Journey to IRONMAN: 3 Weeks: The Bike

Well folks, here we are again.  This time with only 3 weeks left until the big Half IRONMAN day.  I successfully finished my final BIG week of training and am now in that glorious time of taper and rest.  After my de-railer incident, my poor bike had to be in the shop until last Tuesday. I had seriously begun to wonder if I was ever going to successfully beat my 60 mile goal before IRONMAN.  Thank the Lord though, I did it!  Logging over 100 miles on the bike last week felt amazing.  

Its really funny, tell anyone that you are doing an IRONMAN and right after the "I don't know how you do it,"  you always get the "I could never do the swim!"  I'm telling you, the swim has got people scared to death.  Doesn't matter that it is the shortest distance you have to go and that to accomplish the 1.2 miles will only take about 45 minutes.  The swim is the fear factor of nearly 95% of people I have encountered.  That's funny to me because, um hello? The biking is 56 miles (112 in a full) and will take a whopping 3.5 hours to complete if I am feeling good, and if the bike stays in good shape and if I fuel right.  The cycling portion of the IRONMAN is where my race either happens or doesn't.  I can run 13.1 miles in my sleep.  Even tired I can do it.  But the bike......thats the fear factor.  It's so big and covers so much distance.

The map seems fairly undaunting, but its big.  Now don't worry, I have it.  I can do it.  I know without doubt that I can, but I am acutely aware of the scope of the cycling part of this race.  Boulder sits in the foothills which means that the elevation will be above 5000 feet and its mountainous.  Below is the elevation map for the ride.  There are hills.  Not big gut wrenching climbs, but enough climbing to create a challenge for energy conservation.  I've got it.  Don't worry.  But again.....Its BIG.  

My goal is to complete my race in 6:30.  Yes, that's 6 hours and 30 minutes.  It will be the longest I have EVER consecutively raced.  My bike will easily take up more than 1/2 of that time.  It's a good thing Lady Trek is in better shape than she's ever been in!

I've got it.......Don't worry!

I'm Amazing

I headed out yesterday on my 2nd attempt to conquer 60 miles.  I was riding with a girlfriend of mine that I just met  a while ago.  About a quarter of the way through the ride she came up behind me and said, "Man, you are a rockstar, you're amazing."  I said thanks and humbly brushed it aside.  It's not the first time I have heard it.  My husband is the most supportive man I know.  I hear daily especially during this IRONMAN training time that I am amazing.  With every utterance of it I tend to brush it aside.  Not in an arrogant way, but more in a "no I'm really not kind of way."  I don't see myself as amazing.  Driven, yes.  Strong, yes. A wee bit crazy, yep, but AMAZING?...........not really.  There are far superior beings that have done amazing and world changing things.  I'm just me doing my thing.  Conquering my 60.  How natural it is to be self deprecating.

Well, it happened this week, a conversation that was pivotal, eye opening and life changing.  My Lily has had a hard few months.  There has been so much change, she has been asked to leave friends and make friends, move in with her sister, start a new school, take a hiatus from her beloved swim lessons and a host of other changes, like adjust to a new Mac n Cheese when the store was out of her favorite.  For some, those things are easy to brush off, but not for Lily.  And lets face it, getting her to be able to communicate the why's for her behavior is tough...she's 4.  But this week was different.

We had had a rough morning.  One of those mornings where nothing was working right and she just couldn't get on task at all.  She was frustrated.....I was frustrated.  So we got in the car headed towards the zoo and I asked her like I always do, "Lily, what's going on honey?  Is something bothering you?" She waited and then the floodgates opened, "Mommy, you are better than me at everything, I can't ever remember to do things right, I don't eat my dinner, I don't know how to cook.  You are so fast in the pool and you can ride your bike bigger than me.  I don't know how to make my bed and I always get angry.  I miss my friends and I miss our rec center.  When will I be big like you and know how to do stuff?"

I have to admit I smiled a little bit.  Haven't we all been there.

