Preparing for the next 6 months of my life

There have been a few of us gal pals that have traded our workout schedule for what we think will get us through the next 6 months of our life...freaks me out just thinking about it. I feel mentally ready to start a new chapter in my life and by that I mean, tackling an IRONMAN!

Over the next six months, I will do a lot of swimming, biking and running in hopes to cross that line and be able to hear my name called out and that announcer tell me, "Shawnda Freeman you are an Ironman!"

Sunday it will be laid out in front of me...that is everything I'm going to have to do to get to the start line to make it to the finish line.

I hope I can stay sane through this whole process, get plenty of rest and be able to spend some time with my hubby in the process.

What have I got myself into?!?!?

Thoughts for the day...

Today has been one of those days...or should I say one of those months...maybe a little of both. I had to make my way to the doctor to get cracked and adjusted as I have some sort of pinched nerve in my shoulder. God only knows how that happened. As the day goes on weird things just keep happening. I'm accused of things...people want answers that I can't give...man, will this drive me to drinking or what.

I end up leaving work about an hour late and I ran off and forgot my lap top at work. Now, I have to drive all the way back to work tonight, and get it along with a box for some Christmas gift that needs to be wrapped up.

And to top it all off, I've been in the worst mood today. I don't really feel like talking much to anyone. So I came home and had a shot and a glass of vodka and cranberry in hopes to wash it all away. It probably won't happen but you can drink and hope for the best as I like to think.

And why do people insist on wanting you to admit to things you didn't do! Come on! And the pressure people put out...give it a rest. When I'm done, I'm done...End of story. And why do I have to admit to something I didn't do? Seems logical, right? Maybe not, I have no clue.

The Bachelor - Andy Baldwin

So as cheesy as this is going to sound, I'm still going to post it. On Thursday night, Andy Baldwin from one of the seasons on The Bachelor was in town recruiting doctors to come and join the Navy and be a doctor there. Since we have a Navy gal in T3 she was showing him around and brought him into T3 for a workout.

I arrived setup the bike and didn't do much else. I got on the bike early and talked with a few people and guess who is now sitting behind me starring at my back and breathing down my neck...yep, Andy. Poor guy had to look at my big arse in Spandex the whole freakin class.

After class, pizza arrived and everyone mingled with each other. We all were cheesy and had to have pictures made with him. Go figure.

Anyway...in all, he was a really nice guy who is a doctor in the navy, does triathlons and well is super good looking.

My new running experience...Gilberts Gazelles

A few months ago, I wanted to try something different...a new running group to see if there could be someone out there to help just improve my running where I'm more comfortable. I decided against it during my half ironman training as there wasn't much time for anything. So I decided that I could do it in December and January and see what happens and see if I even like it.

I started Monday night with Gilbert's Gazelles. Let me start out by saying the first phone call from Gilbert was awesome. He is funny and super motivating. He invited me to attend his core boot camp and I did. It wasn't bad at all. Then he told me to show up on December 1st to start the first night of running with his group. It was a track workout with some circuit focus. Not to bad, we do this in T3. He is all about form when doing everything and doing it the correct way...what a concept. I then went to run on Wednesday night. We were to do a 1 mile warm up on the trail and then a 2 mile timed tempo run. I was already having cramping problems in my calves so I knew this was not going to be a quality run that I wanted. But I managed to to do a 10:10/mile pace for a total of a 20:20 2 miles. Not bad...i just know that I won't be able to hold that for 13 miles. So about the last 100 meters I see Gilbert waiting for me. He starts walking towards me. He makes me sprint this portion of the run. All I hear is faster, pick up the knees, faster, swing the arms, faster, pick up the knees, swing the arms...ahhh...finally I'm done.

All in all it was a great experience and I'm happy I joined the Gazelle's. He has an incredible story of how he made it the the US and how he became the runner he is today.

My Triathlon Future...

During the race I kept telling myself there was no freaking way I was doing another one of these much less an IRONMAN! At mile 12 Alison was there to witness the meltdown and hear me say this again and say, "I will have to walk another 13 miles, are you kidding me?"

I crossed the line and said, "there is no f@#$ing way I'm doing IMCDA" and all the way home I said that.

Monday morning I got up and said there is no f@#$ing way I'm doing IMCDA. Then Collin said, "pain is only temporary." I told him I would slug him if I heard that again as he had no clue.

Tuesday my thoughts were, "I'm not doing it."

Wednesday my thoughts were, "Well maybe I would at least do another half and not let it beat me down as I know what to expect now, and hell, I'm signed up to go do IMCDA so I have to at least train for it and see what happens."

Thursday, I met with Coach Chrissie or as we know her, Coach Pain, and we talked about everything. She encouraged me and we talked about what went wrong and what was the worst part. So I left there with the thoughts of, "I'm doing Galveston half ironman in April, and I'm doing IMCDA."

