Explanation Impossible!

Have you ever told someone something that you are planning on doing, and then realized that they REALLY don't understand at all? That would be me with my bike ride across Florida!

I contemplated whether or not I was going to tell my dad about it. I didn't want him to be upset with me. But we talk EVERY day at 5:00 pm and if he cannot get in touch with me he blows my phone up, so I figured it was best to tell him I would be unavailable to talk. I did my best to explain, but he only halfway listens. Here are a few of our following conversations:

Dad: "I was thinking about your marathon. It won't take that long right? If you are averaging 30 mph...."
Me:"It's a bike ride. And I won't be averaging 30 mph it will be A LOT slower."
Dad: "So more like 10 mph? Hum.....yeah.....that's gonna take a while."

Dad: "What did you do today?"
Me: "Rode 150 miles."
Dad: "Wow! You are really getting ready for that marathon!"
Me: "It's a bike ride Dad."

Dad:"Are you going to workout today?"
Me: "Yep. Swam this morning, now I am going to run and lift weights."
Dad: "Dang! That's a lot of working out. I bet you are going to win your age group in your marathon!"
Me: "There are no age groups. It's a solo record break attempt"
Dad: "Well then you sure sound like you are going to kick Jason's ass!"

Dad: "Hey, how did that thing go last night where you stayed up all night? Was Jason with you?"
Me:"Yes, it went really well. I rode about 211 miles."
Dad: "111 miles? That's great honey!"
Me:" No Dad, TWO HUNDRED ELEVEN MILES."
Dad: "HOLY SHIT."

Even better than explaining things to dad is telling the people at work. As you know, I work in a retirement community. I LOVE my "old peeps". They live vicariously through my training and adventures. They really and truly love hearing about my races. Everything I do is a "half-marathon" Most of these people are in their 80's and 90's and cannot conceptualize this amount of physical activity. They are very active, but organized racing, especially done by a woman, was totally unheard of when they were young. They ask the funniest questions and think of things that you and I never would. When I told them about Jason's first 100 miler, done in the rain and mud the first thing they said was "How did you keep the mud from getting in the car?"

So every Monday they wait in anticipation for me to tell them what I did. If I "raced a half marathon" and won my age group, by the end of the day I am an Olympic speed skater. Information gets very skewed very quickly around here.

I told them about the bike ride mostly because I am not sure what type of shape I will be in after it. Last year after Cedar Point 140.6 they offered me their walkers. I didn't want anyone to be upset if I am limping around for a few days. It's taken about 2 months of me telling them about my training for it to FINALLY sink in. They get it. I am going to ride all day and all night. And NO, I will not be stopping to brush my teeth.

When I arrived Monday a man said "Dani! What did you do this weekend! Ride 100 miles!?" After I explained the overnight 211 miler the sweetest 94 year old lady looked me dead in the eyes and said "I will be praying for you."

Not sure if she meant my physical well being or for my sanity, but whatever. I'll take it.

What people don't tell you....

Last Saturday I had the distinct pleasure of doing a 162 mile ride. 8 hours and 42 minutes of almost complete solitude left me with plenty of time to think about things that no one mentions to you when you are thinking about signing up for a race that will take 24+ hours to complete. Here is what you need to know:

Hire a Coach: You might be smart. You might have lots of books with tons of useful information. But this volume of training is stressful enough without having to figure out a training schedule on your own. When you start to think about the endless possibilities of things that could go wrong, you will want a coach to help you work through those situations and keep your goals in line.

You did not just get accepted into Fat Kid University: You might think that just because you've added a lot more volume to your training that you can eat anything and everything in sight. This is not the case. Food is the fuel for your body. Your engine is running a lot more than it's accustomed to. Fuel it properly and it will function better!

You're not the coolest person around: So your recovery week now looks like what a typical Ironman training week looks like. That's cool but don't rub it in. Your old training partners don't need to feel bad that they are riding 1/10th of what you're doing. Remember, these are your future crew members! Do you want them laughing at you when your vomiting or sleep running? Exactly! Don't be that guy.

You are not crazy: Prolonged training, particularly in isolation may produce the following: hallucinations, delusions of grandeur, bouts of paranoia. These should subside shortly. If they don't call Dr. Slayer.

Leave your ego at the door: Yes, that woman with the babystroller did just pass you. And people who you would drop on a normal basis are suddenly able to keep up with you on the bike. You are not slow! I repeat: YOU ARE NOT SLOW. You're just GOING slow. Big difference. Don't freak out.

Get your life in order: Now is probably not the best time to plan a wedding, move across the country, start a new job, etc. Unless you really have to. Your training and work will probably be consuming every ounce of your time and energy. Keeping your social obligations and stress levels low are a really good idea.

