The Official Website of Ultra Athlete Shanna Armstrong

G.I. Jane

Last night I got done wiht that long blog late so i slept in.   I looked up the ultraman and saw that i have some good competition.  It aint over tell the fat lady sings……i am going to have to race every day again.  I usually get a nice lead on day one from the swim but that wont be happening this year. I am going to have to race all 3 days. i do very well when i dont have pressure and so it has always been nice having such a lead after the swim but I might get beat out of the water.   I went to bed thinking that this morning i would start some core training and had visions of training like Demi Moore in G.I Jane.  I got up this morning and well…..no G.I Jane.  I hate core work…hehehehe

running-i did however take off to do a run and i cant beleive how great my legs felt. I only ran 2 miles but it felt good. It is nice to be able to run again.  My blstered areas are now like leather and itch but i can run on them for now.  When the outer layer sheds off i will have some troubles again.  I have to excercise to clear my mind and i am much more productive afterwards. 

Hospital-i am getting my excercise these days!!! I cant seem to find a place to park my big old van and am having to really walk a long way to get into the hospital.  i got talked to pretty back by a parking lot attendant shooing me off from the resturaunt parking lot. It was a big 300 lb woman that looked like she had not bathed in a week.  She was pretty darn rude.  I got her back this afternoon. I acutally went into the resteraunt to get some icecream and she came over to my van while i was in it.  it was nice to let her have a taste of her own medicine when i told her to back off.  She ahd to be nice to be then since i was really a customer. i can tell that we are going to have fun everytime I go into that parking lot.  i might just do it to make her nuts. 

Anyway I had these visions of taking advantage of my swollen feet last Friday when I got in town.  I was thinking that I would finally get to use those electric chairs at the grocery store and would get to use one at the hospital…….NOT.  I really do hate walking and i wont go to the grocery store if i have to walk to far across the parking lot.  Today i was temted at the store to get that chair but my feet did not look that bad.  I did have lots of people that recognized me and congratualated me for such a great race.  I am the little local celeb so i guess it was ok that i was not in the wheel chair.  i had the store manager come up to check my feet out and congratulate me.   yes ……my social life is the grocery store.

Swimming- i managed to grab one of these today.  It was not a long swim but if i am going to ahve a chance at ultraman then I need to be in top shape on the swim. i cant let up now.  I will be going and talking to my old swim coach about jumping in with the high school team some. I ahve lost the speed and need to get it back.  The last time I tried to do this I thought the kids would think I was cool but they called me lady and made fun of me so i never went back.  I got stuck at the back of the lane so they thought i was a pitiful old lady but I will see about earning my respect from these kiddoes again.  i wont be getting up at 5 am every day but once wont hurt.

Badwater–I  finally looked at my splits this morning. Holy Moly……i blew up or at least we can say that my feet did. I really slowed down.  I will tell you that i did not knwo that i was going to become the 4th girl .  I saw the car that said Hutchinson and my crew told me it was a girl but I told them they were lying.  I was not in my right mind at the time.  I actually remembered her crew in the beginning of the race.  They all had hammer shirts on and were really cheering their girl on.  i never looked back to see but i thought they were crewing for a guy for some reason.   I would smile and be really nice to them and they were nice back but now that i look back I did since some distance.  When I saw this crew again going into the finish I sensed that they really wanted their runner to pass.  I was actually ok with this since i thought it was a guy.  I dont compete with men.  I was not bothered one bit by the idea of getting passed.  My crew  was bothered since they  he was a girl and they kept looking back.  My comments to them were to quit looking back. Blake actually ran back to check out how close she was and I got mad at him.  My comment was ” if he wants to pass me in the end and that makes him happy then it will be ok…..quit looking!”  I was so out of it with the pain in my feet at the finish that I did not really notice who the runner was when they crossed a minute behind me.  It was not until the next morning that Thomas pointed it out to me how close the next girl was……OOPS.  That was close.  The funny part is that my crew did say taht they thought it was a girl so I would not have been able to hold them accountable.  I actually had to apologize to them for this.   I would of been upset if I lost it the last minute.  I might of been going nuts if I knew what was really going to happen.  The good thing is that I did not go insane over it since i did not know.  Sometimes being a ding dong really pays off.  I still got to have a calm mind since I thought the she was a he.  Makes sense now why her crew was not wooping and hollering for me to get going. My crew did all the sweating and stressing for me. I bet they were wondering if she passed me what kind of trouble they would be in.

Bubble Wrap- this is pretty much what I was walking on in the end and I did not really cry about it to my crew.  They had no idea how bad my feet were. I knew they were going to hurt. I was more concerned about the crappy music that was being played in the end of the race.  I spoke with Blake tonight and we were able to laugh about how much I was bitching about the music. He was the designated DJ when Adian was gone but he was running with me.  He mentioned tonight that he was wondering about his report card. I told him about 27 hours into the race that he got an “F” on the music.  My race report will explain my thoughts and what all happened in the race. It is all pretty funny now that the race is over.  Crews really do have to put up with some crap.  We runners have our moments and I started having them at the 100 mile mark.

