PSA: DON'T BE A DUMBASS LIKE ME!!

so last night i had a small brick on the schedule. it was small in distance but big on intensity at least for the run portion. i was supposed to ride 25 miles in upper zone 2 while maintaining 90 rpm. no sweat right? then right off the bike i was supposed to run 7 miles AT SLIGHTLY FASTER THAN RACE PACE. crazy thing is, i don't even know what my race pace is for Ironman. i mean, i know what my race pace is for a straight foot race marathon, but not an Ironman marathon. i just have no idea how the swim and bike fatigue will slow me down and by how much. and then i was supposed to run SLIGHTLY FASTER than that?? so i picked a heart rate zone of about 170 which is definitely in my zone 3. let's see if i can hold it there. AND I DID!!! that came out to just under 9:00 miles, definitely slightly faster than any marathon pace i've ever kept. SUCCESS RIGHT???

i always tell my runners that i coach that the strength of my coaching style is that i've done everything wrong so that they don't have to. really, EVERYTHING from not eating breakfast before a long run to showing up for a 14 miler STILL DRUNK from the night before. THAT.WAS.NOT.PRETTY.PEOPLE. oh, and lest we forget the time i ran a half mary in BRAND NEW SHOES i bought the day before? NOT.PRETTY.EITHER. so last night after my brick, i added another one to the list of "don't do what i did" or better yet "do what i DIDN'T DO."

i definitely pushed it on the brick. COACH warned that while the distance for some workouts would stay short, the intensity would increase. so short was the brick that i came home and was delighted that i still had nearly two hours before i needed to get to bed to get up and do this crap all over again!! so i made a mad dash for THE BATHTUB. oh what luxury, what decadence to actually be able to soak my body and read some trash magazines for a second. i sat there for over an hour reading all about Nicole and the new baby, the Jolie-Pitts, of course Miss Tragique herself, Brittany, and much much more. then IT HIT ME. i started to feel woozy, a little light headed, and my stomach started to retch on itself. UH.OH...

if there's one thing i THOUGHT i'd learned in training, it's that nutrition is the 4th event. no wait, transition is the 4th event, nutrition is the 5th?? you know what i'm gettin' at. and just as important as pre-fueling, and fueling while in the effort, YOU'VE GOT TO REPLENISH TO RECOVER QUICKLY AND BE ABLE TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN. so in my haste to get in the tub and soak, i hadn't eaten A THING. there i was in the bathtub feeling light headed and starting to tremble uncontrollably. luckily my mom had just gotten in from a late work meeting, (yeah, my moms is living with me right now. whole other story for a whole other day on a whole other blog.) so i yelled out to her for help. i needed something in my system quick, so i asked her to bring me a root beer. the quick sugar and carbonation helped stop the trembling enough to where i could get out and lay on my bed, but the damage was done, and then i didn't even know what i COULD eat. so i had some brown rice and my stomach couldn't handle it. it was so empty and then with the quick introduction of the rice, it cramped and seized all which ways. so i went straight to bed and tried to lay still and let my stomach calm down. at about 2am, i woke up hungry and had a small bowl of cereal which felt satisfying and my stomach felt back to normal. but did i learn my lesson???

NOPE.

got up about 6am to shower and then head off to a shoot. in my head, i'd already had breakfast with that bowl of cereal. YEAH, LIKE 5 HOURS AGO!!! and off i went. what i was supposed to shoot at 9am got pushed to 11am, but it could have been anytime in between then all depending on a 3rd party delivery. so i just sat around waiting and reading Going Long in my car, as this was a location shoot with no catering as most of my jobs have. started to shoot around 10:30, and by noon, SAME THING AGAIN. it started to get warm, i started to get woozy again, and it suddenly occurred to me that it'd been 12 HOURS SINCE THAT LAST BOWL OF CEREAL. i had to sit down for a second, then take some last shots, and then bolt out of there as fast as i could and FIND FOOD. oh joy, no cash in wallet. FIND BANK THEN FIND FOOD. and by the time i ate, the stomach cramped again. it's now 11:30pm, and although i've eaten small amounts all afternoon since the most recent brain fart, the cramps are still holding on.

is this the gastro distress they talk about at Ironman?? could i be so stupid as to let this happen to me all the way in Brasil?? could i really be so absent minded as to let this happen to me on the big day?? i would hope not, but look how distracted i got over a bathtub and a People Magazine!!!! i can only hope to keep my head in the game and never let this happen again. after all, i've never again run a half mary in brand new shoes OR run 14 miles while still drunk. so do as i say and NOT AS I DO....

EAT RIGHT
EAT OFTEN
EAT BEFORE, DURING, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY,

AFTER