6 months to Race Day. IRONMAN COZUMEL. IMCZ bound!

I'm staying up late tonight.  As I look at my clock, it's past midnight, officially June 1st.  And in 6 short months, my 31st birthday, I should be sound asleep in a hotel TBA...trying to fight off pre race jitters, nightmares, and dreams.  In 6 months, I will wake up...

On IRONMAN day.

The thought at this point is mildly terrifying.  Electrifying.  And almost dreamlike.

Ironman Cozumel Swim Course

Dreamlike, right?  I've never seen such crystal clear, blue, clear water.  But I'm doubtful of the calmness that this picture portrays.  For I know that even though I've chosen a race with the #2 ranked swim on the entire Ironman circuit, it is unlikely to be the "lamb" of a course, that is shown above.

IRONMAN COZUMEL.

First things first, if you know me personally, you know my husband just finished his first IM.  He trained diligently, consistently, and super-humanly for 10 months while enduring a grueling work schedule that included 24hour-7day duty weeks, and anything but typical hours.  Let's be honest.  I work IN the fitness industry.  I workout FOR A LIVING...so the training aspect, for me, should be an easier road.  I have more time.  For us, Kris' IMTX journey was a labor of love.  A lot of his time was spent before or after work.  My focus is to get in my training while he is at work, so that the work is done by the time the evening hours come.  I'm lucky.  He was not.  His road was a balancing act of epic proportions.  Mine will be a test of time management, and sacrificing my down time for training time, week after week.  

My husband completed literally the toughest Ironman around 2 weeks ago.  The week leading up to it, I was racked with anxiety.  My training partners and clients can tell you.  M-W that week, I showed up at 6am, wide eyed and tired.  Spouting "I'm just ready for this to be over."  I had a bad sinus infection I was hell bent on not bestowing on the soon to be Ironman, and I wasn't sleeping. He was, I was not.  Which is good...since he was the one racing.  God has a strange way of working.  Kristofor didn't get sick.  Even though he was sleeping next to a fever riddled, sniffly, coughy, sneezy, mess of a wife.  I prayed nightly that it wouldn't hit him, and it didn't.  

As we packed up the car on Thursday morning to leave, I knew we would return differently.  The Ironman journey for us, had changed our dynamic.  We had so gotten used to the day in day out goings of planning for a race of this magnitude.  It sounds selfish.  But my client/friend/Dr. Claudia can agree.  The weeks leading up to the race, we were as much doing the race as our husbands were.  You see, this is a very selfish goal.  It is.  The time, the emotional trials, it takes a lot.  Gives a lot in the end, but takes a lot for the duration.  IMTX for us, for me, felt like my race.  

When I watched my husband enter the swim start on May 18th, I cried.  I hung close to our best friend Mark, who in his bewildered amazement, didn't really realize the gravity of what this event meant.  He was taking it all in for the first time.  I was experiencing, the culmination of almost a year's worth of work.  I told myself that I'd watch the swim, watch him through T1, then go back to the condo and rest before the run.  Yeah RIGHT.  No sooner than breakfast and Lulu expedition completed, I was ready to find my husband on the bike course to make sure he was OK.  

Mark and I spent over 3 hours trying to track Kristofor down.  We ran into road blocks all over the Woodlands and Montgomery County.  Race related back ups.  We never saw him.  I was sitting at mile 90 when I looked on my phone to see he had finished the bike course.  And he was almost 9 miles into the run before I got to the course through all the traffic to see him struggling.

Hot, Not happy Hubby at mile 9.

When I called my Mother in Law after I saw him, my report was not as upbeat as I had hoped.  He was hot, grumpy, and walking.  He didn't want to talk.  He didn't want me to cheer, he just wanted to get away.  I tried not to let it hurt my feelings.  Robin said he was "acting like he is in labor" and to forget anything he said because he isn't thinking straight.  I can't express how hot it was.  I was standing and was covered in sweat.  I was dehydrated, and I wasn't racing.  It was pure awful.  I watched so many people struggle.  I have never seen so many people trudge forward with such a look of "oh my gosh I want to pass out right here" attitude.  Brutal.  Except for my friend Javier....who was the quintessential HAPPIEST IRONMAN TO BE ON EARTH.  He passed us smiling from ear to ear every time.  That made me cry.  I was worried for my husband, but I cried to see his friend so happy to be on the course.  

As I was watching across the lake, I saw Kristofor come around for the 2nd lap.  Mile 13ish.  I followed him along the lake.  He saw me, he pointed, I pointed back.  I followed him, across the lake, step for step, until he went to the outer loop.  And I waited for him at mile 17.  When he emerged around the corner, I told him to pick up his feet and run.  It was cooler now.  He had eaten a bit.  He and I chatted, and I can't remember what about.  Then Mark saw us, and he gave him the most colorful pep talk ever.  Like an Army General yelling at a troop.  Whatever he said made Kristofor pick up his feet, and for the first time, I saw him run.  Not trot.  Not walk.  But run.  