writing-  I know these blogs have lots of typos and spelling errors.  Sometimes it is late and I just put it down on paper.  I also had a blond moment and ordered a nice sony computer last year and it is a japanese computer.  The keyboard is japanese with symbols on it but it is an American layout.  So i have to imagine where the keys are and really know a keyboard since the the letting on the key is not waht comes out on the page.  i am in the process of working this problem out so that I can impress you guys.  I could type all of this up in word but that cut and paste stuff at midnight gets old.  My race report will be done in word but these little blogs at night take up some time.  I seem to get corrected a bunch but trust me I do know that my blogs have the typos. Just imagine typing on a 9 inch japanese keyboard that you cant find all the symbols on and perhaps you will see why I have some bad typos.  My blogs are also long so rereading them does not always happen.  The ones I do reread I am do blush from.  �

“The Badwater Plan”

Today was another exciting day with the lip blisters.  Just imagine how miserable it is to not be able to use your bottom lip.  I thought today was going to be good day.  I woke up this morning and took a shower to moisten the blisters up..some of them came off and my lips looked normal.  this only lasted about 4 hours and I had more darn boogers on my lips.   I forgot my chapstick at the hospital and about died from the pain.  The feet are now looking like dried up blisters and now the sore layers are drying out so that the bottom of my feet look like a lizard shedding. i can feel the dead thick layer when I walk but it is way better then blisters…..thank goodness i am able to walk now!

Now that i am done with Badwater I am figuring out waht to do wiht this resume.  I know the resume is not all that but I do have a mission in life to accomplish other then just racing.  I am getting my plan together now and doing my homework as always. I will have more time on my hands now that I am not doing BAdwater and races like RAAM.  I do have some really narly races coming up but they dont take all the prep like these big races.My life is going to change some and i am going to spend more time working on other things.  Dont get me wrong.  i am going to race as much as possible.  My granddad is going to require a littl more time at home and I am planning out how to keep myself busy.  There will be a book in the future.  It is not a will it happen thing….it is a when it will happen.  I ahve some great writers taht are interested now that BAdawter is done.  I just need to do some homework to make sure this is done right the first time.

Ok so I am giving out my trainng and racing secrets now.  Here goes…….

The Badwater Plan

I meant to post this the day of the race but all the details of getting ready for the race kept me from seeing if I had internet service or not.  I did have a plan going into the race and that is what made it a great race.  I did not have much of a plan after Panament and that is what slowed me down.  After blowing up in the hot sun in some workouts before Badwater I decided to spend more time training my crew and getting them ready.  This is on advantage I had over just being a runner. From my ultramans and bike races I know the value of having a crew and how to use them.  I spent more time preparing them then I really did on my training.  As I was running in the desert at the race and passing other runners in their suits with their crews a mile ahead of them I thought “what are they thinking?”   Trail runners are used to survival since they do not have crews and they are really tough.  Take this from someone who is at the back of the pack in a trail run.  I had at least a dozen people ask me what my plan was before the race and I reported it was to “take off like a cannon ball until I blew up”.  They thought that I was kidding but I wasn’t .  I did however have a plan to ease up but no one really knew when including me.  I knew that running over 53 miles was all going to be new territory for me and was not sure what would happen after I passed the 9 hour mark of running.  I did know that I was taking a risk going into the race with this strategy but I only wanted to do BAdwater once so I had to give it a shot.  I really did not think I would not finish so that was not ever an option…I just did not know when.

I did some training weekends in the desert and really got to check the fist part of the course out. I also trained in DV for RAAM and knew the landmarks and mileage until Stovepipe wells.  I really did not pay attention to the last part of the course and looking back that was a mistake.  I planned my nutrition out and even had a pace to keep track of for the first part of the race.  Yes I did pull Pam Reeds amazing time up from her past record year and look at it.  I did not look at it past Stovepipe …oops.   I remembered her splits while racing  going into Stovepipe Wells and that was about it.  I still don’t know where the other time stations really were but when I get to my actual race report I will look that up.  For now I will let you know my plan that I had and when you get my race report you will see what a great plan it was.  The reason for not planning out my nutrition and such for the end of the race is that is usually falls apart in an ultra race and we begin to eat other things.  I have this saying for ultra racing and that is the best plan is to plan that the plan will fall apart…does that make sense?  I just knew that I wanted to have as many miles under me before I blew up so that I would have less to do when I felt bad.  I knew I was going to push it to the limits and I did.  I just wonder what might of happened if I had a plan for the end of the race?  Who knows?  I don’t think I would have been the winner with Jamie and Pams amazing times but I might have had a better time at the race and felt better in the end. 

I am new to ultra running and so I had to go into this race with my own strategy and follow my heart.  I did not do much reading on heat training nor did I pick a whole lot of brains.  I did however pick some of the best and felt like people were holding back.  I tried looking like the pictures and running in that darn hat and suit but I hated them.  This was when I decided to just go with the flow and follow my heart in this race.  I used my illogical thinking for this crazy race and I do think it worked. 

