Bear with me – overflowing gratitude.

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Kym Zest

I have been celebrating my epic effort with equal (or greater) laziness.  Four day road trip followed by two days in bed with the kitties and Netflix.  Tomorrow the party of quiet fuzzy sloth has to come to an end.

I’m working on writing the story of the race.  In the meanwhile bear with me.  I give you the ubiquitous obligatory thank you speech.  They are so painfully boring.  I think they are boring because we know we all have a zillion people to thank all the time.  Because every story of accomplishment is filled with supportive people.

I’ve been trying for days to make this more interesting – to make this more than a list of people and tell a story – but it is beyond me.  Hopefully my list of gratitude may be a reminder of how fortunate we all are for the people in our lives.

To the readers of my blog.  Thank you for holding me accountable.  For keeping me honest.  For making me feel my story is worth sharing.

To the too numerous to name friends, family, colleagues, and clients.  Thank you for forgiving me my distraction and absence.  Thank you for asking about the training, for caring about my goals.

Thank you to all my clients who I consider all my sponsors.  You all tolerate that I prioritize my own workouts and then leave you for races. You inspire me with your own efforts, struggles, and accomplishments.  A special shout out to my bike sponsor Anne – who loaned me race wheels and got my bike all tuned up, and then so kindly got it and me going again after the crash.  Endless thanks to Kate and Glen – for helping me with gear, for loaning me your bike after the crash, and for providing food.

Thank you to all my training buddies!  There are more than I can name here.
Thank you to  Tim and the Strong Women Support Group who kept me lifting heavy shit and not succumbing to tunnel vision on endless endurance training.  Thank you to the Masters Swim group and to Dave Cameron whose keen eye and insightful coaching reshaped me as a swimmer.  Thank you to my swim buddy Shannon who two years ago got me going to swim meets again and generously made and delivered my pre-race salad for the road trip.  Thank you to the Running Intervals group – I’m so much faster when I run with all of you.  To Rose who organized some of my best long runs.  To Kaitlin who made many bike rides so much more fun.

To my fellow coach Laurie who delivered me food after the bike crash and then loaned me the cooler to take food on the road trip.  To my former colleague now physical therapist Robin.  Thank you for helping me assess my body and avoid injury.

To my boss/friend/fairygodmother Nicole Cueno.  Thank you for hiring me in the first place.  I am constantly surrounded by inspiration, and without that I don’t know if I would have ever dreamed this up.  Thank you for talking me out of bad decisions and believing in my gutsy ones. For supporting my training and when it was ok to not be training.  For pushing me to do better personally, athletically, and professionally.  For so much compassion when I err or simply am falling apart at the seams.  For being genuinely excited for this whole process.

Thank you to my parents.  To Zhao-Dad who started me on this journey.  For teaching me to swim, for getting me to run, for mentoring me as an athlete and a coach.  It has been especially fun to run together this summer.  To Nurse-Mom who is my number one cheerleader.  For nurturing and tending to all my wounds.  We had a pretty special summer taking care of all that can go wrong.  Thank you to Will’s parents Margaret and Paul whose house is so ever kindly open to me on long sweaty bike rides.  For providing our home away from home – the rental mini-van we named Myrtle.

To my husband Will who was there for it all, registration to finish line.  Thank you for agreeing to invest in this adventure.  For being there for the nerve racking moment of registration.  For putting up with a pretty absent wife and minimal household contributions.  For arranging the road trip and camping.  For driving long hours.  For putting up with my crabby nervousness.  For being my one man support crew for 17+ hours.  Thank you for making the entire journey more fun.  Never ending gratitude that you are in my life.

I could say so much more – but we all know that all our thanks should be never ending.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Steeling Myself: Top 5 List of Pain and Fear

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Kym Zest

Just about everything is done and ready.

My bike had its last tune up and Will epoxied a pad for my still sensitive arm.  B2B prepI even tried acupuncture to sooth my angry body and nerves.  B2B prepThe cavernous rental minivan is just about all packed for the road trip.  B2B prep

So there is nothing left to do but worry.  Or have fun. There is nothing left to do other than have fun and not die. .

As we drive 20+ hours to the biggest race of my life, I’ll try not to let fear overwhelm me.  I’ll try to remember why I do this crazy shit.  I’ll steel myself with all the other times I’ve been painfully uncomfortable and scared.

Kym’s top 5 list of type 2 fun – worthwhile pain and fear. 