When we caught up to our group, Jun!  JUN!  Was there (thank GOD!), I was so excited to see that man, the IRONMAN himself.  He said Kristofor had run by and looked strong.  We headed to the finish line.  Even though we knew it would be a while, the anticipation of the finish had begun.

I will say this.  I love a finish line.  There is no purer place in the world than a finish line of a race.  Any race.  That's why the Boston Tragedy hit me so hard.  I love the finish.  Who dares mess with that.  The  Ironman finish was so much greater than I had ever experienced.  Electric.  Cheesy, but the God's were at that place.  It was so pure, so happy, so giving to the athletes, so emotional, so perfect.  Nothing I've ever experienced compared to that finish line.  

As my phone battery dwindled, I tried my best to keep family and friends up to date with Kristofor's ETA.  When I saw him, I was surprised I didn't cry.  I couldn't.  I was too happy to cry.  Tears in any form would have been too much.  I just screamed.  Yelled so loud.  And when he crossed, I couldn't wait to get to him.  Mark and I weaved our way through the crowds, and greeted our Ironman not 5 minutes after his finish.

IRONMAN!

Mark, IRONMAN, Me!

Naturally, after 14 plus hours, Kristofor was ready to get home.  He couldn't wait to watch the others, he needed to change and eat NOW.  He was hurting a bit.  Thank goodness for my friend, Stefanie, she drove Mark to our car parked in BFE and allowed Kristofor the curbside service he needed.  I ran into the HEB to buy the last minute supplies for the feast we were about to cook. 

The ride back to Lake Conroe was short.  Mark and I started on the post Ironman feast while Kristofor winded down, and by the end of the night, the Vazquez's had joined us with IRONMAN Javier, and we all ate a large fajita fiesta and were ready to call it a night.  22 hour day done.  Yes  22 hours.  No nap.

Kristofor had a fever.  I know I shouldn't have worried with a Dr. sleeping right above us, but I did.  He slept fitfully, but woke in the morning ready to eat and move around.  Same for Javier, they woke up early, and hungry.  We ate Cheesecake Factory 2x on Sunday.  Special, I know.  Ironman gets what an Ironman wants!  We took Mark to the airport and headed to our hotel in Katy for the last night.  His Ironman journey was coming to a close.  We passed out cold that night.  Ironman weekend almost....DONE.

So here's the thing.  A few weeks before IMTX, I found my needle in a haystack.  For a year, I'd been searching for a triathlon bike.  I've never been comfortable on my road bike.  Even after I got a good fit.  It wasn't for me.  I had never stopped searching.  The week before we left for the Woodlands.  I found my bike.  I found my needle.  And after some prompting, I schedule an appointment with Tad Hughes Bike Fit Studio in Houston, for the Monday after Kristofor's race.  So we had carted my bike up so that I could get some work done.

I can't stress enough how much doing that fit did for me.  It made me a believer.  A believer that I could do what I've wanted to do since Kristofor pressed the "go" button on Ironman last year.  Tad fit me to my bike.  He is a genius.  He told me that it not only fit me, but he changed my shoes, my pedals, my aero bars, everything so that it helped my pronating right foot, and evened me out so I was finally comfortable.  He even, with just looking at me stretch, was able to tell me how I sleep.  And he was dead on.  I was amazed.  I learned a lot about my ability in that 2 hour session.  And I came home and rode 35 miles.  IMMEDIATELY.  Comfortably.

I spend a lot of time here, now.

Yes, my bike is super miniature.  Yes, it looks like an American Girl's bike.  But it fits me like a glove.  And that is all I wanted.  And I love it.  I've logged 200 miles since we got home.  A start of a long road.  And like I promised myself...

I signed up for my Ironman once my bikefit was done.  It was my last puzzle piece.  

Kristofor has talked about our "bucket list" of things we want to do before we "settle down." For me, Ironman has been one of those things.  Now don't get ahead of yourself (Mom.....)....but finally getting to do what I've wanted to do makes me feel like I'm finally "sowing my oats."  My oats just happen to be large endurance races.  

I very begrudgingly dropped out of my bikini competition a couple of months ago.  Hard decision.  Renea told me, what I knew in my heart.  I wouldn't forgive myself if I injured myself doing something that wasn't what I really wanted to do more than anything.  And although I love fitness competition and what that training brought to me, my "more than anything" has been Ironman...for a while.  In the same way that Marathon was to me 3 years ago.  I want that challenge.  I need it.  I want to push my mental and physical limit past something that I know I can't just "go out and do for fun."  I am going to have to work my ass off in the next 6 months.  I know it.  I feel it.  I am ready for it.  