I decided not to run in the suit 3 weeks out from the race and ignore some of the advice given to me.  I knew I would be bitching about this hat and suit the whole time if I wore it so I planned on wearing just my good old Zoot shorts and sports bra.  I decided to utilize the crew to keep me cooled down.  This theory worked when I trained in 122 degree heat 3 weeks out and  I was really comfortable with my plan going into the race.  WE girls have it made with this bra!!!  I planned to put a zip lock bag the sports bra and leave it opened so that I can get my own ice to wet my throat.  Training in 122 degree heat told me that the dry throat was going to want cold water all the time and I was worried about over drinking and messing with my electrolytes.  This covered keeping my chest cool and when the ice melted some I could actually squeeze the bag and cold water would come out and cool me.  This worked like a charm in training.  My crew was to change it every 10 minutes or even before then.  The other way to cool me down was using the bandanas that had crystals in it.  These things were great on my training weekend and when we set them on the dry ice they got really cold and lasted longer.  I loved the bandana and it cooled my arteries.  A cold wet hand towel that had been soaking on dry ice was another thing that I planned to use every so often for a treat to bring my temp down to normal when I was getting over heated.    I had plans on some of the hills to put it on for 30 seconds and walk.  I even knew what hills I was going to use it on and had a visual of when I was going to get to towel off.  Then there was the mist and I was not all that crazy about it but it was in the plan to use it.  All these methods were my plans of staying cooled down for the desert.  I will let you know what really did work in the race later but this was “the plan” going into the race.  It worked great on my training weekend.  The tips that went out the door was the long sleeve shirt and hat.  Simply because I like I be as naked as possible and show cleavage …just kidding.  If I wore the shirt I was not able to get to my ziplock bag easily so that is why I trashed the clothing. I figured having my crew on me every 4-5 minutes was enough and keeping me happy with a peace of ice was going to be too hard for the crew when I could just get it myself. The full hat thing also drove me nuts and running with that ice in the hat made my neck hurt.  I would try to run so that I could balance the ice in the middle of my head so I went with the good old visor.  This was the planned strategy for the icing…I know…I am a high maintenance runner.

As far as nutrition goes……I had a really good plan for this.  From all the ultra cycling my stomach has become sour and my guts have been really messed up.  I do know that hammer nutrition works for me but I had to take a break from it for a while to be “wanting” it for the race.  I took myself off of the product I thought I would be using at the beginning of the year and started using perpetuem on my two training weekends before the race……talk about thinking ahead.  At my ultra cycling races my electrolyte intake has always been a bit messed up from icing and diluting  my formula.  I had fear that this would happen at Badwater but I came up with a solution.  I wanted to make sure everything was cool and so I decided to make it even harder for the crew to feed me by using the smaller 8 oz fuel belt bottles.  I had 25 of them and all different colors for each of the hammer products I planned to take in.  The crew would mix a bottle of perpetuem in a 20 oz bottle with 4 endurolytes undiluted and then pour them into the fuel belt bottles.  They also mixed all my water in the 20 oz bottles with 4 endurolytes so that I would not ever be given a solution that was watered down.  This was to make sure I was on track with my endurolytes.  My fuel for the desert was alternating one perpetuem fuel belt bottle with one bottle of water every 10-12 minutes. These bottles were cool but did not have ice in them.  The bottles were to me made a little ahead and then put on the dry ice. This meant I was consuming 2×20 oz bottles of fluid and 800mg of sodium every 1 hour and 10 minutes or so.  This was to be adjusted by the temp to less but not more.  I would take an additional endurolyte to make up for all the ice I took in.  the plan was to not take in anything that did not have an electrolyte in it.  I had a “pooch patrol” that knew what my belly looked like normally so wearing just a sports bra was for my “pooch patrol monitors”  and bad pictures.  Milk has been a race food for me but I wanted to use my hammer as long as possible and save milk for emergency and a treat. I knew what there would be time that I would ask for it but it was not to be put in the fuel belt bottles.  I planned on using the small milk containers at the convenience store and putting the endurolytes in the milk.  If I requested this then the crew was to bring the container out and I could drink half of it so that the crew could still keep track of what I took in.  Little did I know the desert would not have enough milk for me at the stores but this was the milk plan.  I intended to stay off milk and use my hammer until I could not stand it anymore.  I did plan my nutrition over the fist mountain.The plan was to walk some and drink a protein shake with milk while I was walking to recover the muscles from the hard run in the desert to get ready for the downhill run and another flat stretch until the second mountain.  I figured that by the time I was at Panimint I that I would have to come up with another nutrition system so I did not plan past this point.  Now that I look back this was mistake….oops.  Who would of thought my plan would of worked so well?

As far as the training goes I really did not do any killer runs to get ready.  I did the 50 mile grasslands run, 50k in Huntsville, and then attempted a killer 50 mile trail run in Jemez.  The Jemez run taught mea lot even though I did not finish it from a sprained ankle. I did not get much of the Jemez run done but I did attempt to run down the side of a mountain a few times in the race.  The downhill running in Jemez tore me up and I was not able to walk for two weeks or run normal.  This told me that my training weekends in the DV valley needed to be some downhill running.  I got two weekends there and ran down the mountain to Panimint each time to get the eccentric training I needed so that I would not pay the price during the race.  I figured that if I went into the race not doing some downhill running that I would pay for it at the end of the race.  The last time I did it 3 weeks before the race was very beneficial.  My big training weekends were Fri, Sat, and Sunday runs that were 2 workouts of 2.5 hours.  I don’t think I got all that time in but it was close.  There was one run that was missed due to arriving in DV later then planned. Out of those runs one was done on the hills in the morning and the afternoon workout was done in the heat on certain parts of the course.  These weekends are what prepared me for my walk parts during the first part of the course.  I never looked at the course much past Panamint and never drove the last 13 miles.  I wanted to leave that for my imagination…what was I thinking?

