just being able to swim, bike and run again and dodging that bullet!  YIPPEE!!  -- Shannon

All it takes to keep going during a triathlon is a little inspiration.  Here are two good signs I saw during the Ironman Sunday (as best as I can remember them):

"All great things are achieved not by strength, but through determination and perserverence."

"Your pain is nothing compared to the feeling you will have if you quit."

"Give everything you have, and you will achieve everything you deserve."

and my personal favorite:

"Don't Suck"

Jay

11:49:23...I am happy :)

What a beautiful event....do it...

On the training schedule today - rest!

JMcC

What a spectacle!  This Ironman thing is something else altogether!

We are having a great time at the Ironman Coeur d' Alene.  The town is beautiful, the people friendly and welcoming, and the event venue looks fantastic. (http://ironman.com/events/ironman/coeurdalene)

There are so many preparations, so many "blocks to check," and so much to do, time really flies.  Tomorrow is the big day, and we (Tom, Kirsten, Lori, and I) are all anxious for the event to finally begin.  Water temperatures have risen to a balmy 58 degrees F, so we are ready to light this candle!  Weather couldn't be better.  I expect to finish the run under a setting sun at 70 degrees with calm winds...how great is that.

One of the kids made a very interesting observation yesterday.  My son said that this is the only sport where, with just some training and a little effort a regular Joe can enter into one of the big events of their sport.  Imagine "signing up" for the NFC Championship Game or the National League Playoffs.  In Triathlon you can "sign up" for an Ironman and get all the spectacle of a big sporting event - with pros, media coverage, a city taken over by the event itself, and all the rest.  What a kick this is!

I am looking forward to the opening gun, starting the swim, making T1 fresh, hitting the bike, climbing the hills, rolling into T2, and having a steady and controlled run ot the finish line.  It is going to be great.  And then...when it is all over, we can concentrate on the TNT - and turning this little habit into something really positive for all those in need of cancer treatment and research.  One more day.

J

Just a quick note to say hello from Spokane - on our way to Coeur d' Alene for Sunday's Ironman.

Arrived all safe and sound and took a 40 minute run in the hills - very nice...no humidity! 

As for the Potomac and swimming - it is fine...last year was very clear and clean...I'd take that over Lake Coeur d' Alene right now...which remains a chilly 55 degrees F.

Of course, in the tradition of "when in Rome" I am writing this from a coffee shop in downtown Tacoma.  I have been here before, but forgot how beautiful it is.  The weather is perfect and the race conditions are looking great for Sunday.  We should have our whole group of four racers together tomorrow and then we start the process of checking in and all that.  We will drive the bike and run course, and of course get in the water (wet suits required).  I've never swam with my little booties before, so I'm going to check that out too.  It should be fun!

Cheers!

Jay

No need. They've been doing it for years. This is near the swim course, 83 years ago.

Courtesy Shorpy:  http://www.shorpy.com/node/3632?size=_original