Since March, I feel like I've really set up myself to go into this well.  I have lost a total of 8.6 lbs of fat off my body.  I have gained 5lbs of muscle.  I am stronger than I have ever been.  I am leaner.  My running times have improved (from what little running I have done...), and while cycling, I don't feel as fatigued.  I have been able to transition from bike to run easier than last year.  And my first litmus test will be a Duathlon next weekend.

I plan to do an Olympic tri, a half iron, and a half marathon before I head to IMCZ.  I am getting a swim coach.  I have a training plan and a group that I've joined online for help and support.  I'm doing yoga 2-3x a week.  And I plan to do a lot of open water swimming in Maine on our vacay in 3 weeks.  I'm optimistic.

Watching my husband complete his amazing Ironman race inspired me.  Living the training with him for 10 months taught me how it gets done, and inspired me.  Pretty much, watching him from the beginning made me want to play monkey see monkey do, and go out and power through 140.6 miles.  So that's what I'm going to do.  After 6 month of hard work.

I have the biggest cheering section around.  Bod Squad.  When I told them I was going to do IMCZ, I was met with hugs and huge smiles and plans to come watch.  My sisters (co-workers) are 100% on my side.  In the same way that I've watched and cheered them and will cheer them onto their stage on July 13th, they will cheer me to my start line December 1st.  

BUT, I know that 6 months from today, anything can happen.  And I know that between now and then, a whole lot is going to go wrong, frustrate, and annoy me.  I plan to draw on the strengths of my girls that I train every day for inspiration.  If they can succeed with busy schedules and kids and crazy lives, then I can do this.  If they can devote themselves, then I can devote myself.  If I can watch my Bod Squad teammates go through 16+ weeks of competition prep, then I can do 6 months of this with them by my side.  

I am immensely lucky.  No matter what happens in the next few months, I will be grateful, even when I'm grumpy, happy even when I'm horrifically tired.  And I will be steadfast in my goal to finish, even when Pendleton Pool smells bad, it's 800 degrees outside with a 20 mph head wind and I don't want to ride my bike, and even when I  get stung by bees (which happened last week...so...I'm already good...).

I'm changing this blog to the little Ironman that could.  Maybe...eventually.

Thanks for cheering me on!

Lacy

Rejuvenated.

Allllllright.  No more doom and gloom.  I feel like my last blog was super somber and sadd-ish.  So I'm checking in this week (that's almost 3 weeks in a row!) to give some good news and happy thoughts about what went on this week!

First off, I want to give a special shout out and high five to two of my competition training prep partners.  Yes, I still consider them my partners because honestly, I still am mentally in the game of contest prep on some levels, and I see them work day in and day out.  And I figure right now, if I can't be getting ready to strut my booty on a stage wearing a wicked dark spray tan...I can be their biggest cheerleader along the way.  SOOOOOO....Irma and Sandra.  Seriously, you two impressed the bejeezus out of me this week.  Irma, you are strong and focused.  I see so much in you that I wish I had in myself.  I love your commitment, I love your drive, and I love that you are stepping out of your box. You are going to be the most amazing figure competitor in my eyes on July 13th.  I will scream so loud I won't have a voice!  SANDRA!  Woman you are changing by the day.  I don't know how you do it.  With your job, your kids, you amaze me.  I couldn't do it.  I would be exhausted.  But you do it, day in day out, and you always smile.  I have never ONCE heard you complain, ever.  You take it all with such passion and positivity.  I admire that so much.  I am so in awe of you!  Ladies, training for Adela and Branch Warren...you are kicking ass and taking names.  You have the BEST trainer ever, Renea, and she should be so proud of the work that all of you are doing.  I know she is.  And Renea...you are like my idol.  Thank you for always pushing us!

So then there's me.  Like I said above AND last week.  I am NOT going to be able to step on stage this summer.  My knee is better, much better this week.  But I'm still baby-ing my leg workouts and modifying and keeping my cardio to things that don't put as much strain on my knee while I'm letting it heal up.  I'm icing 3-4x a day, taping, and overall, I feel about 90%.  Which I am very thankful for.  And I'm stretching.  I plan to do yoga tomorrow too.  Still, I'm steadfast in the goal I had originally set for myself back in late February.  I wanted to be in the absolute best shape of my life by my Summer vacay.  I've been on track pretty much so so as far as food goes. I've definitely had my moments.  But I have more good moments than bad, so I'm pleased with that!  And I still plan to do my photo shoot like I had wanted to from the start!  So I best be getting my booty in gear!  I haven't "weighed in" since I quit prep, but I plan to next week...and I think I may have actually put on a little bit more muscle (fingers crossed....) since I switch to doing the figure girls workouts last week.  So close your eyes or stop reading now if you don't want to see...but here is my latest progress pic.....

