Wind, Rain, and Eels

(the Cyclodelics). Look at the weather in the background. That says it all. We had some rain, but thankfully, no wind to speak of. This was another good weakness in fitness or equipment indicator. Afterwards, it was off to REI for wind stopper gloves and glove liners and wook caps for under the helmet. Otherwise I'm fine for clothes.I opted out of riding Li-shine this day. I hadn't practiced all week, and with the rain and wet pavement, I opted for risk managment. Everyone thinks that Li-Shine is a figment of my imagination. But here she is

The route for this day was the interurban from Kent to Auburn, then Auburn to the Black Diamond Bakery, the SAG stop. From the SAG, we returned to Kent via SE Green Valley Road. Stats are 40+ miles. I flubbed the garmin, so I don't have official distance, but the 31.9, I logged in the GPS, I used 1700+ calories.

The fund raising letters have all been mailed. Reminder post cards will go out this week. The remaining task will be planning Mike's farewell party on the 30th. Whew, I keep going to store to buy some time, but they're all out.

Mercer Island Half Marathon

The face says it all: 'I'm done, I'm cooked, I made it.' Where's the guy in the orange jacket waiting for me.

I've heard that people cry when it's over, I cried when the race began when I saw the sunrise and realized that this was the kick off to an amazing year. I realized that on this earth and in this universe, I'm very small, and the realization of what I'm priviledged to do humbled me and the beauty around me overwhelmed me with gratefulness.

This is the beginning of my purpose for this year. The stats are 13.15 miles, 3 hours 6 minutes, 14 minutes 11 seconds avaerage mile pace, average heart rate 124 bpm, max heart rate (with arrhythmia) 186, total ascent 2541 feet, and 1080 calories. My average pace is a personal record that shaves 19 seconds off my previous best. I raced with the Polyp Busters and Steve's Team. I don't know who they are or who Steve is, but I know what these people are made of and how much love it took to take finish this course.

What it takes: 1. Organization: This race was sponsored by the Mercer Island Rotary Club to support colon cancer research and organizations. At the start I learned that all registration fees went straight to the charities, which for me was $45. We received great swag, including a wicking long-sleeved tee shirt, chok blox, and other stuff at registration Saturday. On race day, the Rotary had stationed volunteers at each interspection on the East Mercer to West Mercer to North Mercer route which was effective mind diversion for me. I made a point of greeting and thanking everyone for their support, especially the couple and their pooch in bunny ears. There were also water stations every two miles, and Clif had one nutrition station (NO COLA CHOK BLOX!!!). By mile 11 (at the bag pipers, yeah, baby!), we merged with the 5 and 10K runners and proceeded enmasse to the finish. I will eternally be grateful for the downhill finish.

(Marja and Mamie) 2. The Plan: The goal that Marja, Eliza, and I had was to finish, finish before Eli, and do every mile in at least 15 minutes. As the race progressed, my goal also became straighten the road and cut the curves. The course is windy along the the perimeter of the island and the road is very canted to the inside curve, but I learned to cut switchbacks as much as possible to cut distance and to give my muscles as much range of motion as possible. I also planned to walk the strights and up slopes and run the down slopes. This I executed very well. I practiced good hydration and nutrition: drink and eat hourly or more frequently. I hit a dull point at the 8 mile and I took a few long tugs at the hydration pack and that doggy was gone. Thanks to chok bloks; again, a great choice for eating on the run. I was so surprised to be able to run without stiffness until the last mile. There was no way I was running up that last hill despite the encouragement of the Scots gentleman, who offered to hold my hand for that last 200 yards. I reverted to my initial goal, which was to finish and fall into the arms of the man in the orange jackets, which I did.

(Marja, Mamie, and Eli - I mean, do these people look happy or what) 3. Lessons learned. Probably would be a good idea to take a few OTC pain relievers before the race for the aches and pains, and a few more at the finish. I was going to be looking for friends at the finish, so next time I will also pack a grocery bag of finisher's essentials, including said pain reliever, some dry clothes, and a container of chocolate soy milk. I will take a moment to stretch afterward too. I was really punky for the remainder of the day. I found that the instep of my left foot had bruised from the downhills. Ice made that bad boy go away. I was fine the next day, and the day thereafter. Thanks Marja! Thanks Eli! Thanks Kent!