The one thing that was researched was how to prevent blisters.  I was told that if you taped that you should not have any problems.  I also went with buffing the calluses off so that I could treat them if necessary. I had Denis Jones “the blister queen” scheduled to come by and tape me the day before the race.  I did practice with the tape and it worked great.  Since I had not done any running over 53 miles I planned on taping the whole foot.  I did know where my blister parts were but I got orthotics in January so my pressure points were different.  The best option was to tape the whole foot.  I also had about 6 pairs of shoes in all different sizes and planned on checking the tape and changing the shoes to larger if necessary.  These were all piled nicely in the van with labels on them so the crew could grab the pair quickly.  I had 3 kinds of inserts since I am still on new orthotics.  Each of them had a little support and I was going to downgrade when necessary.  All this was in the plan.

Last but not least my music was planned.  I have this van that has some loud music and I had two boys that were going to be my DJs.  I went over most of the music with one of my younger crew members and showed him different music to use during the race and also showed him how to use my PA system.  I have this toy that says “boom Chicka Wah wah” and it always makes me smile.  I wanted to hear it often to make me think of some fun times from the Swiss Gigathlon and Le Tour Ultime.  My buddy Dirk used this method on me.  I had about 4 different ipods to choose from.  Adrain provided the best music for the race and I am not sure what I would of done without it.

Ok so there are no secrets on my strategy and if I missed something then ask and I will tell you.  I did not want to give all this info out before the race but I did want to share it.  This might not work for some people but this is what I planned.  This took forever to type up!  I am sure it took a while to read as well.  The race report is coming shortly and you will see what worked and what did not.  I don’t really like to keep secrets so enjoy the info.

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Home Sweet Home

Sorry for not blogging. i have lots of great stuff to report and will have time now that i am back home.  Every since i left for Badwater I have been going full speed ahead.  I am feeling great but really glad to be back home and in my own bed tonight.  Things are not the same here in the house there is something missing….my granddad.  Gramps took a fall the day I was finishing my race and we are really close.  I just came home from the hospital and tears were in my eyes thinking about how he must feel in the hospital without his doggies and big screen TV with Law and Order cranked up as loud as it will go.  My race is done and now I am ready for Gramps to come home again and start taking care of him.  It feels strange to be here without him.

MS 150-  Well this went great!!!!  I did not ride the first 10 miles on SAturday since i had to tape my feet up.  I was not going to get up at 5 am for a “ride.”  I had a real bad blister problem and swollen feet so I had to use my bike shoes that had the toes cut out and do another tape job to get going.  Thomas and Keith went with me and we are not sure what happneed to Blake.  ThomaS is an athlete himself and is signed jup for ultraman so I told him to go ahead and ride hard and not hold back for me…i knwe he could catch the ohters with a late start.  Thomas took off like a cannon ball and rode like a maniac while Keith drove me to the first sag.  I only missed about 10 miles of the ride.   My muscles were not even sore.   The only thing bothering me was my feet and blistered lips.  I got going at a decent pace but did not talk to many people since i was still waking up.  Abotu half way throught the ride I started talking more but it was really hurting everytime I spoke since my lips were cracking and bleeding..  I met two really nice people named CAt and Mark and we rode to the end of the ride together.  WE had a really good time and I met even more people through them.  The ride ended in Big Springs on day one after 75 mile.  Keith, Thomas and I all had a bunk at the college but we did not have enough bedding for it.  This was a small detail that I over looked.  We hunted own a cheap motel for the night instead.  I got a nice shower and a chance to sit down for the fist time since BAdwater and relax. WE had a dinner at 5pm and I got my speed together for it.

Speech-  I did not work on tis before BAdwater since I was so nervous and since I did some of the driving home I never got a chance to really think about what I was going to say so this speech was really winging it.  I was speaking before the dinner so I was in hopes that people would not show up for it but the room was full and I was sweating it out.  I got up on stage and things went really well and I do feel like it was one of my better speeches.  I was just myself and I hope that the crowd did get something out of it.  I am feeling more and more comfotable these days giving these and something tells me I will do a lot more of it now.

Today was another 75 miles to post and I got started late again today.  This getting up early after my big race is not apealing.  My feet were not swollen that bad so I just did my tape job but I had to spend more time doing it today.  Yesterday I just used the Kensio tape and when I took it off I took some skin off and left some holes in my blistered areas.  Today I let Kieth ride the first part instead.  I could of rode but Kieth is a really good buddy and it does not always have to be about Shanna. I hopped on at the second sag so I missed the first 20 miles or so but I did not see the point in killing myself.  My feet were feeling really bruised in the arches and aching.  I can tell you that they do feel like they ahve done 135 miles but the rest of my body doesn’t.    Todays rougte was lots of rolling hills and i got a cahnce to ride with Mark again today.  I  had a really nice time and so did Keith and Thomas.  Thomas flew out today with a bag of dirty cloths and I spent the rest of the evening with Gramps at the hospital.  I got a nap in and watched a really crappy movie.  I dont think i will ever be one for t.v

