As you know, we’ve completed the Ironman and what better way to share our experience with you than a video clip inspired by the world cup.  (made with a mac)

Also, here is an article (Hebrew) I wrote for bonk.co.il

It’s crunch time and we can all feel it. Walking into our appartment is like entering ground zero of Ironman Training. Once you open the door, and step into the living room you are faced with our sturdy bikes, proped up on the trainers ready for the next tripple digit ride; bento boxes open, revealing a left over powerbar or perhaps some salt pills in a miniature zip lock bag. An ITB roller towers over our living room as if to warn us of the injuries to come. If you dare venture into our kitchen, it’s like you’re standing next to the discount bin in a sports nutrition shop. We have an endless array of gels, bars, pills and powders, all in place with several full refill bags underneath the table. Instead of drying pots and pans, we have Aerobotles and shakers, maybe a left over oatmeal pot from the treturous weekend that passed.

A few steps further on the left is the shower. “His & Hers” wetsuits are lying on the top of the shower curtain dripping down, drying from the morning ocean swim. It already looks used and we have a few tears to fix. Then there is THE room. THE room with everything else. A room full of our workout clothes, shoes and everything in between. A dresser that was used in the 1960′s for some ladies purfume, brush and lipstick was now home to about 7 body glides, two sports sun screen bottles and about 15 trophies. My Zipp wheels are resting on the couch (tapering for race day), another neglected mountain bike and my teleporting folding bike stand in the shadows of our serious equiptment.

The bedroom is no better. There are ice packs from the night before which we promptly return to the freezer for next time; More pills and water bottles next to our bed and a tredmill covered with drying towels and some clothes just to feel normal.

This is our life right now.

It won’t get better until we return from our Ironman and regain sanity.

We can’t think about that now though.

Now we just have to live through this week, taper right and plan our race and race like we planned.

UPDATES

I now have two 200km ride under my belt and one 5km open water swim. Tamir and I just got back from a weekend training camp. On Friday I rode 4 hours, swam 1 hour and ran 1 hour. On Saturday I rode 4 hours and ran 2 hours. On Friday Tamir swam 1 hour and ran two hours. On Saturday he rode 180 km and ran 20 minutes.

We are BEAT!

Raanan – People in Zone 3 smile sometimes. We just have to do it in secret so that a certain someone doesn’t see. Then we can pretend that the sun is in our eyes if we get caught. It will be worth it when I’m not throwing up during the marathon. You wait and see

As for the future – This week was tough and I’m planning an 8 hour sleeping night, needless to say “woo hoo”. Tomorrow morning I have an ocean swim with Mor, my spiritual zone 3 leader and a 2 hour run in the evening. Friday is a short 4 hour ride and saturday is a super duper double brick (say that ten times fast).  In English that translates to 85km ride, then 17km run, then 51km ride, then 8km run.

This might be an exageration but last week was quite the week from hell.  I know that most of our posts are about how great we are, how much stuff we bought, how strong and brave we feel and how muscular and fit we look.  If you came here come to make your day a bit brighter, you are in the wrong place.  Apparently, (I wasn’t told this) but training for an Ironman has it’s downs too.   The bottom line is that the third wheel team isn’t exactly sh**ing butterflies and roses…  except for Tamir.

It all started last week when I came back from London.  After a 5:30 hour flight, I went straight to the gym and swimming.  Then after another 4 hour sleep, I woke up to ride in the rain for 4 hours.  This must have thrown my immune system off because I later got sick.  I won’t bore you with the details but it did end up costing me two full days of training AKA an ETERNITY.  Tamir was away and in my head I was simply miserable, tired, fat & bloated, weak, and most importantly, scared to death that something like this happen a day before my big race.

It’s amazing how optimistic thoughts can vanish in an instant when you’re sick or injured.  It seems like your hopes and dreams are escaping you.  This is especially the case when your voice of reason is chillin’ in Disneyland while you are battling the annual rainfall in Israel. To the uninformed: Tamir was in rubbing shoulders with Donald Duck and the rest of the bigs wigs at the Mickey Mouse Club for a couple of weeks during a conference.   I really did feel for this one week like the world around me was collapsing and all I had to do was wait it out.

I forced myself to get on the trainer after two days of couch potatoing (real word or made up?) and somehow managed to break a sweat.  It helped to listen to WMZQ country music while reading subtitles of family guy.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t have made it.  I couldn’t muster up the minimal energy required to wake up early in the morning so I worked out after work.  One day, after a 1:30 hour run… I crashed.  The Doctor hadn’t give me antibiotics (only painkillers), and apparently that wasn’t enough for my body to recover.  After my run and my shower, I couldn’t get warm and couldn’t stop shaking.  My teeth were shattering to the point where I was biting myself.  I curled up on the coach and called my mommy (Don’t judge me, you should always call your mommy in situations like this).  Luckily, my hero brother came to the rescue and we got antibiotics from the clinic. 

Now I’m much much better.  The ride last Saturday brightened my mood and I felt strong even though I’m still on antibiotics.  I rode for 5 hours and ran later that night for 1:15.  I guess I’m back to my old self again.  I also have my sweet wheel back and he brought my new ZIPP wheels from Disneyland.  I think that the moral of the story is… DON’T GET SICK! This whole thing could have been avoided if I just stayed not sick.
I can’t believe I had to spell that out for you. Gosh…

Friends, Family, and Fools!
Tamir, Raanan and I have completed the Israman 1/2 Ironman.  The complete recap of the race will come tomorrow but I wanted to give you some photos and commentary in the meanwhile.