Trim the fat: The last thing your life needs is added drama. People who are unsupportive or generally negative need to be eliminated. Yes, I realize that sounds harsh. But you cannot afford to defend your decisions (nor should you have to). Telling white lies about your training or not telling particular people what your plans are is okay.

Get some good friends: You are going to need some really awesome people in your life if you don't already have them. You need support and encouragement. Make sure these people know how wonderful they are and how much you appreciate their support.

Some really weird things are gonna happen: There are going to be times where your body will resemble a 7th grade science experiment gone bad. This is normal. What is NOT normal is to tell everyone about it. Not everyone needs to know all the strange ways your body reacts to training. If you feel the need to tell anyone, call me. I love hearing about it.

**disclaimer**
Dani hasn't actually raced an event lasting 24 hours, she is merely training for it. Check back in a couple of months for "what no one told me about racing for 24+ hours.."

Living a balanced life in an unbalanced world....

I look balanced but trust me it's an illusion!

With Jason training for Epicman (a triple Ironman) and me training for a 420 mile bike ride across Florida, life has changed a bit. We spend our weekends training, preparing to train, traveling to train, or recovering from training. As the weeks drag on to months I have began to feel like I am living, eating, and breathing training and my life doesn't feel very balanced.

The struggle to find balance in life is something that almost everyone I know struggles with. People ask me all the time how I fit in all my training. Personally, I think that I have it a lot easier than most. I don't make half the sacrifices that some of my friends make. One friend I know runs from 4:00-7:00 am before her husband goes to work. She once told me "I want my training to impact my family as little as possible". That is one of the most selfless comments that I have ever heard when it comes to training for an endurance event!

I consider myself quite fortunate that I am in a relationship with someone who will never complain about my training. He will also never complain about me being tired from training (mostly because that rarely happens!). But his support is great, and at the same time a challenge because he can handle volumes of training that would put most people into the ground within days. So he is naturally pretty unsympathetic about having to train for long periods of time.

So what exactly is it about my life that's not balanced? Well, I've never been one to require a lot of social interaction, so the isolation of large volume training weekends doesn't bother me much. It's the leaving the house in the dark, riding all day, and coming home after dark that I have struggled with. There is very little balance when your day consists of doing NOTHING other than riding a bike and eating. It's not the volume of training that has gotten me frustrated. My body has adapted quite well. I am training about 8-10 hours more per week than I would for an Ironman, but feel way more energetic. Less intensity definitely makes the training easier on my body. The flip side is that this training is BORING. I figured it was going to be and I was right! Last week I rode 8 hours solo in the Gaps (north Ga mountains). The extended period of isolation wasn't the issue (I barely saw anyone else) it was the total and complete lack of speed or effort that was driving me nuts. If you know me, you know that I like to ride fast. 8 hour rides call for little or no intensity, especially when you are going to do 5+ hours the following day. It never occurred to me how much I enjoy intensity until it was taken away. Training for ultras is mostly psychological in nature in my opinion. Any fool can ride a bike at a really low heartrate. But can you do it from sunup to sundown? When the wind is howling at you and knocks you over? What about when your feet are frozen and you're hungry? That type of training requires something that a high VO2 max and lactate threshold cannot help you with.

I've thought a lot the past several days about my "imbalanced" life. I've thought about my need to spend more quality time with Jason, play with my dogs more, try and actually relax instead of constantly ripping and running from one place to the next. Then I came across this quote that I really like: "The word happiness would lose it's meaning if not balanced by sadness." -Carl Jung. This could also be interpreted as "how would I know what a balanced life felt like if I didn't occasionally let it get off kilter?" Training like this won't last forever. Our races will come and go and we will regain what very little bit of normalcy that we had in our lives. Nothing worth having is easy, and sacrifices made now are part of achieving huge goals later!

In the meantime I only put in two hours of training yesterday. Why? It was date- night OB/Dani style: post gym, still in workout clothes, eating really healthy. It was quality time that was very much needed in our hectic lives.

I want to leave you with one of my favorite authors of ALL TIME! Dr. Seuss. This is from the book :"Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?"
When you think things are bad,
when you feel sour and blue,
when you start to get mad....
you should do what I do!

Just tell yourself, Duckie,
you're really quite lucky!
Some people are much more...
oh, ever so much more...
oh, muchly much-much more
unlucky than you!

Dr. Seuss is right. I AM lucky! I've got a mind and body that are able to withstand some really crazy stuff and I need to appreciate how many people out there could not do what I am doing. So I am going to be unbalanced, and just hope that I stay upright for the next 4 months!