Badwater-  This race went great and I am really happy wiht my results. i hvae a really good race report coming about my experience. I wanted to do the race in 32 hours and beat my goal.  There was some vomitting and pain with it but I was on unknown territory after 53 miles. My training was perfect for this race and I would not of changed a thing.  The problems that I had were simply from my lack of experience in ultra running.  I do think that some more experience would of bettered my time but Iam not fretting over it.  Jamie Donaldson ran a great race and it belongs to her!  I had a great time and my only regrets are that I did not get to summit Mt.Whitney.  WE did not have enough permits and the day that we did have some permits for was Tuesday. When I finished the race I was not in the condition to go up but there were storms on the mountain.  By the time I was ready to go up the mountain it was Wednesday and we did not have permits.  True we could of hung out at the trail head and tried but pissing off the park and getting putting Badwater in jeorperdy was not worth it.  The park is nice enough to let BAdwater go on every year so we dont want them getting mad at us badwater paricipants.  My feet really do appeciate it for not going up. They were covered in blisters and I had a long blister popping session wiht Dennis Jones (the blister queen) after the race.  This was a very painful session but I am convinced that she kept my feet from getting infected.    I also pretty much passed out after the race.  I had no shame in letting people know that I was in bad shape.  I did not see any need to hide it.  It is all on video with some German T.V. guy as well so perhaps I will get myself on t.v.  Thank goodness I did some makeup about 10 minutes from the finish..yes I did.  The race went great and the people were amazing.  I cant wait to get my race report done.

aches and pains-what is bothering me the most is my lips.  I have a solid row of blisters and have been miserable since the race.  These blisters turn into yellow hard boogers at night and then in the morning they crack and it takes me a while to shed some layers. Then there is blood and oozing white stuff on my lips along with ointment to sooth the pain. I could not drink out of a water bottle today and eating is really hard.  You would be surprised as to how much you miss you bottome lip when you dont have one.  If something sharp touches them then it is a stinging pain that makes me cranky.  They really are killing me.  This is something that happens every year at ultraman and I have not solved the problem yet and we do keep them covered in sunscreen.

muscles-  wow I could run down the street right now it if were not for my feet. I felt ok on the bike today and my legs are not really even sore. I am walking funny but that is jsut from my feet.  I just cant beleive that I did not have more muscle sorness with this race.

feet-these guys are really hurting.  The first reason for hurting is the blisters.  I have some opened areas thanks to ripping the rape off yesterday. I still have two areas a that reblister and drain often.  This leads to a stabbing pain followed by a throbbing pain.  My bog toes are the worst and it is hard to find slippers that dont rub some of the soft skin.  I have to walk really funny to keep my shoes in just the right spot so that the shoe does not get up on a blister.  My feet started aching yesterday on the bottom but I think that is from the riding now. My bike shoe seems to put pressure in the part of the foot that aches so bad.  This just is a dull pain that comes from the inside out.  It feels deep in the bone.  I am getting better now that I dont have swollen feet and so I am thankful for that.  The bike ride really did help with the fat ankels and seemed to spin my legs out and the fluid has almost disappeared…yipee!!!!  I hate having fat legs.

Overall-I feel really ok and am happy with my race.  I am just worried about my granddad and know taht now that I have added Badwater to my race resume that it is time to get started on other goals I have in my life.   My other goals are not other races either.  I have lots to keep me busy while I am home with my granddad.  I will keep you posted on that but now it is time for bed.

I am alive..

Sorry for not blogging.  I am in Midland , Tx and it is 11 pm on Friday night.  It has been fast and furious since the race.  Last night the car had a blow out on the way home from BAdwater and left us stranded on the side of the road for a bit.  I was trying to get home quicker since my granddad went into the hospital the last day of my race.    Today we got into Lubbock and my granddad will be ok and coming home next week so i am going on with my plans to do the MS150.

MS150-  this is a ride that is 76 miles from Midland to Big Srpings on SAturday and then from Big Springs to Post on Sunday.  I will be speaking at a dinner tomorrow and do plan to ride.  My feet are really a mess so it will be interesting. i will catch up on race reports next week.

Badwater went better then i had planned!!!

Las Vegas

sorry for not posting any blogs lately.  I was busy loading the van and taking care of last minute details before i left.  I feel ready!

Las Vegas-  Thomas came into Lubbock to ride over with me.  i was thinking that a pit stop in Flagstaff would be nice but we drove in here to vegas.   We stopped by the petrified forest and Hoover Damn along the way so it made it a really nice trip.  WE were in the car all day. I think i drove 30 minutes. I had planned on driving more but i am not sure if Thomas cared for my driving…..it is pretty bad.

New Attitude-  i was getting really nervous about the race and focusing on how i was going to run the race but that has changed in the past couple if days. i am going into this race with an attitude of keeping it fun.  I race well when it is fun and i want my crew to smile as much as possible.  My goal at the race across america was to have the most fun a rider can have and that did happen.  The goal is the same here at this race now.  i am trying to figure out what kind of pranks i can play on my crew to keep it fun for them.  we have a long few days ahead of us and i want to make the best of the time i spend wiht my crew. 

