We are HERE! We just dropped our bikes off at the bike transition area and our bags for tomorrow. Yesterday we swam some of the swim course. The water was 60 degrees and we could surf off the waves! Shall we say chop chop choppy! So the swim will be challenging!
We drove the bike course with Ken's sister, Joeby and her husband Al and daughter, Lily. Some tough Hills but we have trained on worse. We saw an eagle and its nest. The scenery is beautiful on the bike course, not that we will notice much of it tomorrow! My friend, Lisa flew over from Portland on Friday afternoon and she, Ken and I walked around the resort, town and ate some good salmon. It was so good to see her!

We are experiencing the 3 Ps right now = Puking, peeing and pooping - we feel like doing all of them we are so nervous! Pray for us!

Photos: Old Millville school and mascot (no not me, the devil), beautiful scenery of Woodford Co backroads), Ken, me and Treacy at Mallard Point

We are off to Idaho today. You can follow our progress on Sunday:
48 hours before the race start (Sunday 7 am ID time/10am Lexington time) you will see links for the Athlete Tracker in "The Latest" box on the home page of http://www.ironman.com/
You can also access the coverage by navigating to "Events", then choosing this race: Coeur d’Alene. Ken’s number is 999.My number is 75.

Our last weekends of training consisted of a 30 mile bike ride around our favorite Woodford County roads (see photos above) on Sat. June 9th,followed by a 45 minute run where we practiced the run 10 minutes and walk 1 minute. Then back on the bike for 12 miles followed by a 20-minute run and then of course about half an hour of going down the water slides at Falling Springs pool! My favorite part.

This past Saturday had us swimming the 2.5 distance at Mallard Point where Ken had only a small cramp and I got a big hug from Susan Bradley Cox who has been instrumental in my swim training. We are ready!!!!

10 days and counting....

From the Ironman Coeur d'Alene website:

They say they like to hold Ironman races at destination spots ... which would make Coeur d'Alene a prime contender for a race!Named after the Coeur d'Alene Indian tribe, this former logging and lumber town boasts a population of 50,000 (although the sign on the way into town says 34,415), 150 restaurants, and enough outdoor activities to keep anyone busy for a very long time. The two-loop swim course at Ford Ironman Coeur d'Alene has the potential to be tough, but has even more potential to be a really nice start to the day. It's become the norm to hear that the water is cold ... the word is that the athletes can expect water somewhere between 63 and 64 degrees Fahrenheit (a little over 17 degrees Celsius). All of the courses at Ford Ironman Coeur d'Alene are two-loop affairs, and both the bike and the run pass by the finish line and transition area four times, so spectators are in for a great day. The bike course is more challenging than it initially would appear. The course is very technical, with enough difficulty to keep things interesting."It would be hard not to have a picturesque run course in Coeur d'Alene." It's relatively flat, it's fast, and it goes through some of the most picturesque neighborhoods this picturesque town has to offer. The limiting factor on the run ... the heat!

(Photos: lake, Birthday Buds, Hair gel, can you believe I got into this wetsuit!)

Swimming at Mallard Point.
Thanks to Sallie and Rick for letting us do our open water swims at their lake-even if they have BIG carp in it! On Thursday, June 7th – it was both Ken and Libby’s birthday (and my Dad’s 79th!) and we had a Birthday swim. My hair gets pinched by the swim cap and the wetsuit so I tried some Body Glide at the back of my neck and it worked.
It might be messy and unattractive – but hey I do not think I am going to be looking very attractive in a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run! I just don’t want to be pinched...... well maybe by a cute triathlete.