  1. 19 days of paddling and portaging on the epic honeymoon.  The Beginning & the end with Crippling Grand Portage.
  2. The mountains of Mordor AKA Trinona Triathlon and my first 1/2 Iron Tri: SuperiorMan

  3. Years of learning that my bike is not trying to kill me. Then the Blasted Ice Biking of winter 2014
  4. Winter camping and the unfinished igloo that nearly killed me.
  5. The pothole that bounced me off my bike 7 weeks ago.

The race is on Saturday the 17th.  For the curious my bib number is 228 and results will be posted at beach2battleship.com

My stretch goal is under 12 hours.  Everything would have to go perfectly and I’d have to go faster than I did for my 1/2 Iron two years ago.  I’ll be happy with anything under 14 hours.  While I’ll be happy with finishing at all before the 17 hour cut off, anything over 15 would probably mean things have gone wrong for me.

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

OMFG – Taper. Finally.

Posted on September 27, 2015 by Kym Zest

It’s been 5 grueling weeks since the bike crash.  Today I ended my last “long” ride sobbing.  I’m too spent to be witty.  Here’s a recap of my rollercoaster.

The week of the crash I did nothing.  I’ve never done so much nothing.  The week after I managed 4 measly hours of “training” most of which was walking to work because I couldn’t bike.

On the third week I managed 10 hours of training – most of which was the Square Lake long course (1/2 Iron distance) Tri.  It was my first time back on my bike.  I was basically biking with one arm.  At least I finished.  I waited for results and had a hotdog.   I biked back to my in-laws.  I showered.  I ate.  I drove an hour home.  I showered again.  Four long hours after I had finished and I couldn’t imagine continuing to race for all that time and still having hours to go… I wanted to cry.  So I ate a mountain of chinese delivery.

On the fourth week I tackled 22 hours of training.  I had a cold rainy miserable bike ride.  Then capped off the week with a 11 hour training day.  It was exhausting, but I was really happy to have done it.

This last fifth week was going so well until the end.  I did some awesome lifting on Monday.  Did a good job running on the track with the Running Intervals class.  Swam back to back days on Thursday and Friday.  I had an amazing last 20 mile run on Saturday.

Today I was going to end this whole long training journey with a nice 100 miles on the bike.  Nope.

Biking has been taking a little more emotional energy.  Downhills make me nervous.  As does questionable roads.  Even just the illusion of uneven roads.  Such as downed autumn leaves and dappled sunlight.  Beautiful or scary?  I feel like I’ve got monsters under my bed.   When I’m feeling good I can convince myself that the shadows and leaves are not monsters waiting to knock me off my bike.

Today I lost it.  It was a beautiful sunny morning.  After some leafy trails and some old asphalt I was trying not to be miserable.  Then just over 20 miles into the ride I had the last straw.  I had to yell at a car cutting me off.  Tears started to trickle down.  Thought it would pass.  When it didn’t I pulled over and called my boss/coach Nicole.  “How important is this ride to my training?”  I broke down sobbing. I just wanted to go home.  She said it was ok to be done.  My race would be fine without this ride.  So I biked slowly home blinking through tears.

Not the most dignified or celebratory way to finish this training cycle.  I’m so ready for taper.

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Bike Badge Earned.

Posted on September 7, 2015 by Kym Zest

I was in triage at an ER trying not to hyperventilate.  My mom was saying “Yoga breaths.  Take yoga breaths.”  One kind nurse looked me in the eye and sternly told me to get my breathing under control.  After assessing my vitals she cut off my woolen arm sleeve and exposed The Wound.
Bike CrashAnother nurse was taking my info.  I’d take two good breaths, then return to panic.  She then asked “Rate your pain on a scale of 1 to 10.”  This made me pause.
I thought “Well if 10 is dying, bowels being eviscerated Braveheart style… and 1 is euphoria…”
Continue reading →

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Countdown

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Kym Zest

8 weeks to go.  5 weeks until taper.  4 key workouts.  Is it time to panic now?

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

We’ll drive 1350 miles, over 20 hours, in 3 days.  So that I can race 140.6 miles in under 17 hours.

I am overwhelmed by all there is left to do, and learn, and prepare.  I’ve got to plan the driving and camping, pre-race meal plan, final race food plans, finalize my gear/clothing plan…
Not to mention do the training.  Here’s my rough plan:  Continue reading →

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Not A Blister

Posted on August 9, 2015 by Kym Zest

Denial – had it so bad and I didn’t even know it.  Because I was avoiding it.  Sometimes there is nothing you can or should do.   This was not the case.  Remember way back in March when I said I had a blister in an unfortunate place?  It went away, so I forgot about it.