Lastly, I took my iPod, but never felt compelled to listen to it. My mind, which I thought would be bored, was otherwise occupied with cutting corners, drinking fluid, and eating. I was somewhat aware enough of the people around me to be careful not to cut in front of them and to notice that we were mostly in a pack. But, what a thrill to see the first runners pass at the 10 mile. They started at 0900 (our starting gun was at 0730). They made it all look so simple. The first female runner was the seventh to pass me on the course. I was really proud of them. At 3 hours 6 minutes, there's no where to go, but faster for me. Marja and I will begin training for the Seattle Half on Thanksgiving Sunday. Those details will be related as they happen. After all I have a bike race to train for.

Lance Pants and the Monster Ride

(This is Maurice). I'm including pictures of my Cyclodelics team mates. We average 13 to 15 mph . This week's ride was a 17.5-mile there and back from Kent to Puyallup (pronounced pew-yallup [rhymes with gallup]). Don't worry about, no one knows how to pronounce it. Stats are 2 hours 34 minutes to complete, average speed 12.9, total calories 16622, average heart rate 113, max heart rate 139, total elevation gain 711 feet. This is the same route as we will follow during the July STP route. I practiced good eating and hydration habits. I consumed 2 liters of liquid and 440 calories (1 package of kola chok blox and 1 blueberry crisp Clif Bar). Chok blox are thick gelatin with electrolytes and long chain sugars. The best thing about them is that they're sticky, so you have to crew rather than swallowing quickly. This is important when your working hard and breathing through your mouth. You don't want your calories/fuel to fall out of your mouth, and you don't want to choke either. Either is a serious bummer.

(Left is Marjorie, a mentor; right is Michele, a teammate). I made a serious error in judgement however. The particular flavor I was consuming contained caffeine from green tea. Two huge no-nos to those of us on blood thinners and with arrhythmia issues. I felt great. I was pushing and pushing and every minute felt I had another 50 percent to spare. And it was a monster ride. We rode in a paceline and each member was in the pull position for 100 rotations, then we fell to the back and pushed. This was an important lesson for me to learn, because my first time in the pull position, I went for 18 minutes. Too long if you're going to finish two centuries in two days. It's absolutely stunning how much energy it takes to pull and how easy it is to follow along. When your 100 rotations (of the right pedal) is complete, your teammates check for traffic, give you the signal at which you move to the left and fall back. The team continues at the same pace. Unless you're me, in which one takes this as the signal to speed up. This only happened a couple times. Enter the caffeine. When we got back, I had this strong feeling of euphoria. I was ecstatic and excited about having successfully completed the ride and learned all these new techniques. That's when I discovered the truth about where this euphoria was coming from, and I knew I was in for a rough night.

(This is Priscilla, one of our coaches). When it comes to stimulants, I keep myself absolutely clean. In the past, one cup of Starbucks coffee mistakenly caffeinated, sent me to the hospital for a cardiovert. One would think that any caffeine would have been used up during the ride, or eliminated throughout the remainder of the day. Not in me. The excitement and false sense of wellbeing continued continued late into the evening. I slept for about 60 minutes and woke up to a racing heart rate (~100 bpm). It took about 90 minutes for this to go away before I feel asleep, but I really thought I was going to head to urgent care, rather than to Mercer Island for the half-marathon. The outcome of this story will be revealed in my next post.

(This is Rebecca, a mentor). Beside learning how to really cycle yesterday, I learned that I was going to have lots to think about during the ride to Portland. For instance, counting my cadence, looking forward for navigation, looking forward for hazards, hand signally for directions and hazard, maintaining a consistent pace, and figuring out which had signals to use. For example, there isn't a hand signal for dead recently deceased opossum, 2-week old dead opossum, or opossum smear. Nor are there signals for bad smells: 'man your diesel exhaust is killing me,' or 'gag me, it's a dairy.' With jobs to do, the ride was over very quickly. We have a great team, and we work very well together. I'm enjoying this experience so much.

