Sunny California

The past several weeks could be described many ways...and have many different titles....like "Train, Train, Train"...."Always wear your gloves - who needs skin anyway?"...."Wheezin' the Pollen Blues"....."Why don't you write anymore"....

Somehow, between all the training and the in's and out's of the days, and that "other stuff" I have either allowed to take over my life or has just snuck up and done it anyway, I have miserably failed to finish any post I have begun - until now. I have decided to sit down and write today, and post whatever makes it on here, I promise! So here goes....

I sit in my chair in a hotel room in beautiful Carlsbad, California where I just finished watching (that's right - watching, not racing) Andy Potts pull of another win at the Ironmam 70.3 Oceanside. It was a beautiful day here - and still is, but I am enjoying a little quiet time to myself out of the sun before the rest of the weekend unfolds. just an FYI - I wasn't planning on racing when I came out this weekend, and it turned out to be a good call after the last few weeks with a bike mishap (or crash....but all's good now) and coming down with the usual chest congestion I always get this time of year. Everythig seems to fall into place somehow...

I am here this weekend as part of the Zoot Training Camp where most of us who were selected to be on the team are meeting each other for the first time as well as meeting the Zoot Staff and associated team sponsors. It will be a fun time i'm sure, and by the looks of the schedule, it will be a busy one as well.

So...what's been going on over the last few weeks you ask? well, a lot. I've been spending a lot of time with my Grandmother going through all the usual doctor visits and tests and all to be sure everything with her remains stable and her life can continue the way it is - playing bridge, sippin on martini's, and gettin' around on her own! All of that seems to be working out very well as the doctors seem to like the way she is responding to her meds, and I'm grateful for that. i've also been taking Moorie (granny's cat) to the vet and back every week - seems she has had an ear problem for quite a while and turns out her ear drum was messed up and she had a rally bad infection - one they weren't sure they could cure. but after a month of treatment with drops and pills, and back and forth to the vet for tests - seems like she's doing fine now and the infection has cleared up. That's a good thing....

Lets see...what else...I crashed my bike about 2 weeks ago going riding in 2o-30 mph winds. the wid got a hold of me in a turn and the just happened to be a pile of gravel there with my name on it and I bit the dust. I was alone, and went thru the usual "oh my gosh" freak out dance until I did the full body check and realized I had no broken bones and didn't need stiches anywhere. So I got back on the bike all bloody and dirty and rode to the Park, cleaned up, got into their first aid kit, then decided to keep on ridin'. I finished the rest of my ride although I was shaken up,but I figured it would help the keep the blood flowin and help with any soreness I might have. Well, if it helped any I'd be shocked! I was sooo stiff over the next few days I didn't run at all and swimming was a chore - I fell right on my hip and shoulder and was weary of an injury I may have caused. After 4 days, I ran a bit and it still hurt, but I ran in the Crescent City Classic the next day anyway (I wanted a poster!)- and my hip seemed fine. Ironically, the only thing that hury on the run - other than it being a hard effort - was my shoulder! Go figure.. well, that's all gone now. I still have some stiffness, but no pain. let's hope that keeps up.

After the CCC, I had a hard ride and run - and for the second weekend in a row i came home with a thick yellow film all over me and my bike. I could only imagine what was in my lungs....This is the time of year I suffer, and well, this year would prove to be no different - or will it? I have been as they say "down with the sickness" since monday and have spent the grand majority of my time indoors and unable to run or do anything that gets my HR over 110 since then. That's part of the asthma thing with me and just one of those things. everybody's got something, and this is my something and i've got to deal with it. The trip to California couldn't come at a better time I think it has helped me get over it - even if just a little. Being away from the Louisiana air is a good thing. I have been able to run since being out here, not fast or anything, but run nonetheless - and it feels so good. Watching the race today has me conflicted in a lot of ways - watching everybody duke it out makes me super motivated and I want to train harder....NOW !......but Im limited to what my lungs will do, so now is not allowed! yeah, i know, I need to be patient, and I have no choice - but I want to do it all NOW! AAGGGHHH!

So... there's a a lot of what's been going on with me lately. I will be here till monday, then back home to get on it and focus on St Anthony's!

out of sleep mode

Yes, it's true. I am still alive and well.

I have clearly ignored you over the last two months and I'm sorry for that, but there is a good reason. I've been spending my extra hours on sleeping, training, Ryan, going to a Hornets game here and there(which keeps me up late, and leads to more napping), helping to get my website up, eating, visiting my grandma, swimming....and oh, yeah, more swimming.

My coach has me swimming more than I ever imagined, and surprisingly, I'm enjoying it. Strange, I know. When I began triathlon, I feared the hours I would spend in the pool because I have experienced the classic swimmer burn-out out as a teenager after doing it sooo much for sooo long. But after my long break from it, I find it welcoming. So far so good.

So things got a little hectic here for a while - with all the changes in daily routine and added "stuff" this time of year brings (training changes, sleep patterns, my swim classes starting up in the weee hours). But all is settling down now. I have found my groove and am getting used to it all.