Badwater here we come—Thomas and I are going to BAdwater today.  i hvae a little run but we have some errands to do before we vegas.  we will be picking up most the stuff so when my crew comes in tomorrow they can just come straight to Furnace Creek.

no secrets???i think i had someone post that ultra runners dont ahve secrets.  i have to say that i have found that they do.  I wont lie that I am keeping my race stretegy to myself for now but as soon as the race is over I will be posting what I did during the race. of course what works for me wont work for others but all the details will be there. I talked to lots of the top ultra runners and only got very vague info even when i paid to talk to them.   I bounce around from sport to sport so I am the “wild card” going into most of my races.  People keeping secrets from me is ok with me.   I find it to be a great challenge to try to figure out things myself.  What brings this up is that I am going to pick up some ice today and I had to hunt down the place to get this.  I talked with another BAdwater Vet and they seemed surprised that I had found out where to get it.  This was info that could of been given to me by them but they thought that i should have to figure it all out myself like they did years ago.   Well i did and i will let everyone know where to get the dry ice easily in Vegas.  These are the little secrets that are kept from new people….so i guess you can say …there are secrets in the ultra world.

Taper Mode

This morning i was supposed to sleep in but once again i got up.  i got a lot of things done on the van and organized my foot care kit and medical kit in some tackle boxes everything is really coming together and my mind is as ease

running- i had a fairly long run today but it was not to bad.  i ran wtih my cop friend at the park and we did a nice easy pace.  my hamstring is still bothering me but it is getting better.  the run yesterday did help.

Blake-  this is my 23 year old crew member and we went and got massages today and went to the movie.  he got hang wiht the “old lady” today.  We watch “wanted” and had a good time. he is going to be such an asset to the team and is really pumped up. 

wedding reception- my client invited me to a wedding reception of her daughters. i had nothing better to do so i went anyway.  i did not know anyone and did not knwo you were supposed to bring a gift to these things…..oops.  they probably thought i had ice cream in my van after seeing it.  i just hung out long enough for free food.

sauna training-  i got ripped off on my sauna and it has not been doing the trick but Keith and I put a propane heater in it and it is nice and toasty now.  i am going to sit in this thing 2x a day until i leave for Badwater.    dont worry i am around while the propane is on.  i am in the sauna now and really enjoying it.  i will start reading my badwater crew book now until i go to sleep.

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Happy 4th of July

sleeping in–i was so excited to get the chance to sleep in this morning. i really did not sleep in however.  I looked at the clock at 5:30 am and finally got out of bed at 7:15. I started getting some things done aroundn the house and was going nuts around 11:00.  I felt bored not training at all so i did go for a 20 minute run just to put my mind at ease.  i wanted to get a massage today but no one was open so I ran to get my muscles loosened up instead.  i do have this left hip or something that i am treating like an injury.  I strongly beleive in woking the muscle out by doing the activity that hurt it.  Sounds crazy but it has worked so far.  I just needed to get some blood flow going on and the run really helped.  it was not that long but I was motivated to get things done afterewards.

Organizing for Badwater– i did not celebrate the 4th of July like most people.  I gave some massages and then I came home and started getting my van organized for Badwater.  I take pride in how organized i can be when it comes to this stuff.  My van has a built in cabinet in it and lots of other cools things in it to make the crew more comfortable and organized.  Today I vacummed the van again and then put some mats down on the floor.  I then put some hooks on my cabinets for all my hats to go.  I installed some toilet paper and paper towels  on the rod that clothing can hang on.  I also organized my food and started figuring out where to put everything.  Keith came over and helped me find out where the fuse box was so i could see what fuses to get.  I also found out that my inverter will not power my water heater but it does power my blender.  The van has some speakers on the front of it and I made sure that all of that was working,  I have a new stereo and learned how to work that as well.  I am making notes while doing all of this so that my crew will have insructions all on paper.  I also got all my music out and bought some adapter that will power it into my car stereo.  I am listing what music is good for “baby mode” and “happy modes”  on a note pad. I have 3 different ipods and the crew needs to know which one to give me for certain occasions.  This race is mental and i do like my music.  i have certain songs that are good to play to keep me going.  One in particualar is the Gigathlon song.  I have no clue what it is saying but it reminds me of a happy time and it motivates me when i am really down. For some reason I was really enjoying taking my time to figure out how best to organize the van today.  We have 5 coolers and figuring out just where to put them and what to put in all of them can be confusing.  Yikes..I have a million pair of sunglasses as well.  There are some I like at night and some I like in the day time.  Rudy Project has been really good at taking care of me.  I am placing these on the dash board and putting tags on them so the crew will know which ones to hand me. Who knows…I might not weat any..we will see.  I did much more today but this just gives you an idea of what goes into a race like BAdwater.

Organizing the crew and my van is what I think makes me successful.  i am not sure how sucessful I will be at Badwater but I can tell you that I do have the best crew and set up.  Teamwork is how I will make it to the finish line and I do have a great team.  All of them are really organized too so I just need to worry about putting one foot in front of the other,  they wil take good care of me.  They all have been doing their homework before this race.  i suspect that there might be a little confusion the day before the race since they are coming in then but they wont be worrying about getting a van ready.  i am hoping that it will be rather relaxing before the race instead.  We have most of the logistics worked out now.  I still have some things to do with the van but not much.  Other things that I will need to do this weekend is print stuff off for the clipboards and stuff.  I also need to make sure that the crew is going to hook up in the airport when they land and give all of them contact info for each other.  The list goes on and on but i did have fun today doing all of this….weird.