Friday, I'm doing CDA!

From what I understand this is the normal thought process and I was told to give it at least a week.

Pics from my first half ironman

Oh the joys of being in blubber! Here I am exiting the swim course!













Here I am on the bike. I saw the camera person

and decided to wave and smile.

FINISHING THE RACE!

Conroe, Half-Ironman

Well here we are. Another one to mark down in the books of things I don't think I ever want to do again. Lets start with how I feel....10 days ago I came down with sinus problems and developed bronchitis, and Thursday night I had food poisoning. What the heck and why am I doing this?

Last night was good. We all had a good dinner and good conversation. Went back to the hotel and started getting all my stuff prepared. The whole time I wasn't one bit nervous about anything. After I was done, I took my Xanax and went to bed...love that pill.

Got up at about 4:45am and ate and rounded up the hubby and headed out. He dropped me off and went back to pick up my mother-in-law who came down for support. I aired the tires up at the car and headed to transition.

I get to transition and set everything up. I saw all the teammates and went on about my way as I needed to get everything all done. I started putting the wetsuit on and grabbed my sweatshirt(it was cold)and headed down to the water.

We get to the water and Alison proceeds to help me get the wet suit all pulled up and zipped. She is really good at that for me. She knows me to well. God bless her for being there for this.

The first wave of men starts. We are ten minutes behind them. We enter the water and burr. It was a little on the chilly side. Thank goodness they give us sometime in the water to get used to it. I see Dionn and Ivonne and say good luck and we are off. I've never swam 1.2 miles before except in a pool doing my routine swim practice so I had no clue what to expect. I get out going and I'm surprised at how comfortable I feel. I kept everything under control and just swam.

I'm nearing the end and I started to feel like I needed to cough...sinus problem from about 10 days ago. So I take a few strokes come up and site and cough and go back down. I'm just thankful that I'm only about 100 meters from the exit. I exit and get to the wetsuit strippers and get the blubber off and I head to transition.

Get in transition and sit down on my bucket and put some sock on and my cycling shoes and a jacket and my helmet and I'm off. I knew it was going to be cold riding through the forest so I decided on the jacket.

I get out of the resort area and not a mile into it, I get a freakin flat. I hit something, it went flying, I started cussing and I'm off the bike. I pull it off the road and proceed to get my stuff out and some nice guy in a BMW stops and asks me if I need help. I said no and then said wait, can you help me? He comes running and changes it for me. Poor guy is getting over a broke arm and trying to change my tire. I proceed to cuss more and then say "pardon my language." He said don't worry I'm an Atheist. I asked him if he was a cyclist and he races Crits and is a Cat 1.

So he sends me on my way. My aqua cell comes out of my bracket on my aero bars but since they are so close together it still won't budge. Good deal. I get going and on this hilly rolling course. Then the wind starts. My God, can it get any worse at this point. Yep...my back starts to hurt. And with the wind and race wheels it just doesn't work out to well.

I finally make it back into transition and sit down on my bucket and put dry socks on. Alison and Mike are both there watching and helping me calm down and wishing me well on my run. I head out on the run...well walk. My back is killing me at this point and I'm just frustrated. I see my hubby and he kisses me and sends me on my way. I try and keep a pace with some girl doing sometime and well I couldn't. The back hurt to bad. So at this point I just want to make it or take a DNF. I couldn't decide. Along the way I laid down in a few driveways and stretched and used a few mailboxes to prop my leg up on and stretch. I'm sure people are thinking I'm nuts at this point.

I get to mile 4 of the run and see Liz. I had a meltdown. I started crying because I was still hurting so badly. She sends me on with great words of wisdom and support. I get to mile 6 I think, and met Jerry. What a great guy. We were all about walking at this point. He has completed a handful of Ironman's and half's so at this point I'm in good hands as he is pushing me to finish and just do what we are doing.

I get to mile 9 and see Maggie and a few others. I told them of more pain and how I wanted to quit and they said "No way, you have to keep going!". So I did along side Jerry.

I get to mile 11 and stop at the bathroom. It hurt to pee! I now have a UTI problem. What else could go wrong, seriously. Jerry is still right there pushing me while I'm having another meltdown.

We get to mile 12 and there is Alison, God Bless her for being the best friend I have and coming out there to push me. I had another meltdown right when I saw her. She is trying to push me to run the last mile and my feet, legs, back and well other parts are just killing me and and I feel like I have to pee and I don't have too! Jerry is still right in front of us making sure I make it.

We round the finish line and I see everyone and I cross. A few fellow T3ers are there to greet me with the hubster, mother-in-law, and Mike. I was so happy to be done and I swear I don't want to do another. Jerry was also at the finish line with a hug for me. What a nice man.

I'm back at home and I'm still hungry. I don't want to be on a bike for at least a week, and I don't want to run for at least 2 weeks.