It's different being a girl though.  Its hard out there and our culture and sinful world are constantly berating our ladies and bringing to light "inadequacies."  Everything in our world tends to scream at us "you are not enough!" "Be better, be brighter, be thinner, be prettier, be smarter!"  "You are not enough, be AMAZING!"

We learn at a very early age to take a compliment and brush it to the side. We learn to be self deprecating.  We learn to look at ourselves through glasses half empty instead of glasses half full.

I turned to Lily with new eyes and told her that she was amazing, not because of what she could do, but because she, Lily Grace, is amazing!  I told her that I wouldn't want her to be anyone else, because she's Lily and the perfect person to be her.  I told her that she is going to do great things, not because there is some standard to meet, but because she just is.  Amazing is baked right into her.

And then I realized something, I'm amazing too.  I am.  And instead of brushing that compliment to the side or downplaying it, I'm going to start embracing it and seeing myself through glasses half full.  I'm amazing because I am a child of God.  I am amazing because I can do great things.  I am amazing because I won't quit.  I am amazing because I am me, Bethany Longmire, and no one can be me better.

I am Amazing......

and in case no one has said it.......You are too!

My Mother, My Day

I know, I know we are nearing almost two weeks post Mother's Day.  I had every intention of writing a blog on Mother's Day and then the Day after......and well, you get it.  Life happened.  It's busy around here. 

I love my girls.  This picture below is one of those poignant moments that just make you smile.  I am such a blessed woman to have these two little ones who call me Mommy.

Lily's class had a special Mother's Day tea this month and it was seriously the best 20 minutes ever.  Lily made a special card for me and then answered a whole bunch of questions about me.  In case you wondered, I weigh 51 pounds and am 62 feet tall.  My favorite vegetable is brocoli and my favorite things to do are clean and make Mac n Cheese.  I love this girl.

I was so super proud of her because her class sang us all a song and she was one of the only ones who actually new the motions and sang the entire song.  She even did a little bow at the end.  I wanted to jump up and shout, "That's my girl!" but settled for a big snuggle from my favorite little preschooler.

While Memaw was here we spent a lot of time at the park.  Lily and Evie both have little tricycles and Lily is starting to feel comfortable enough to ride her bike to the playground.  She got tired at one point so I took over.

Bob even tried too.  Let me just say....that is a surefire way to injure something.  

We had such a fun time and Evie just loved swinging with Memaw.  Evie just loves her Memaw.  They sat on that swing for like 10 minutes singing and loving on each other.

Lily and I on the other hand tackled a rousing game of Twister.  The week was filled with games and fun, movies and snuggles with Memaw and Mommy.  Memaw and I even took Lily back to see Cinderella in the Movie Theatre.  This little girl is so like me....she loves her some movies!

I love my Mommy role.  Its not always glory, but nothing ever is.  It is the most important thing I will ever do with my life and I am so honored that two little blond haired blue eyed girlies call me Mom.  

Journey to IRONMAN: 4 Weeks: The Swim

Well, here we are, 4 weeks to go!  My nerves are starting to zing every time I think about the fact that I am actually going to do it! 

Last week was what I am going to call the "week of unmotivation."  Man it was a doozy.  Now, in my defense, my bike was out of commission, that time of the month came, my youngest ran a 102 fever for 3 days and my oldest contracted pink eye. Talk about life's demotivating factors.  For the entire week all I really wanted to do was sit down, eat chocolate in my yoga pants, sleep and or cry. I ran because that's what I do, but swimming?  Dude you couldn't put a swimsuit within a mile of me.  You know....just not my week.

My bike is still in the shop, but instead of stressing about it, I woke up this morning and decided its time to start getting amped up for the race.  I'm trained.  If ever there was a case for not waiting until the last minute to train, it would be mine.  I'm going to miss 2 weeks of bike training, but that's okay......I'm there.

I got on the race site this morning to find some new motivation and saw my name on the participant list.  I got chills when I saw it.  There it is guys my name on an IRONMAN 70.3 roster.  I am giddy with anticipation and seeing my name was just what I needed to go out and put 6.5 miles down this morning.