Then it came back.  Probably in mid June when my bike mileage was really ramping up.  And I shrugged.  “Meh.  Just part of the game.  Just got to toughen up.  Nothing to do about it, it’ll go away.”  I thought.

It’s been a while since I posted about my training.  So let’s recap.
At the end of May I delightedly reported I hit my new highest training week with just over 20 hours of training.  I followed that with a lot of rest, logging 2:50 for the first week of June.  Then 10:53, 16.04, 17:37, 8:07, 13:50, 10:58, and then an awesome 22:20 week!

Nurse-mom

Mom dressed as NURSE-MOM SUPERHERO!

Nope.  It had NOT gone away.

I closed out July with a 10:54 week and that’s when I cracked under the continual strain of discomfort and denial.  So I decided to take matters into my own hands.  My plan was to sterilize a safety pin to poke the blister, it would drain – problem solved.  I poked and nothing happened.  This is when I flipped out.  It was time to call my personal superhero to the rescue…
NURSE-MOM! Continue reading →

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

More Energy Noms

Posted on August 2, 2015 by Kym Zest

Sadly I am out of the baked egg and cheese bites and the strawberry and cream sandwiches.  Thankfully there are now raspberry mint rice bars and scallion pancakes in the freezer.   Not only are these things great athletic fuel, they are fantastic grab and go snacks for busy days.  Totally worth the tiny bit of effort for a months worth of portable noms.

The raspberry mint rice bars were stupidly easy, fast, and bountiful.   The scallion pancakes took a little more work, and didn’t produce nearly as much.

I got the sushi rice started in my microwave rice cooker while I got things prepped.
1/4c sugar, zest and juice of one lime, a dollop of honey and a bit of vanilla extract – All mixed into the hot rice.   Feed Zone

Continue reading →

Posted in Fitness, Kym Cooked | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Reluctant Report

Posted on July 26, 2015 by Kym Zest

I raced last week, but I don’t really want to talk about it.  I want my life back.  Three more months until I get my life back.   Well, my non-triathlon life anyway.  Big goals can take a lot of single-minded focus.  So I must be doing something right because I don’t feel like I’m doing anything else.   Swim, bike, run, rest, repeat.

I’m up for some more type 1 fun in my life.  More seeing friends.  More summer lounging like last summer.  More room for other interests.  Yes, I have other interests.  It’s like I’m cheating on my bike by admitting I have feelings for other activities.

Even my cooking has become a boring chore.  I haven’t had any energy or time to try any new recipes.

This year’s overall award print

So while I kinda wish I had something else to share, all I’ve got is a race report.
Heart Of The Lakes Annandale Triathlon.  It was it’s 30th anniversary this year; it’s one of the oldest triathlons in Minnesota.  Dad has been doing them since 1985, and it was my first triathlon in 1997.  I’ve done it every year since.  In the beginning I often won my age group because I was the only one in my age group (19 and under).  Sometimes I placed in my age group for a good season of training.  All these years I’ve coveted the top 3 overall prize of a framed print by a local artist.

This was going to be my year. Continue reading →

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Versatile Curry

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Kym Zest

Sometimes I’d rather be lazy and stop cooking.  I’d get by on take out, and frozen dinners, and chips and salsa, and ice cream.  I don’t want to stand in the kitchen.  I’m tired and busy – with work and training.  And I’m hot… Whine whine whine.

But the problem is that I just really like real food.  I feel better when I eat it.  So this summer it’s all about easy stuff.  One pot things that can be eaten different ways.

I bring you my versatile curry.  I used ground chicken, because it was in the freezer, but this could easily be a vegetarian dish.  Actually most things were already in my freezer or pantry.   Perhaps you can use it a littlespring board for you own cooking imagination.

lettuce wraps!

lettuce wraps!

Continue reading →

Posted in Kym Cooked | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Delicious Energy

Posted on June 27, 2015 by Kym Zest

Why did I not try this sooner?  I have never really liked energy bars, gels, and chews.  It’s just that sometimes you can’t just not eat.  I get tired, and crabby, and then unfocused.  That can be down right dangerous on a bike.  I found things I liked: Picky Bars – hazelnut mocha madness, Clif gel – mocha or expresso and Clif blocks – margarita all the way! 

I thought I liked them until I discovered REAL FOOD while biking.  Mind blown.

I took one bite and I was in heaven.  It was not just necessary to keep me moving – it made me happy!  Real food made me faster not just because my muscles needed the fuel but because it boosted my morale.

A couple weeks ago I got Feed Zone Portables from the library. Continue reading →

Posted in Fitness, Kym Cooked | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments