Fletcher Flyer

I love Asheville, NC. It is one of my favorite places & if it didn’t take so long to get there I’d visit more often. Well, this probably isn’t true. Since I always seem to be training for something I rarely take time for vacations. My son frequently complains that all of our vacations revolve around my races. Anyways, if I had spare time I’d like to think I’d take long weekends in Asheville.

I was pretty disappointed that this trip would be so short. Amy, Amanda, Tina & I drove down on Saturday, the ride was Sunday & we had to be back to work by lunch on Monday. No time to tour the Biltmore.

Saturday night we attended a pasta party. The Team in Training pasta parties are always so inspirational. We heard from 2 people who were cancer survivors. Their stories remind us why we’re there. Why we do what we do. (1) because we can & (2) to help bring attention & donations to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society…these things will help lead to a cure!

My Sunday would start at 4am. While this seems extreme, unfortunately, this is not out of the ordinary. I need at least an hour to get myself dressed, fed & prepared. We met in the parking lot at 5:15 am to load up the bikes & head over to the start. While the actual ride was 100 miles, we had 120 miles to get in. So we headed over early to get in what we could before the 8:00 start. The morning started off so cool. I even wore a long sleeve shirt for the first “extra” miles. Oh how this would change!

I made the assumption that the temperatures would be nice, maybe a little cool. We were in the mountains after all. Um, highs in the 90s with 90% humidity…I was wrong. It definitely made the day more of a challenge.

I didn’t know what to expect as far as mountain size. I have been preparing myself for the Ironman, where I do expect to climb mountains. During my training I spent a weekend in Wintergreen where I climbed big mountains. Well big mountains for Virginia. I was & still am hoping those mountains prepared me for what I’ll face. Fletcher has 4044 feet of climbing. That’s much more than what I’ve faced during my training rides in Goochland, Henrico, Hanover, Louisa & Caroline (yes when cycling for 60-100 miles on the weekend for training you pretty much cover all the local counties!).

I was pleasantly surprised with the hills. They were not easy but I felt well prepared (I do expect the Ironman to be worse). There were some down hills…some really fun down hills. Unfortunately many of them had a stop sign at the bottom. With no one there to stop traffic this meant that I had to slow down & stop. Boo! This took away from the fun of a fast decent. I think my max speed was just over 35 miles per hour. WEE!!

While I started off the ride with several of my friends & teammates I knew I needed to slow down & ride my own ride. Thankfully my friend Amy felt the same way. We rode together the entire day & had a blast. There were several aid stations along the course. We opted to skip the first 2 & stop at the third around mile 60. We ran into teammates, did some catching up & then we were off. Around mile 80 we stopped again. The aid station was fabulous! Not only did they have a misting tent, they had a margarita machine. No they were serving up frozen margaritas…even better…frozen Gatorade! It was so tasty & refreshing I had 3!! Did I mention how hot it was? We were baking. Amy made several references to feeling like she was in an easy bake oven. I thought possibly hell. At some point we thought we might try to summons the wind. Amy who must know a thing or two about summonsing the elements, convinced me that we must blow through pursed lips “whoooooshhhhhh”. She even convinced 4 men passing by to join us. “Whoooooshhhhhhhh” we all did for several minutes. Guess what…it worked! At some point the wind kicked up & it was much welcomed!

I think it was somewhere between miles 80 & 90 that I started to ask questions….“Do I like racing? Do I want to do an Ironman? Do I like riding a bicycle?” Amy assured me that the answers were yes. I guess that was my only low point & thankfully it didn’t last very long.

It was somewhere during this stretch we started to think about what would follow our 120 mile ride. For us that would be a 1 hour brick run….1 hour. I wasn’t so worried about my legs I was worried about the heat. So we started summonsing the elements again…this time rain. Once again, Amy knew just what to do…we needed to chatter our teeth! We repeated this over & over again. Sadly, it did not work. We did not get any rain. We did however get clouds & they were the next best thing.

We continued on, sometimes turning around to double back, sometimes taking side trips through neighborhoods. We were under strict orders from our coach to make sure we got in 120 miles. So 120 miles later we found ourselves pulling into the finish. Hooray!!

We transitioned from the bike to run, changing our clothes & filing up our water bottles. After several minutes we knew we had to start the run. 1 hour. The thing about running for a set time is that going faster doesn’t do you any good. We decided to run slow & add in some walk breaks. I asked Amy if we had to run for the entire hour & she said very simply “yes”. Uggg! Thankfully we found some trails with shade. They made the run bearable. Before we knew it our time was over & were finally able to stop. Hooray! We were able to see Amanda finish. There we were the three musketeers…the three triple crowners!

Instead of an ice bath Amy & I decided to cool down in the pool. It was lovely. Unfortunately, Amanda was getting in her run on the hotel treadmill...which overlooked the pool. I’m sure it was torture!

After a great dinner it was time for bed. The thing about doing 1 activity for so long is that your body doesn’t always realize when it’s over. As I laid in bed trying to sleep my body felt like it was still cycling…I felt like I was still moving. It took me far too long to fall asleep & morning came all too early.

Some post ride, pre Ironman thoughts:

Hills…I still expect the Ironman to be hillier. However, this gave me some much needed confidence…I can climb hills & I will be ok.

Speed…I don’t think I’ll go any faster during the Ironman. This worries me as there are time cutoffs for all legs. I am going to try my best not to worry about this but so much. I’ll do my best on June 26th & hope it’s enough.