I'm pretty happy that I haven't fallen off the wagon and been inhaling large pizzas, bowls of pasta, and cheeseburgers by the truck load.  I haven't even touched a cookie...well, maybe like one...but I've stuck to it pretty well.  I haven't had anyone take pictures of my legs or back...probably need to...I'm not the best at selfies(???).  And usually I am half asleep at 5:30 am when I snap these.  Enough of this...

Let's talk about TRIATHLON!  WHOOOOHOOOO!  Alright so, I plan to start training for a Half Ironman this Summer, hope to do another couple of Olympic Distances as well.  And I'm putting the hard core press on my friend Kelly to join me.  She really has no choice in the matter at this point.  I'm probably going to drag her by her hair with me.  She is like the Sprint triathlon queen.  And I'm determined to make her get out of her comfort zone and go the distance with me!  Also, I think I have gotten my friend Gina bit with the bug a bit as well.  Gina is my rockstar runner that has been with me since Day 1 of the running team, and I love that she has taken on the challenge of multisport now!  My VERY first runner has done her first mini tri, and ALSO my VERY FIRST training client ever, Delia is about to do her first sprint tri at the Spa Girl in a couple of weeks.  These ladies are AMAZINNNNGGG!  They do inspire, for sure.  And I love that.  I am so proud of them!

Kelly and Gina after finishing their Tri's in Brownsville

Gina and I after her first Triathlon!

Kristofor and I both are hot on the tails of many of our girls to start trying out Duathlons and Tri's this summer.  In fact...we are going for a ride this Sunday, and even my client in her 60's, Shirley, has agreed to join us!  I am in no way anywhere close to ready to "coach" people on how to do this stuff.  BUT the more friends I have doing it, the more motivated I am.  So the more the merrier.  I'll leave all the technical stuff to Mr. 15 days away from Ironman himself.  Let's be honest...I can't even change a tire on my bike yet.  Or a car for that matter.  

I did attempt to purchase a new bike last week.  Sadly...dun dun dun...my midget size frame strikes again.  I didn't reach the pedals comfortably...so I didn't come home with a new bike.  BUT I did get a much better fit on my existing one (Thanks Wally's Bicycles!).  And I hope that I can learn to like it a little bit more before I start diving into riding it for hours and hours.  I'm still hopeful that I can find a triathlon bike that will fit someone the size of a 4th grader...but until then, my Jamis will have to do.  HEY!  At least I have a bike!

And now on to my absolute favorite thing on the entire planet right now...our new beginner 5k/10k Bod Squad Run Team!  We started practice this week.  We have 43! new runners (a couple return runners too)...and we actually had more interest than we could take this session.  We try our best to keep our group small enough where it's still personal, so its hard to put a limit on it, but I know that is what is best for the ladies.  Hopefully we will have another session in the late Summer where we can take more.

This group is truly special.  I could feel it at practice on Tuesday.  As we ran our first mile, I was touched when all my girls cheered every single runner in.  I love when you guys cheer for each other.  It makes it so worthwhile.  We ARE a TEAM.  So cheering each other on is an absolute must, and they did it without even having to ask!  Awesome!  We have a new coach with us this session, my client Jody.  Jody is a rockstar, and one of my most consistent trainees and runners!  She has such a kind sweet heart, and I know her 5k team is so lucky to have her.  She is going to do an amazing job.  Our other Coach Amy is always 100% the most organized and "put together" coach.  She brings together all of my crazy antics and ideas so the team runs smoothly.  She is the brains behind the operation.  I'm just the super loud crazy lady that yells real loud and talks about stuff that no one wants to talk about :).  We are all training for the FOOTWORKS 2nd anniversary run...

The Valley is so lucky to have this store.  They literally have pushed this running community onto a whole new level!  So we are excited to run this race, celebrate their business, and Bod Squad is sponsoring it!  Thank you Footworks for all you do!

Bod Squad Spring/Summer Team!

There's our ladies!  As a coach, I couldn't be prouder.  As a person, I actually couldn't feel more blessed to be in the place where I'm at.  I absolutely adore my job.  I am in love with the people I work with every day.  They make me a better me in so many ways I can't even count.  This week, I felt like I was full of energy.  After feeling lackadaisical and tired last week, I can say I woke up this past Monday feeling rejuvenated and ready for things to come!  

I'm staring a 7 week challenge for my training client this coming Monday.  It's going to be a challenge for me too.  I'll be participating, which mean 100% back on my food and plan. And I'll be spending the weekend making their plans too.  I can't wait to show you their progress.  I know they are going to knock my Mizuno's off...because my girls are simply the best!  So stay tuned to see what's in store for the next few weeks.

Next post will probably be about....IRONMAN TEXAS!  2 weeks out!  Kris has been training his butt off...excited to see the fruits of all his hard work!  

Thanks for cheering US on!

Lacy