One big change I am actively making this year is to actually let go of the little stuff and try not to let it build up. I have put things more in priority, and find i have to let things slide here and there (yeah, uh...like the blog..) - and not let it bother me (that's the hard part, because i let it build up and it becomes too much). I have to force myself to let it go and ask myself - "will it really matter if i don't do this right now, or at all?" Usually the answer is no, but im so used to just doing it without thinking of the consequences.....like less sleep which leads to more fatigue which leads to more stress, which leads to poor workouts because im so tired, which affects my sleep...... Yeah, it is difficult to break old habits, but after all 9 hours of sleep last night, I feel great and feel the pay-off. It's all good.

So, i'm back. you will hear more from me now that I have settled into my daily routine. And writing on here is definately part of that routine. Unless i need a nap or something!

Talk soon

c

Check out the article about me from Ironman.com

Ironman.com » Events » Ironman 70.3 » World Championship 70.3 Smith's 180 Degree Turn Matthew Dale profiles Ironman 70.3 age group world champion Caroline Smith Published on Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008 at 02:13 PM. Working in medical sales, Caroline Smith walked into the pulmonologist's office, probably said hello to the receptionist, then headed down a hallway, near the nurse's station. Then she stopped and did a double take. Smith looked at an X-ray. She was no lab technician but saw something in the picture that disturbed her. “Unusual growths,” she says. “My perception was this person had cancer.” And Smith wondered. In three, five, 10 years, would that be her X-ray? A one-time national caliber junior swimmer who could have swam in college, Smith had tired of the disciplined lifestyle and said goodbye to twice-a-day workouts. Having attended an all-girls Catholic high school, she opted for the college party scene, first at the University of Alabama, then LSU. She drank. “Miller Lite, really, whatever,” says Smith, who grew up in New Orleans and now lives in suburban Mandville, La. “Just go out, drink beer, fish, hang out at the bar. Stay up late. Sleep late.” She smoked, sometimes two packs a day. She gained weight, from 130 pounds to 165. The lifestyle is not unusual in college, but here was Smith, then 30, still living irresponsibly, looking at that X-ray and saying, “Is that what I’m doing to myself?” Of her decade-long partying scene, Smith adds, “I was lucky to get out of that alive. I did some stupid things. Drinking in excess, making irresponsible decisions, poor choices in every aspect of your life.” She pauses, then admits, “I think I caught myself before I spiraled out of control.” Last November at the Ford Ironman 70.3 World Championship, six years after Smith stared at that X-ray, there she was, jogging down the finisher’s chute, arms thrust overhead. Now 36, Smith not only won her age group, but finished first among all amateurs in 4 hours, 23 minutes. Four weeks earlier, she set an Ironman PR at Kona (10:39), placing seventh out of 71 in her age group. This year she’ll race professionally, focusing on the 70.3. When Smith opted to pull a lifestyle 180 six years ago, she asked herself a question. “When was I happiest?” And she remembered that fit, muscular, freestyle swimming sprinter. So she returned to the pool, swimming at Franco’s Athletic Club. She was already transitioning, going to the gym two to three times a week when she stumbled across the X-ray. She bumped that up to four to five times. She heard about a spinning instructor everyone loved. Smith hit the class. The fact it started at 5 AM didn’t bother Smith. A drug she was taking to help her stop smoking turned her into a nocturnal owl. To make sure she got a bike for the popular class, she stood outside the gym at 4:15 AM, even though it didn’t open until 4:45. The spinning instructor doubled as a talented triathlete and tri coach. Smith tested an 800-meter swim, 30 km bike and 5 km run in 2002. “I thought I was going to die,” remembers Smith, who weighs 130 pounds again. “It was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life.” Something else hit her, too. “It was exhilarating. It was such a rush,” she says. “Such a sense of accomplishment. All I could envision is I wanted to get better. I wanted to be that girl who won.” Appropriate for a race named the Elephant Walk Triathlon, Smith later that year won the Athena division (150 pounds plus). By the end of the year she committed to the 2003 Ford Ironman Florida. Meanwhile, she leaned more on that tri coach/triathlete/spin instructor, Donnie Jarrell. He gave Smith her first 70.3 training schedule, her first Ironman training log. He taught her how to prepare, how to focus, how to eat, even how to think. One of Jarrell’s favorite sayings: “Energy follows thought.” Jarrell told friends he saw something special in Smith. “Something I didn’t really see early on,” she admits. In 2005, that something began rising to the surface. She cracked five hours at a half-Ironman, then placed ninth overall at the Ironman 70.3 Buffalo Springs Lake. The year proved bittersweet. Smith’s results soared. And her mentor, Jarrell, died. Two years earlier, he was diagnosed with ALS, the disease that killed Jon Blais, who in 2005 became the only ALS victim to finish Ironman Hawaii. What kind of person was Jarrell? A special-education instructor, Jarrell sometimes showed up for swim practices sporting students’ bite marks. “He just gave and gave,” says Smith. Another Jarrell mantra rings in Smith’s ears when she’s on the bike and her back and neck and legs are searing in pain. The same thought comes to mind on cold days when her feet are numb. Or when she flats. Or when it’s raining. Or when her suit’s rubbing her raw and the sun’s beating down on her back. “You get to do this,” Jarrell would say. Smith, crying on the other end of the phone, thinks of her friend and says, “There are people out there who can’t go out and do it.” To whittle time off the clock as Smith has done, sacrifices must be made. By 2004, she began transitioning from that job in health sales. By ’05, she quit completely. She cobbles together an income now, coaching triathletes, teaching adult swim classes. She even teaches Jarrell’s old spin class. To save money she cancelled her home phone line, nixed all but basic cable, sweated through summer rather than run the air conditioning. “I just stopped spending things on stuff,” she says. “You almost make money to spend money. I’m poorer than ever now, but I’m happier than I’ve ever been. As soon as you redirect your money, you realize you can live humbly in order to achieve things you really want.” Of her wildly successful 2007 season, Smith says, “I’m just amazed. Sometimes I’m afraid that I’ve done so well that I can’t do as well next year.” Having decided to turn pro, she’s not that scared. Why turn pro so late in life? “Why not?” she says. “I got a late start in this. An opportunity’s been given to me. I hope that reprieve I took from athletics in my 20s will pay off and give me some time on the back end.” You can reach Matthew Dale at mdale@ironman.com