This is my friend Sophie. We commute together. The Lance Pants are my new cycling shorts I purchased from the Livestrong (www.livestrong.org) foundation. I'm wearing a pair of running tights over them until the weather turns warmer. I nailed the attire on Saturday. I wore a long-sleeve cipolline (wicking fabric) under my TNT jersey, and my light REI jacket, with my ear warmers around my neck. Sophie let me borrow her beanie, since I forgot to bring mine. I had no heating issues whatsoever.

Okay, now a word about fund raising. My total has stalled at $450, with three weeks to go. I really blew it by not back checking the URL one last time to make sure it functioned. So, far the Brouwer (three donations) family is kicking the Gibbons' (one donation - Thanks Lana!) butt. Bookmark this correct URL: http://www.active.com/donate/tntwaak/MamieBrouwer I have another 35 letters to go out and I'm having post cards made for reminders. Remember, you don't want to get a post card. Time grows short. More to come. I haven't told you about my new bike......

Training Week 5: Hello My Old Friend

Training week 5 has come and gone. My training schedule was thus:

Sunday: off day
Monday: Strength (60 minutes) with Kent at WS Y
Tuesday: Double Eli (two cycling classes back to back, then chin ups in the free weight room)
Wednesday: Strength with Kent, nutrition and hydration work shop at Real Rehab
Thursday: off day (arrhythmia)
Friday: 10.21 miles, 148 min, 882 cal, avg heart rate = 132, max heart rate 196 (arrhythmia for the first and second mile), vertical elevation = 1721 feet (all in West Seattle).
Saturday: 32 miles, 144 min, 1620 cal, avg heart rate = 123, max heart rate = 142 (obviously, I wasn't pushing hard enough), vertical elevation gain = 1098. This training run was from Marymoor Park through Issaquah to the Cedar Grove intersection south of Poo Poo Point on the Issaquah Hobart Road.
Sunday: 02 March: 10.11 miles, 159 min, 840 cal, avg heart rate = 108, max heart rate = 132, vertical elevation gain = 2128 feet. This was 10 miles on the MIH course.

My weight is now 154, and I've begun to incorporate more carbs in the form of brown rice and whole grain cereals into my diet. I'm also faithful about having a chocolate soy milk to recover.

This week Monday and Tuesday will be max push days, but Wednesday will be a rest day this week. Death marches begin Thursday with a 5.5-miler from Lake Washington to the Red Town trailhead. Friday will be a 4-mile time trial, Saturday something on the order of 30 to 35 miles on the bike, then Sunday is the MIH at 13+ miles. I think that Monday will be a rest day....

Although I'm not happy with this, I'm back on amiodarone, which is a very strong anti-arrhythmic medication. Supposedly the heart rate suppression impacts are less than a beta blocker (like altenolol), but more than flecainide. There can be very serious liver and retinal side effects; however, I had none of these when I was on this course last time. On the other hand, it didn't work in eliminating the arrhythmia either. Amiodarone also has an enhancing affect on the blood thinner I'm taking; therefore I will have to get weekly INR blood tests until things stabilize. This will be the norm until after the STP, when we'll evaluate whether or not a fourth catheter ablation is required,. As you can see in the stats, my max heart rate is down. This is something I'll be mindful of in the next several weeks as our training rides will most likely be in the same area. I have to remember to attack the hills and push the down hills. It's beautiful when you know about your heart, and you know it's working at it's potential. I can visualize the work it's doing, and even with all this, I'm thankful that my issue is not blockage.

I get the Li-Shine on Tuesday. Li-Shine is my new road bike. Her 4-lb cobalt blue frame is Taiwanese and the other components are Italian and Japanese. Li-shine is named after my friend at work, who coincidentally (or not) is also Taiwanese. She was made at Alki Bike and Board in West Seattle, and I get my first fit on Tuesday. Her Dad is Stu and her Mutti is Eli. She'll be my first bike with clips rather than toe cages, so I'll have to practice before I do a practice ride with TNT. Go fast, Li-Shine!