I have been studying up on my events for the IRONMAN 70.3 and today I'm gonna talk about the swim portion of the race.  Most people are terrified about the swim and for me, it is the event that excites me the most.  Its challenging, scary and is the event that starts it all.  The swim will take me about 45 minutes (if I can swim in a relatively straight line-harder than it sounds), and it is done in the Boulder Reservoir.

I will start with my age group around 8AM on Saturday June 13th.  The swim starts are done in waves so that you are only doing water battle with a few hundred people and not 1000.  You get kicked and hit, you swallow water and loose your breath.  It's chaotic and challenging, mixed in with scary (you can't see anything underwater) and exhilarating.  

It's an open water swim and I will be wearing a full body wetsuit.  The temperature of the water is usually north of 68 and south of 74.  Perfect temperatures if I do say so myself.  Me and my wave will wade out from the beach and go at the cannon.  You can see based on the map that it is a clockwise course and my goal is to stay to the left of the buoys.  Again, my time will be completely predicated on whether or not I can swim in a straight line.  Open water swimming is all about learning how to "site" while swimming and keep your momentum going while you navigate your course.  It's challenging.  Add to it the cold water that can take your breath away and the murky water that is mysteriously creepy and you have yourself the IRONMAN 70.3 swim.

If your heart is racing a little right now.....that's normal.  The water can be scary.  I have trained my mind as much as my body to swim in open water and I am EXCITED to conquer this course.  

It's Happening Too Fast

Life....Lordy....its simply happening too fast these days.  I am so behind in my blogging.  I have so many to do and I am determined to catch up this week.  I sometimes find with blogging that if I am behind and try to stay in chronological order I will just continue to be behind so I am going to stop right here and talk about today.

We got to have lunch with the Wincups!  Oh it was so wonderful to see Traci, Tyler and Audrey again.  Audrey is getting so big and Evie and her were just about the exact size.  It really is so much fun to see Traci in full fledged mother mode with a strong and spirited little lady to chase after.

Our conversation today was broken up at best, but it happened and it was so wonderful to spend some time with them.  Lily was such a big kid today and she kept track of Evie and Audrey.  There was even a moment when they three of them were playing ring around the rosie......so cute.

Last week was kind of a rough one for me (more on that in one of my other blogs to come), and I was so blessed to be able to finish the week around this family.  I am so blessed to know Traci and Tyler.  They are lifelong friends and I am simply elated tonight that no matter how many hours and states separate us, we will always find our way back to each other.  Even if it was a brief hour and a half over lunch with three kids running around.  How Good God is!

My Evie Bee is Twenty Three!

It's here.  The reality that my wee little Bee is a mere month away from being a 2 year old.  I stopped yesterday after celebrating Mother's Day and nearly panicked.  It's going to be the 11th of May!  Where, oh Where does the time go.  This past month has been busy with settling in and trying to find our place out here in the desert and I am sitting here just wondering, where in the world do the days go?

Evie has entered full fledged toddlerhood in all of its boundary testing glory.  The poor dear is in a constant battle with herself and her mother attempting to establish really and truly where the line is.  She, much like her sister, is so very strong, confident, determined and goal oriented.  I love my strong girls, but it makes this time of testing rules exhausting and sometimes frustrating.  Evie has drawn on several walls this past month as well as herself and she is still wildly assertive in her "no" usage.  She is still the most polite little 2 year old with her "No Kank Yous" and "Peas."

The Bee is our early riser and I usually just barely make it out of the door for may early morning training sessions before she is up and wanting to party.  She likes the early morning hours and I cannot tell you how precious it is to come in from my bike ride, run or swim to a happy Evie squealing, "Mommy! Ride Bike?"  or "Mommy! Running?"  of "Mommy! Simming??"  In all my smelly I just can't help but snuggle her tight.  Even if she sometimes turns away from me with a "Pee-u! Mommy."