112 Miles!

photos: MB powder, CanoeKY on Elkhorn Creek, Fish Hatchery sign, Monterey back in the day, map, Falling Spring slides)

112 mile ride on Sat. June 2, found Ken and I out on the road from 7:30 am until around 8:30 pm. We were not on our bikes that entire time – we spend over 8 hours in the seat that day cycling from Versailles, KY to Monterey, KY and back. With a lot of road in-between and hills! Up and down and up and down – lots of hills by the river. The smell of the honeysuckle was intoxicating. We saw a fish hatchery, the river, small towns, covered bridges, beautiful old homesteads, new homes, farms, lots of cattle in ponds, blue sky, churches, flowers, dogs and of course the road. We were on back roads and highway road. Shaded road, dead end roads, and hot roads. We ate lunch (hamburgers) at the Monterey gas station on HWY 127. We wanted to eat at the cute café in Monterey but they were out in the woods and the sign said sorry we may not be back in time to open and they weren’t. Monterey was a river town that had steamboats stop (back in the day). You can tell it was a cute town at one time, but has seen hard times. We rode down one road and had 2 dogs run beside us and they had a great time trying to stay with us. At the end of the road we had 5 beagles come barreling down the hill baying at us.
I only had to yell one time at dog owner because he would not call his dogs off of me. Share the Road! Well - said something else and cannot put it on the blog. We stopped at the Pfeiffer Fish Hatchery on our way to Monterey. On our way back we stopped for the second time at Canoe KY so we could get an ice cream, we got a life saver pop cycle – Yum!
Before the ride, I put Monkey Butt powder in my cycle shorts as the packaging advertised RELIEF from saddle soreness for cyclists, motor cyclists, truck drivers, etc.
Well I can’t attest to that relief because most of the powder ended up in puffs all around me and on my bike seat and bike bag.

Ken and I finished the ride by going down the slides at the outdoor pool at Falling Springs in Versailles. Then we hopped back on the bikes, wetter and chillier and headed to Ken’s parents where we were treated to a great chicken salad sandwich and lemon bars.
Then back to Falling Springs for a total of 112 miles!! It gave me some confidence, but I am so slow on the bike I am really worried about the 10.5 hour cut off in the Ironman. You have to have completed the swim and biking in 10.5 hours. I will do my best! At least I know how to ride to Monterey and back!

Do you know the way to Monterey (sung to the tune of San Jose)?I've been away so longI may go wrong and lose my way. Do you know the way to MontereyI'm going back to find some piece of road in Monterey.

HWY 127 is a great big freeway. Put a hundred down and buy a bike

In a week - or maybe two - they'll make you a tri-star.Weeks turn into years and quickly pass And all the tri-stars that never were are writin blogs and pumpin' tires. I've got lots of friends in Monterey.Wo oh oh oh.Can't wait to get back to Monterey.Wo oh oh oh.Do You know the way to Monterey?

(photos: the swim, Ken's finish(Ken is not the blue guy-one behind :), Peace sign on bike, Mary feeling the heat, Mary's finish, eating)

Thanks Rick for the photos including the lizard!

MAYSVILLE May 26.

Buffalo Trails MultiSport Triathlon/Duathlon in Maysville found Ken and me feeling good about our training and how far we have come from 2 years ago when we did this same event. This was evident in our swimming approach. 2 years ago had us on the barge in the back of the pack and we did not jump in the water to the very last! This year – we jumped in with the first group. I knocked 3-4 minutes off my swim time and 21 minutes off my bike time! The Big Hiney Hill found both Ken and I passing other cyclists and they saw our Big Bad Hineys! The weather was perfect. It did get hot on the run as there is no shade and I felt like a lizard on a hot rock. I passed one runner (a guy and younger than me and that is always good for my ego!!)

The food was great-Applebee’s catered and we ate sandwiches, baked beans and cole slaw and my favorite post race drink- Mt Dew! The day was not over; we drove back to Lexington and rode from Masterson Station Park another 28 miles. Lots of fellow cyclist from the Horsy 100 and they must have been Northerners because they were not very friendly and finally Ken and I quit saying Hey to them! Maybe they were just tired. Wait – we were tired too and we were friendly!

I am getting nervous about this Ironman. To the point I am crying! I think I have been very naïve about the whole event, kind of like how I was when I started working with 2 year old horses in training at Spendthrift Training Center - I did not know they could hurt you so I was handling horses that I should not have been handling since it was my very first horse job ever.
I just read that an IM past participant said that the swim is a "blender" of arms and legs. Blender! All I can think of is the puree cycle.
Good video:
http://www.nasports.com/mediacenter/fordvideo/fordvideo.php