Thank you to all who have donated to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on my behalf. I'm less than 10 percent with over a month until my re-commitment date. My donation website is http://www.active.com/donate/tntwaak/MamieBrouwer

Corrected Web Address for TNT Donations

http://www.active.com/donate/tntwaak/MamieBrouwer

Mercer Island Time Trial for Seattle to Portland Ride

I picked the sport with the most attractive clothing. Sexy, huh? This is the inaugural blog for my ride from Seattle to Portland and a member of Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's TEAM in Training. TEAM is the acronym for Train, Endure, Achieve, Matter. I turned 50 this year and needed a new goal for fitness. I had come off a so-so year that included moving to a new place after 8 years in the old one. This required scoping out new food shopping locations (I'm vegan, so it's not that easy to find everything at just one store), restaurants, and a new YMCA. I was a long time member (13 years!) of the Northshore Y in Bothell. I knew all the staff, the equipment, and the fitness instructors. Moving to the West Seattle was a positive change; however, getting used to new staff, instructors, peak usage times took longer that I thought. The biggest benefit to moving to our new home, other than owning our own home, is that I have a 5-minute commute to work. As I look back on 2007, I realize that adjusting to a new location took me a long time. However, in January, something clicked and regular workouts and renewed diet discipline became very easy. Hence the new purpose/objective.

Have you seen the TEAM in Training flyers around? I had seen them and even read them, but I'd never made the commitment to be part of this very wonderful organization. For a commitment of 7 times their expenses ($2800 in my case), I get new friends; world-class training; riding partners; mapped routes; and a sense of accomplishment, purpose, and pride. My event is the Seattle to Portland Bike Ride, which covers 206 miles from the Emerald City to the Rose City. I'll ride it in two days, because this is a huge local event and I wouldn't want to miss out on any of the fun by riding in one day. My fundraising website is located here: http://www.active.com/donate/tntwaak/tntwaak/mamiebrouwer. My re-commitment date is 30 April. So far, I've raised $75, but letters just went out. Thanks so much to Alison and Liz for their donations. Alison was first! Rainbows rock!

We've had three training rides. The first was a 12-mile out and back on the Burke-Gilman Trail in Redmond. One hour after that experience, I had REI change the tires on my mountain bike from fat to very, very narrow. So much for the thought that I could compete on a mountain bike (say hello, new bike!). The next week was a 13.77-mile time trial around Mercer Island, which I completed quickly enough to be in the 13 to 15-mph group. Last week was a 22-mile ride around Lake Sammamish, and yesterday's ride was a 27.06-mile ride from MaryMoor Park to Maltby over to Woodinville and back to MMP. I have a Garmin 305, which collects all my stats, so here goes: average heart rate 118, max heart rate 152, max speed 25 mph, average speed 10.1 mph (this is slow because I didn't pause the timer on the 305 and it recorded the SAG stop), number of calories 1458. Current weight is 156 and I'm 5'8" tall. I"m currently on my way to 145 and a percent body fat of 20 percent or below. This ride had several stiff hills, one of which defeated me. It was a tactical shifting error. Many thanks to Stu at Alki Bike and Board for refreshing my memory on shifting practice. This was so great for down hills, but I shifted into granny low too early on the Maltby hill, so I walked the last 25 yards. I should have stood up to power over the crest. This did not happen again. Shout out to SAGy Bill for insisting that I eat something at the SAG (Support and Gear) stop.

Before I close this post, I will include a mission moment. Yesterday, we learned that one of our participants is in the gray area of having all the myeloma symptoms and not the final diagnosis. He will be meeting with an oncologist later this week. I dedicate the 18,880 heart beats of my heart on Saturday's ride to my team mate. I will pass on my information when it becomes available.

More stats to follow, as well as a discussion of my training, instructors, gear, and results. Plus, a discussion of how all this is going to be accomplished while also dealing with atrial flutter.

More to follow: Have a great, healthy week, and remember to eat your vegetables.