This month we got muddy!  I went to the store and bought the girls water balloons one afternoon.  After an hour of filling up water balloons and throwing them we had a good amount of mud in our yard.  What started as a "Mommy can we put our feet in it?" quickly escalated to a full fledged mud bath.  It was everywhere.  There was a clear moment in time where I told myself to either keep control of the situation.....or take pictures of the chaos.  I opted for the latter and am so glad I did.   The picture of Evie above is priceless and the girls had so much fun.

Grandma Jill is always loves to tell the story of how she used to hose off Bob in the backyard when he was a kid and I couldn't miss a moment to capture the clean up process.  We did in fact hose our kids off in the backyard after the mud wars.  We sacrificed a onsie in the process, but man we made some memories.  Evie was absolutely covered from head to toe.

Evie loves to play in the water and is so busy.  We discovered a local splash pad and paid it a couple of visits this past month.  Evie loves to splash, play and follow her busy sister around attempting to mimick her every move.

Speaking of mimicking, I had such a sweet giggle today when I captured her working on her bike.  Memaw bought her the cutest, most perfect size tricycle for her birthday and Evie has had so much fun attempting to ride it.  We adjusted her little seat today and the Bee was only too excited to grab that little tool and "Fic bike!"  

Evie can hold her own quite well in this household.  She has discovered how fun it is to take things of Lily's and how frustrating it is when Lily takes things of hers.  There is screaming.... A LOT of screaming in our house these days.  The screams are interlaced with rounds of biting, hitting and pulling hair.  There are bruises and battles daily and when I am not overwhelmed in my refereeing job I smile.  My girls will be the best of friends.  They love each other and I see it daily.  They are little and fierce.  

Sweet Bee, one more month and you will be 2.  I am in awe of you.  You are still such a precious little one and there are days where I just wish I could snuggle you all day (or that you would even let me).  This month has brought out a new challenging side of you and has made me realize that you are not my little baby anymore, but a little girl who's gonna start stretching her wings.  You are so big.  You are kind, smart, beautiful, loving and joyful.

I love everything about you little one and am so proud of you. 

Love, Mom

Journey to IRONMAN: 5 Weeks to 70.3: It's Not All Glory

We are another week closer to that glory day when I will run across that IRONMAN 70.3 mat and call myself a Half IRONMAN.  I am simply giddy with anticipation.  The personal victory and glory of crossing that finish line follows me everywhere I go these days and is constantly reminding me of what I have to look forward to.  I know I can do it.  I am strong and can do great things.  My legs and arms are powerful and my mind is driven.  I'm gonna do it.

But it's not all glory....

This week I trained hard.  I ran 8 miles on Tuesday, rode 25 miles on Wednesday followed by a weight class, ran another 10 miles on Thursday, Swam 2000 meters on Friday and was on my bike again on Saturday.  Tuesday I woke up with insanely tight calves.  The whole run I battled the bottoms of my legs feeling like they were in a vice.  Wednesday I woke up feeling big and had one of those days where personal vain insecurity threatened to get the best of me.

Thursday felt to be a better run, but the tightness in my calves still slowed me down.  I had slept on my back wrong causing some low back pain and tightness.....it was a slow day.  Friday I went swimming...just a gentle swim and 2 laps in I jerked my neck wrong causing a nauseating tightness when I turned my head left.  And Saturday.....

Saturday was the one day that I had thought about, stressed over and planned over the most.  I wanted a 60 mile ride.  It was a personal milestone for me.  The longest I would have EVER ridden a bike.  It was going to break any fear I was harboring about the race's 56 miles.  I wanted it, planned for it, fueled for it and was going to get it.

Bob and I left in the early morning and headed on our way.  The ride was fantastic.  I truly felt so strong.  With every mile we went I grew more confident...I've so got this 60 miles in the bag.  We made the turn up Usery Pass Road for our final 12 mile stretch and my gears that had been skipping the entire ride started acting funny.  The final 3 mile hill was mine for the taking and 1 mile in I shifted down and heard a sickening CRUNCH.  My bike no longer moved forward and I had only a brief second to unclip before I would have fallen over.  I looked down at my back tire only to find my derailer (the part that moves your chain for your gears) had broken off and my chain was a bent mess.