Mt. Whitney-  we are still planning on going to the top of Mt.Whitney but we do not have permits.  I got some details today about how to get those.  Along with trying to take care of me in the race my crew has to go and get permits as well.  WE had to plan this in as well but we are giving it a shot.  We really want to go to the summit.  I am reading up on this right now and there is a whole list of things to have for that as well.  I suspect that we will be doing some of it at night..yikes.  This race is turning out into a cool adventure.  The training for it has been pretty cool as well.  i suppose the journey to the race is what i enjoy.  I have already made some happy memories and good friends just getting ready for Badwater.  I met Adrian, Blake, Butch, and Thomas trianing for Badwater.  We all had some good weekends meeting to prepare for BAdwater. I got to see Donna and Sandy more.  Getting ready for Badwater really has not been all that bad.  I think the crew feels the same way as I do so that is a real plus.  I feel like they all want to be there. I dont feel like I am dragging them there so that is super cool.

well enough blabbing i need to get some rest.

Rain Rain…go away!!!

This morning i took off on a run and felt ok.  I was running like tin man and could feel my knees bothering me.  we then got thunderstorms this late afternoon and i knew what was causing it…..my arthritis.  I also have a hamstring that is bothering me so i am going to check into getting a massage tomorrow. it is  a day off for me….yipee!  i still have to work but i am sleeping in.

swimming- yikes!!!  my coach told me one long swim this week but today I looked and it was a 4100 yd swim.  i guess it is good and keeps me off my feet but i will be glad to be away from the pool while i am running badwater. i like to have a break from the water and it is really needed now.

dont pee in the water—  i was telling everyone this at the swim start so they would not pee  to warm their wetsuit up next to me at the buffalo lakes.    I have figured out taht peeing in open water like buffalo leads to a bladder infection. i warned a girl about this at the race and she emailed me that she was in pain with a bladder infection. i am safe and sound thanks to not peeing in the water.  I bet i have had an infection once a year from that lake. i dont always pee but hoping on the bike after that water does cause problems.  YEs I am guilty of peeing some but not for a sprint triathlon.

staph infection-  talking about the water.  One of my crew has a staph infection. It is just on the skin now but they are on some serious antibiotics. i hope they get better before Badwater.  He got a  boil lanced and was not planning on taking the medicine but today his leg was really red and he decided to take some medicine.  The doc will know what the boil was on Monday.  That water is some bad stuff! it is just on his quad right now and i hope it gets better

White trash— i had a client stop by my shop and he is a cop.  he looked like  a bum and was dressed for some under cover work.  I had about a 30 minute brake between clients and he hung out and talked to me outside. i got to thinking after he left that everyone was probably thinking i was a real class act. I had a crappy truck to drive yesterday and then I had some bum stop by my shop. i bet the other tennants in my building are thinking i am into drugs now.  He certainly did not look like a cop today.

day off-  this is my fist day off in a long time! i have had some days off training but that was only for travel.  Tomorrow I get to wake up when I want and act like a normal person. i dont have any plans for tomorrow night and plan to take it easy this next weekend.  i cant wait! i am going to see if i cant get a massage and get my muscle worked out, i think it is really really mad at me.

Sponsors and Crew

Fuel Belt— these guys came on board and sent me some goodies.  My crew and I now have lights and reflective gear for the race.  This stuff all cost money.  My crew and I have rules to follow and one of them is being lit up and safe at night.  I have enough stuff to keep most of my crew safe at night along with some cool bottles that i will be using for hydration.  The fun part is that they sent me some pink stuff so some of my guys will be pretty in pink.

Rudy Project-  these guys have always been a great sponsor and they sent out some nice t-shirts and visors for us to use at the race.  I have sunglasses for most of my crew so we are going to be styling at the race.

Zoot-  these guys were nice enough to send out some stuff for my crew.  i am waiting for a nice package tomorrow and i think my crew and I will be covered….like I said we will be looking cool.

Hammer Nutrition-  i would not make it without these guys.  Steve from Hammer has been nice enough to help me out wiht my nutrition questions and they have been great in making sure that I have all that I need for my race.  I keep bouncing off goofy questions to them.  They have really been supportive of me since I first started racing.

Badwater Supplies-  this race will nickle and dime you to death with all the stuff you need.  I seem to spend most of my time in stores getting little nick nack stuff.  tonight I went and got some really nice terrry cloth towels to drape over me with ice cold water to cool off.  I also ordered some Hydropel stuff to have  for my feet.  i am not sure if I will use it but it has been recommended.

Adrian-  this is my Transylvanian crew member.  He is flying in from Chicago and is my “music man.”  He has not been able to make the crew meetings but daily I get some emails from him with some techno music and motivational videos to keep me pumped.  WE are planning the crews out so taht he can be with me on the second big mountain for sure.  He has a ipod speaker system that he will carry with him up the mountain with me.  He is my “high energy” guy and makes me laugh. 

Blake-  this is the 23 year old I met here in Lubbock.  He is my other “music man” and will be on the other crew.  He has lots of the same kinds of music and will be the DJ of the crew.  He really is a great athlete and is looking forward to the adventure that I am taking him on.  He will be riding home with us to help out. 

