Harrison, our first born turned 6 today. Anyone who knows Harry knows that he is the sweetest old soul any golden retriever could be. It was a long, long time ago that I met Harry in my heart. I was a child leaving my first viewing of Star Wars back in the 70’s and I remember my heart aching for Han Solo. I soon found out the his name was Harrison and not Han. I didn’t care, I was in love.

I came from a dog people family and we always had labs growing up but as the independent thinker of the family I always wanted a golden retriever. Going to Star Wars with my dad that day sealed the deal, someday I would have a golden named Harrison.

Many moons later I found myself living in a tiny apartment in Boulder with my boyfriend BJ. We just started a new life and we were ready to add to our family. I had been with BJ just shy of 5 years and as I women of my way he was well aware of the predetermined arrival of Harrison.

It was a Saturday, we got online and searched for breeders in the area. We emailed a bunch and received a reply the next morning from Chuck Mervar of Mervar Kennels in Longmont, he had one male left from his litter. I knew it was Harrison.

BJ never had pets growing up so he’d never been to a breeder, he’d never experienced the unconditional love you receive from an animal and he surely had never experienced the inexplicable heartbreak of losing an animal (oh boy….let’s not go there). Above all, he had never seen a golden retriever puppy, we left the house and I said ‘don’t forget the checkbook’. He said ‘we’re only going to look’. Right…’BJ get the check book’ I knew he had no idea what he was in for.

To appease the man I loved we agreed on a signal, if he took his sunglasses off his head and put them in his pocket then I knew he was on board. Having no doubt those glasses would be off his head as soon as we saw the puppies I agreed. With check book in hand and a smile on my face we were off to Mervar Kennels to meet Harrison.

4 weeks later on a rainy, cold Thursday night we had dinner at Dinapoli and headed to Longmont to get Harrison. I remember stopping at Pet Smart and buying him food on the way home, he was snuggled in a blanket on my lap. BJ went in and left us in the car to keep warm. No idea why but I sang ‘Crazy’ by Patsy Cline and I sensed that it immediately put him at ease, he liked it. Still to this day when I want to have a special moment with him I will get close to his face and sing ‘Crazy’. Even in his adult years, he still loves it and so do I. Harrison quickly transformed to Harry which suits him better but the full name is often used for authoritative reasons. Harry is always in trouble but he is a special boy.

Happy Birthday Harry, you’re my sweet baby boy.

Yo yeah, I attacked my first masters class today. Let’s just get this out of the way first….loved it, embraced it and yes, I do want to marry it. I did throw up once but it was just once and not that much actually made its way into the pool. I had a peanut lodged somewhere between the back of my nose and the back of my throat. I finished the set then using a combined effort of hawking up and sniffing down it came loose.

Back to the pool to finish out the class. I was the last in my lane, resorted to fins 30 minutes in but didn’t necessarily get my ass handed to me despite what it may sound like. It was exactly as I had pictured it, waves, limbs, lots of people swimming strong and mouthfuls of water. I didn’t feel panicked in the least, I felt quite comfortable actually. Psyched, is more like it. It was a solid challenge and I’m sure it will make me a stronger swimmer.

A big day for the other lady of the house, Lhasa turned 4 today. We will be celebrating both b-days (Harry’s is Friday) this weekend. Probably some swimming, cookie eating, loving and frosty paws. Photos coming for sure. In the meantime, here are a few of the special girl for you to admire.

Happy Birthday Lhasa, you’re my best girlfriend in the world.

Back to training on Monday - up at 5am, to work by 6am and quit around 1:30 to head out on the bike. I prepared everything on Sunday; water bottles, nutrition, clothes. Preparation is key - without it I could have easily lost an hour getting myself out the door yesterday and an hour was something I did not have the luxury to lose.

First ride outside - ahhhh, felt so good and thoughts of June 22nd danced in my head. Headed west on Lookout from 75th and was hit with the wind. 9 miles an hour downhill, pedaling my little heart out. Headed north of 63rd with wild gusts and one extra scary moment involving me and an SUV that was passing me way too close, way too fast just as the wind almost took me down (sound familiar anyone?).

Instead of getting pissed at the wind, world and jackass in the SUV I thought - ’stay positive and maybe the wind will subside’. Headed east on Nelson to 75th, the wind started to die down and remained manageable to enjoyable for the rest of the ride. With 5 miles left the sun finally peaked out of the clouds and I felt the heat of the sun. I’ve missed that warmth and I’m ready for more. Ride took 2hrs 50min (wind slowed me compounded by the fact that I’m just not that fast).