 
Now, there are a lot of technical issues that can happen when you ride, and pretty much all of them can be handled in route.  You may have to slow down, or change the way you ride to limp home, but most problems you could face won't completely ground you.  This one on the other hand is simply "Not fixable" or rideable.  Unless you are on a downhill and can coast, you are walking.

So there I was....all of my 60 mile plans dashed, walking my bike up a 2-3 mile stretch, in my socks.  Bob had to go ahead to not only finish the ride but come back with the car.  It was just me and broken Lady Trek on the road.  I got passed by too many cyclists to count, cars stopped to ask if I was okay, even a police man followed up with me.  I had a runner actually run by me and say, "Put those shoes on and grind out this hill!  You got it!" As if I was so unmotivated that I had simply given up on riding and walked up the hill........oh buddy, if you only new.

It's not all glory folks.  You will see me cross that finish line and reach my goal.  It will be victorious and glorious, but the journey was and is hard.  Lady Trek is now out of commission for a week having parts ordered and replaced.  It happens.  This journey is long and fraught with unplanned obstacles.

In all of this I am grateful for 3 things 1. Protection.  Where it happened, when it happened and how it happened was truly the best place of the day.  Thank you Jesus. 2. That my mind is greater than my circumstances.  Give me set backs I'll just come back stronger and 3. That it happened on a training ride and NOT my actual race.  So so SO happy about this.  Lady Trek will be practically new come race day!

Journey to IRONMAN: 6 Weeks to 70.3: 4:55 AM

Whew.....that's a big title.  No, I'm not writing this blog at 4:55AM.  It's part of the journey and I will talk about it in a little bit.

The countdown is here.  6 Weeks almost to the day that I will finish my first IRONMAN distance race with the Boulder IRONMAN 70.3.  It's a big step towards my ultimate goal of claiming that illusive title of IRONMAN.  I have been dreaming about that day and kind of wishing that my ultimate Full IRONMAN race was here, but simply put.....I'm not ready for the 140.6......I'm ready for 70.3.  This goal is big and it is going to take me a while....a journey......to get there.  I want to swim, bike and run my race well and therefore must go one step at a time.  While the countdown has started for me, I am still in heavy training mode for the next 3+ weeks.

Last week was a week focused on swimming in improving my time, fitness and technic in the water.  This week is going to be primarily focused on running with an hour swim session scheduled on Friday a 60 mile bike finish on Saturday followed by another run on Sunday(oh and a weight lifting class in there too!).

IRONMAN demands a nearly daily pursuit.  Oh you're tired...Get up and do it again.  Oh your legs are burning....Get up and do it again.

Which brings me to my 4:55AM.  You see, today is my rest day.  It's the day I have determined I get to 1. sleep in, and 2. rest from physical activity.  Oh wait....3.  and EAT!  Rest days are both good and bad.  When you are at my level of athletics, its hard to rest.  It's hard to not get up and go.  And today was no different. While training, my alarm clock has been permanently set for 5AM.  I have to beat the heat and beat the kids up.  It has taken a while to get used to it, but now without fail I wake up at 4:55AM. In the past month of training 6 days a week, my alarm has actually gone off twice.  I beat it EVERY day.  4:55 has oddly become my companion....even on my rest days.  I truly had a giggle this morning when I groggily woke up thinking I had slept in only to discover my ever faithful 4:55 friend staring me back in the face.  She doesn't know its my day off, I forgive her and frankly over the next year and a half she and I are only going to get closer and closer.  I have truly learned to embrace this new friend in my life and smile.  She is going to help me become an IRONMAN.  I'm okay with her ever constant presence.

The more I immerse myself in this pursuit, the more humbled I have become.  IRONMAN demands it all.  Give everything physically and then get up and give it all again.  Tired is truly a state of mind.  I'm learning to embrace the tired, the sore and the early and find power in it.  To stand humbled by the pursuit, but confident in my ability to achieve it. That's what it is going to take to be great.

Thats what it will take to be IRONMAN.