Donna-  this is my cousin and she has helped out with some of the logistics and getting the crew organized.  she met with Butch and Sandy this past weekend to touch base.  She has also helped with some of the plane tickets as well.  I am not sure what I woudl do without her.

Thomas-  this is the guy that I met in Houston.  He is helping out with lots of things as well.  He is a great runner and really has taken charge in learning how to crew.  He has been at all the crew meetings and has emails going back and forth with Sandy and Donna on what all we need to do.  He and Donna are sorting out the crews and when they will be coming on and off.  He is a “thinker” and a great asset to the crew.

Butch-  this is our veteren and a friend of Donna and Sandy.  They have known each other for years so the 3 of them are really a pair.  He has done some 200 mile runs and crewed for Badwater 3x.  He is going to be the “go to” goy for questions.  He is also a great runner.  Thomas, Butch and I all ran together in Huntsville.

Sandy-  this is one of Donna best friends and is going to be an organizer like Donna.  Donna and her will be on different crews so taht they can pass the clip board recording data off to each other.  Donna will need to get her rest and knowing that Sandy is keeping the van nice and organized will help Donnas mind rest while she is off the crew.

The radio-  i am on some Fox  talk radio station tomorrow.  I have to be there at 7 am.  i am not sure what we will gab about but I will hvae some coffee in my hands.  I am still in taper mode and wanted to sleep in but I still have time for that.

Van Repair-  today I took the van in to get checked out and it is ready to go.  I had to get front brakes and radiator flushed.  They also replace the engine belt that was cracking so I should be good to go. 

The Nission-  I got stuck in Keiths little Nission pickup again today.  This car has a dented front bumper and the paint is peeling off.  There is rust all over it and when the car would hit a bump the window would come down.  It is a standard with power steering and would not stay started so today was interesting.  I would make a turn and the car would die on me.  I am not sure how many times I restarted the truck but I did get around to the places I needed to go.

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What granddaughters will do for their granddads

Granddaughters–  in case you dont know. i stay with my granddad to look after him.  He fell a few weeks ago and I have been helping him out a little more then usual.  My parents also help out as well.  He is cute but since the fall his spirit has not been so good but he is in training on “the walker.”  Today we had a doctors appointment and one of the wheels was not working so good.  I hate to say what was causing the problem but it does make for a laugh.  My ganddad had rolled over some poop and strung it all over the doctors office.  At first I thougt it was dirt but with further inspection i saw what it really was.  I waited until we got out of there to clean the walker up before sticking it in my van.  The check up went ok but he is in a wrist brace and might have a tiny fracture from his fall.  I have to bandage it up every morning but that is ok. i am not to busy for him.

Swimming-  i was just griping about all the swimming i was doing to my coach and he sent me one heck of a swim today.  I tried to look up and see what my swim time might of been at the race this past weekend to see if i really was slow. They did not list the times for the relays but i am thinking that I am slower now that I am swimming more.  I had another 4500 yd workout today.  I dont think I did swims like this in the past and I really do not much care for them.  i used to be a swimmer so the pool is really boring for me.  I dont think I swim much faster with these long swims but I am going with the flow for now.  I thought taht I was going to drown today.

Taper Baby mode-  i am in this phase of training where I rest up.  I always feel like junk at this time and it is what I call baby mode.  There is no way I could run Badwater tomorrow….makes me wonder how I will feel in a couple of weeks.  Taper was always a bad word for me in high school swimming.  I never really hit the “taper” and had a good race.  My dad hated that word.  I would always have my best races in heavy training back in the old days.  In theory the body does need to rest up from the training and when I cut back my body really goes into a tired crappy mode.  There is no way that I could run Badwater with training up to it either so i am hoping for the best.  I called my swim coach up a few years back and asked him what this stuff was that I went through and why I never i always felt bad in a taper while others felt good.  He called this “taper shock”…i also emailed Joe friel about this and he called this “recovery syndrom.”  I think most athletes feel ok in tapers but there are some of us that are weird and I am one of them.  Try to google taper shock and recovery syndrom and see what you come up with.  There is not much.  This is just a term that some coached have for weirdos like me.  i guess I am in taper shock right now. What do I do in this phase?  i ask myself a million questions and wonder if i trained enough….should i train more…. and so on.  We will just hope for the best at the race.  That is all I can do now.

Muscles-  i feel like tin man!!!  All my muscles are tight and I am sleepy.  My butt muscles and low back seem to be a problem along with my hip bothering me.  This all started about 3 weeks ago.  I am getting some massages and will just hope they loosen up.  I cut back on those a while back and looking back i shoudl not have done that.  My upper body is even sore.  Funny the more I train the better I feel.  yes my muscles are addicted to excercise and they will be ready to go come time for Badwater.

Peeing in a cup-  my crew has been doing some research and they want me to pee in a cup.  Butch is our veteren crew member and he met with Donna and Sandy this weekend in Ft.Worth to talk about crew things.  He wants to measure my pee…yikes!!!  Butch is a guy so this peeing in a cup might seem easy for him.  Peeing on the side of the road is hard enough for a girl.  This girl (me) is going to have some really sore quads and instead of holding the cup I will be needing to hold myself up.  I am listening to the crew and do have a measuring pee bowl for them.  I was not planning on it but my crew is the boss now.  The things I worry about…huh?