Got home just in time for my 10-minute run, the first in over 5 weeks. I was elated - sun, skirt, shuffle (which is all I could really do in order to keep my heart rate down). No pain in the foot, a little pressure but no pain. Giddie Up!

Into the car and off to BCSM for power max class with the HEPsters. Hard class…as I was just saying to BJ I think I rode harder at that class than I ever have on my own. I think being in the group setting, being on the trainer and being able to see all your stats on the screen makes me push it. It was a difficult class but really just mental for me. Heart rate as high as 188 - my Z5 is anything over 184 so yes, I was pushing it. I had the strength and life in my legs so it was just the mental piece of pushing through and making the workout my bee-atch! Craig said I killed it, felt like I did but it was good to hear that from my coach. In order to make my bike goal of 6.5 hours (which is my very aggressive goal) I need to get my power to weight over 3. Right now, it’s hovering just below.

Monday set the precedent for the next two weeks - train hard, push it and stay positive.

Slept in again today - it’s what I do now. Got a jump start on work followed by a 90-minute massage from Jen. She knows how to pack a punch and I’ve learned how to take it. I’ve been experiencing some chronic ailments lately; numbness in my hands at night, pain in my ‘ankle of opportunity’ and a cervical spine that felt more a stack of seashells with sand in between; i.e. crepitus. Jen is a big chiropractic fan and had told me about The Joint; a walk-in chiropractic clinic in Boulder. It’s in and out, nobody gets hurt type of place, exactly what I needed. I had been thinking about chiropractic for a long time and felt ready to test it out today.

Arrived at The Joint immediately after my session with Jen and went full boat. Told them I need everything checked over. Down and dirty, just how I like it. Throw me on the table, twist me up and adjust the crap out of my skeleton. Back, neck, wrists, ankle, hips, shoulder….joint after joint, bones moving back into their space. It was definitely baptism by fire but I’d have it no other way. Results = profound. My joints feel incredibly fluid. This experience and how I feel now make so much sense to me. I take such good care of my muscles but if my structure is out of whack then what good is one without the other? The test now is to see if the combined modalities will allow me to hang on longer to the results. I think I affected my body today in a major way, I think hanging onto the positive results will absolutely be what happens.   We’ll soon see.

Where have I been this week? If anyone is wondering, I’ve been sleeping. Catching up on rest, work and being a lazy SOB. I didn’t realize how much I needed this recovery until I started to recover.

Hit the elliptical Monday (not gaining any fitness there) for 40 minutes, soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much easier than pool running. Hit power max class Monday night at BCSM for a tough class but it’s so much easier when you don’t ride 3 hours before hand which is what I usually do. Tuesday I took off because I had a taxing day in my practice and according to my stress manager I needed to rest in order to prepare to my LT Thursday. Wednesday rest and hydration in prep for my test today.

10am, the Optimize Endurance mobile testing unit arrived at our house. This thing is not only awesome in size but this testing center is dialed in like nothing I’ve ever seen. It was incredibly convenient, I can’t say that enough. Just rolled my bike out of the house and into the truck for my LT. I haven’t had an LT for 2 years so I was due. That’s me in my the 08 Skirt cycling line; sexy back tank and vogue shorts. Super comfy and more technical than previous lines, love them. Thanks Nicole.

In my test results, I found a slight change in my zones, for the better, I will be more comfortable in these zones and further confirmation that I ride the higher ends of my zones. I need to spend more time in low Z2. I’ve gotten better over these past 3 seasons but there is alot of work to be done (isn’t there always?). I have seen improvement in some areas but still need to slow down to see optimal results. It is what it is. Good to get the lead out, I felt better today then I have all week. I felt very stagnant and frankly like crap for the past few days. Looking forward to a few days of yoga and then getting back into the groove.

For all you 9-5er’s out there…Optimize Endurance services is unbelievably convenient and perfect for lunch time LTs. I highly recommend Rob, he runs a clean ship, knows what he’s talking and is a cool dude to boot. What is more convenient then someone coming to you, if your tempted, try it - I highly recommend it.

Off to bed, more sleep, more sleep…loving the slumba!

It’s stabilizer week, time to restore balance in my life.  This morning the alarm went off at 5am and the G’s didn’t move.  There was some mumbled commands of ’snooze’ and that’s it, next thing I knew it was 7:10.  Sleeping in and having the option to do so.   It was a beautiful thing.  Light day today, 50 minutes on the elliptical and the p-max class tonight at the center.