Lucky clothes…athletes can be superstitions. We’ve all heard about the professional athletes who won’t shave before a race or insist on wearing the same stinky socks. Michael Jordan wore his old UNC shorts under his Bulls uniform. Serena Williams will bounce the ball five times before her first serve and twice before her second. Superstition. As silly as it sounds, we athletes can be superstitious. As I plan for my trip to Idaho for the Ironman I find myself thinking about everything I did before & during my last great race. If I had a great race shouldn’t I try to recreate what I can? If I recreate, won’t I be guaranteed another great race?

For me, my red compression sleeves & black Pearl Izumi triathlon shorts are the “lucky” clothes. My tri shorts may have been lucky in the past but not that day. They rubbed me wrong & caused some chaffing. Does this make them my unlucky shorts? The compression sleeves that I wore – not the red ones but the black ones – didn’t serve me. My legs were swollen & hot. I had a terrible heat rash. I should have stuck with the “lucky” red ones (I didn’t wear them during the ride because they clashed with my purple & green TNT jersey)! Do I need something extra for the Ironman…should I carry something new, borrowed, old & blue?

Team in Training…I am so proud to have taken part in another TNT event. There were 125 TNT participants & together we raised over $306,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I am so thankful for everyone who has helped me in my fundraising efforts. If you haven’t yet contributed, it’s not too late!

Remember, together we can help find a cure for cancer! Won’t that be a day to celebrate!!

March 27th...

First, thank you so much to those who have made a donation to LLS. Your donation will go to help fund cancer research & help families dealing with the terrible diagnose of cancer of the blood. Families like mine…patients like Emma. Again, thank you!!

Last weekend I headed down to Virginia Beach for the Shamrock 8k & half marathon. My coach gave me strict orders to run the 8k easy keeping in mind that the half marathon was my real race. I followed orders & ran the 8k slow. I was rewarded with a great half marathon the next day. I was able to get a PR (personal record) by about 4-minutes! I ended up running it in 2 hours & 10 minutes. I was very pleased! Not only was the race awesome but I felt great. I had a blast at the after party, on the beach dancing with friends. Twas a great day!

I wanted to take a minute to update you on my training. Like most people, I am happy that the weekend is here. I mentioned this to a co-worker when she pointed out that I’ll spend all weekend working out. So true. Here’s my workout schedule for this last week:

Monday:

The day I most look forward to…I get to REST!

Tuesday:

6 AM biked at EF on the trainer. Because I raced the Shamrock half marathon Coach Michael took it easy on me. Still a good workout with a hard 20-minute brick run that included 5 x 30 second striders.

Wednesday:

6 AM swim with a main set of 6 x 150 fast. Didn’t keep track of the total meters.

Thursday:

6 PM had to do my run on the treadmill. Had a 10-minute warm up followed by 3 x 1-mile at a sub 10-minute pace. Followed that by teaching a yoga class!

Friday:

6:30 AM swim that included a main set of 15 x 100 at max pace. Ended up getting in 2500 yards total. Boy was a hard workout!

Saturday:

7 AM started my bike. Ended up getting in somewhere between 87 & 89 miles on a very hilly route (3-sisters, Shallow Well & Miller Lane). Had a 3-mile brick run at a 10-minute per mile pace.

Sunday:

8 AM started my 16-mile run. This was hard. My legs are tired! I managed to get in all 16 at about at 10:30 pace.

So I’ve finished my workouts for the week, have done most of the laundry & cleaned one room in my house. My knees & hip flexors are SORE! I had to stop on the way home for a bag of ice, which I let Emma dump on me while I sat in a bathtub filled with cold water. I think this was the highlight of her day. She was so happy to pour ice on me while I screamed loudly! This should help my muscles recover. I’m hoping to wake up tomorrow feeling like new (I know that’s a long shot, but a girl’s got to have hope!).

So that’s a typical week for me. This coming week I get to race the Monument 10k. This is the one race everyone in Richmond does. Every year I aim to run it in under an hour. Every year I fail (well one year I made it in 59-minutes). This year is no different. I am hopeful that this is the year of PRs for me!

As you move through your week, think about me. Know that I’m probably out there somewhere working my butt off! Know that I’m doing this to bring attention & donation to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Know that every donation, no matter how small is put to good use. Know that you are helping The Society move towards their goal, finding a cure for blood cancers.

I appreciate your time, thoughts & donations.

2011 is a big year. On February 14th we not only celebrate Valentine’s Day, but we also celebrate Emma’s 10-year anniversary. 10-years off treatment & in remission! On that horrible day in 1999 when she was diagnosed with leukemia, I dared to dream that she would survive chemo & beat cancer. My wildest dreams paled in comparison to our reality. I never dreamed she’d be doing so well & living such a normal life.

To celebrate Emma’s life, I’ve decided to go big in 2011.

First, with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's "Team In Training" I am going to cycle 100-miles on by bike through the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. By doing this, I will earn my "triple crown," which is awarded to those who have completed a marathon, a triathlon and a century ride with Team in Training.

After that, I'm going longer still. I will be racing in an Ironman triathlon, covering a total distance of 140.6 miles, including a 2.4 swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile marathon run.

Like I said, go big or go home!

All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am completing these events in honor of Emma and in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission. You can do so by using the buttons on this site!

I hope you will visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!