Do you Remember

This morning's workout was great. After the last few weeks of not so good training, and seemingly poor results, it was refreshing to have a good one. This morning's spin class was huge - typical of the new year with everyone looking forward to the first race of the year (around here, that will be the Louisiana Triathlon in April, but for me - it will be the 70.3 in Oceanside, Claifornia.) It's so motivating to have such a big crowd at 5am and JP's brought some yummy oatmeal cookies his wife made for us to eat halfway through! After spin class, i headed out for my run hoping to it would go as well as spin class....and it did. While I was running, I had a number of things running through my head - as always. One thing in particluar was the fact that I think of so much stuff and it's all so clear while I'm out there running alone, it's too bad I have no way to write it all down. I swear, if I could write my blog while I ran, I would have a lot more postings on here! Usually, by the time I get home and eat and unwind, my mind wants to take a break too, and I lose the desire to write anything. But for whatever reason today, I have made it to the computer with a clear mind and an eagerness to share my thoughts. For the last few weeks I have been in a Funk. I'm not sure why, but it's just where I am and it's a cycle that is hard to break. This morning, I had a breakthrough - deciding to change my traning a bit. The type of workouts I have been doing may be the very reason why I am not having good ones. Last night while I was lying in bed exhausted and feeling like my brain was fried, I thought back to my Kona traning last year when I could go and go and go - and the reason I could do all that was because I went long, slow, and aerobic. Basically, I kept my heartrate down and went forever. So one of my biggest problems lately is feeling like I can't last....getting worn out and bummed out because I was tired. So this morning, I kept my HR low and rode for an hour, and had an awesome easy 9 mile run.
9 miles....all the time thinking of the things going on in my life, the year to come, and the years behind me. In Spin class today, I played a song "Do You Remember". I can't recall who sings it, but it's about a girl who used to get abused by her father. None of that is signifigant to my life as I have the best Dad anyone could ask for....but the words "Do you Remember" kept going through my mind - over and over......so I began to remember some things....

I remember when I did my first spin class.
I remember running the "loop" with the group for the first time....and thinking "where did this stupid hill come from?"
I remember running in the dark thru beau chene for the first time.
I remember talking to Donnie for the first time.
I remember his classes.
I remember buying my first bike.
I remember my first race.
I remember when my goal was to "just finish" a sprint.
I remember the only race I ever DNF'd. I had a good reason, and it wasn't an Ironman.
I remember bonking for the first time in my first half ironman. But I don't remember much about it!
I remember feeling Donnie's hand on my back pushing me up to the group when I fell behind on a ride. (I still feel it)
I remember Donnie hiding in the bushes in beau chene ready to jump out and scare the bejezus out of me! It always worked....
I remember tripping over a speed bump running in the dark and falling flat on my face. (there were no witnesses, and it's been a while since i've done that)
I remember Donnie's green wig and those ugly teeth he would wear to make us laugh.
I remember the day we learned he had ALS.
I remember him standing in the rain with a cane in Lake Placid watching Ironman from the sideline when he was supposed to be racing.
I remember him teaching class from his wheelchair, using his computer when he couldn't speak anymore.
I remember how many lives he touched, and how many people loved him.
I remember his funeral.
I remember how he believed in me.
I remember when I first ran a sub 8:00 mile and rode averaging 2o mph.
I remember when I ran sub 7:00 miles and averaged over 24 mph.

I remember what it felt like to buy a size 8 for the first time. Then a 6. Then a 4.

I remember my first bike crash.
I remember my first sponsor.
I remember winning my first race and getting PAID!

I remember meeting Ryan.
I remember beating all the boys last year.
I remember tripping over the barbed wire to pee in the woods. that hurt.
and I remember once only wishing I could run 9 miles....and then, in 2003 when a 9 mile run was my longest run ever....and then last year, when a 9 mile run was part of a mid-week easy day.