Finished the week with a 400yd TT in the pool - 5:52 which is 1:28 100s.  I was pleased with that especially since I’m going for 1:35s at IM, we’ll see if I can do that.  The swim is my strength and it all goes down hill from there so it would be nice to have a really strong 2.4 to start my day on June 22.  After my workout, I swam with the Tiara Ditcher for 1200 yds.  It was fun to swim with her and hopefully helped her by giving her a few things to think about.  I think the key with swimming is that you simply cannot think about all of the things that there is to think about.  Concentrate on a few, get those dialed in so that they are automatic and move on to improving another piece.  I owe the Ditcher big time since she ran the Denver Marathon (my first and like her 33rd or something crazy like that).  We pulled into the finish with a 5:43:00 time.  Now that is one patient marathoner with no ego (at least that day).

It’s snowy here in Boulder, got about 5 inches last night and a good day to hunker down for work.   Lying in bed with the animals, drinking coffee, one of my favorite places to be.  Time to get my butt out of bed and to the gym for my first elliptical workout.   I’m so excited to have graduated out of the pool, next week at this time I’ll be running!

That’s it, I wash my hands to pool running and graduate to the elliptical before heading back out on the streets for real time running. I went out with a bang today and for some reason it was easier mentally than last weeks even though it was 20 minutes longer. Just one of those things, some workouts are easier on the mind than others. I just kept truckin’ up and down the lane, up and down the lane, up and down the lane for 145 minutes.

I thought alot about CDA today during my workout. I think its important to visualize the day and set an intention for how it will play out. I’m staying positive and have a true excitement within me. Finishing up the week tomorrow with a 2350 swim (400 yd TT) and then I’m meeting the Tiara Ditcher for a drill swim after. Then it’s mexican/margarita family night with the kids.

Heading into stabilizer and it feels goo-ood!

Today would not have existed without the magic of coffee. Seriously people, I am an outwardly expressive full-on coffee addict. There is no way I would be training and living the dream without my lova ‘joe’.

Without Joe, I’m confident I would very much be an under stimulated, slow witted drag with whiter teeth. We love you Joe - you are the Gumkowski third (a threesome if you will), we’d be nothing without you so keep on keeping on.

After 2 cups of my lova, the first with my eyes closed in the dark (whatever it takes, lights on - lights off) we hit the pool for 6:30, a late start for us. Checked in at the counter with Joe, he’s an actual person, whose heavy eyes were the first clue that he had not had a cup of himself yet. Poor guy, running on empty, a dark place to be.

3100 yards and I continue to feel strong in the pool even when I’m fatigued. Main set was 1000 yds in Z3 with the first 25 of each 100 in Z4. Good practice for swimming hard and then learning to settle in without coming up for air, so to speak. The H2O was feeling zen today.

Even though the first few minutes of each day this week seem impossible I keep bouncing back and am able to tackle my day with strength. Tomorrow is my brick: 39 mile ride, 85 minute pool run (only 2 more pool runs) then I have 4 hours of massage in the afternoon/evening. A great day planned for manyana, Joe is set to brew at 4:45am. My man betta not let me down.

My eyes are shutting soon, very soon so this must be quick. My spirit is lifted and I feel great. I had a big day today in my practice and not so big day training - 65 minute pool run. I’m feeling positive and excited for what is to come. I’m starting to realize how schizophrenic this blogging thing makes me look and feel. One week I’m hating it, one week I’m loving it, one minute I’m a tough girl and the next a total wuss. Thus is the ups and downs of Ironman training. Well, I’m the first to admit I have two people living inside me so I may as well share them with the world. Off the bed, I think I’m writing this in my sleep. Big swim tomorrow, those are all the details I know at this point, I don’t make a practice of looking at my plan before I’m submerged in the work out. Not always a good idea, but a surprise nonetheless.

I love Sundays, the sabbath, a day of rest which I have no problem taking.  I live for rest days as I do taper, recovery and stabilizer but I’m sure you know that about me by now.  I train so that I can do nothing.  It’s a beautiful cycle, I bust my ass so that I can sit on my ass a few weeks a year.

So today ensued like all other rest days, tons of coffee with a special breakfast delight, today was bagels, cream cheese, sliced tomato and black pepper.   Followed this up with lunch at the Walnut with the Pizza Luva and Tiara Ditcher , a nap and lots of Gumkowski admin in the home office.

Feeling rested and ready for the week ahead knowing that a week from today will be a stabilizer-eve!

What’s coming my way this week….

6800 yds swimming
102 cycling
295 minutes pool running

Bring it on Craig, you’re not scaring me!