Wetsuit fun – From left to right : My mom , Me , Tamir.

My parents came all the way down south to watch me race and woke up super early

Some wetsuite Lovin’

Stretchin….

Then, I decided to get my hair a little wet and a huge wave hit my face. It wasn’t on camera but this is a few seconds later.

The third wheel and all our glory.  A fourth wheel is peeking in from the back…. (Ravit, Raanan’s wife / Tamir’s sister / special energy cookie maker)
Raanan – WAKE UP!!

The fourth wheel close up.

Raanan and Ravit

After we left for the bike, my dad took advantage of the time he had to wait.
Our transition to run was on a mountain so there was nothing to do until the finish.

We all finished one by one (Results will be in the next post)

Another finishers kiss

And here we are as a team… sort of…

My coach , Sharone, came all the way from Chicago to cheer me on…

Exchanging war stories…

And Tamir can kind of look like David Duchovny

Lets get busy. It’s taper time until the 29th of January and that means one thing – Stop eating so much!

It also means something else; It means that it’s time to start thinking about what the I’m going to do during the race.

It’s time to contemplate the swim, bike and run.

It’s time to simulate the race in my head.

It’s time to prepare for the best and expect the worst.

It’s time to drink nuun’s until my kidneys reject regular water.

It’s time to stop regretting not buying that thingamajig that connects to the whatsit that makes you 5gr lighter and 1 second faster.

It’s time to chill… relax… and… MAKE LISTS!

Below is my Israman Half Ironman list.

Half IM Checklist (ISRAMAN 2010)

Swim

RACE CHIP!!!!

Bathing cap

Goggles

Wetsuit

Bike

Bike (Duh, but it has to be here for completness)

Helmet

Pump

Cycling Shoes

Cycling socks

Arm warmers

Long sleeve technical shirt / wind breaker – JIC

Leg warmers – JIC

Water Bottles

CO2 Cartriges

Repair kit

Extra tube/s

Trash bag to cover bike at night

Run

Shoes (Mizuno because there is no way I’m running down hill in the Newtons)

Socks

Running hat (Newtons hat. Gotta show off Newton somehow)

Extra socks

Nathans water holder

Wet nap! (I noticed that I sweat into my eyes and it BURNS. I need a wet nap before the descent)

Nutrition

Swim - 30 minutes before

4 Recovery pills

4 vo2 max pills

2 motivator pillsBike – One bottle with two scoops powder (TSC Power Cabs) – 260 cal

(I used to use Carbo Pro but it’s too big to bring to Israel. TSC has no flavour and the same calories and carbs as Carbo Pro. I think that it’s an exact copy)

One bottle with two scoops powder and nuun – 260 cal

Two clif bars – 480 cal

GU Gel just in case

Total Calories – 1000

4 Recover Pills, 4 Vo2 Max pills , 4 salt pils

Run – 3 Gels (One extra just in case)

4 Vo2 Max pills , 2 motivator pills just in case

Clothing

Triathlon suit

Flip flops

Shorts and t-shirt to change into

Compression socks for afterwards

Bike jacket – JIC

Long sleeve shirt for beginning of ride

Other

Flip (If it’s not on camera , it didn’t happen!)

Now lets see when I need what:

Before -

Anti Shafting lotion (Body Glide)

Sunscreen

Rubber bands

Marker

Electric tapes (For Gels)

Scissors (For electric tape)

Flash light (incase we need to get ready in the dark)

During -

Sunglasses

Race Belt

HRM – Heart Rate monitor and strap

Wet Naps

Pain relief pills – JIC

Needle & Bandaid (For Tamir to pop his blisters)

After -

Towel

Pain relief pills – JIC

Flip Flops

Wet naps

Hair band

Hair Brush

There you have.

My first list of many.

Any suggestions? Anything I forgot?

You may or may not know that we weren’t officially listed on the Ironman Brazil website until yesterday. As a matter of fact, Israel wasn’t even listed as a country in the drop down list. We committed to Issta and patiently waited for instructions. When I say patiently, I obviously mean that we took turns calling Issta every single day to check what’s up. The answer we always got was “Eeye Beseder” meaning “it will be alright” which should probably be Issta’s catch phrase since it’s the only answer we ever got. After wiring about $750.2 to an unknown in Brazil through Western Union and many weeks of waiting, we were full of anticipation. All we wanted was to choose “Israel” from the drop down list and see our three names; but every time we tried, we ended up searching “Italy” instead and getting 55-59 year old Roberto Zanotto. Good luck Roberto…

A few days ago Tamir and I went to get my stem changed on my bike. As mentioned in the post “Fit me”, I needed a shorter one. As I was riding on the trainer to try out my new position, Tamir receives an email that looks something like this:

“Hi Tamir Gotfried,

We have you confirmed for Ironman Brasil 2010!

Race number 1682…..

Train safe.”…

I yelled to him “Give me my iPhone!!” (In the Kramer/ Gotfried world, we need to specify iPhone or Blackberry because we both have each of them) I had to see my own email confirming that I’m in. I clicked on the circular refresh arrow on my iPhone email program and waited…. But nothing… well, it takes a few seconds after you send it and maybe they weren’t done with the copy/ paste and changing the name and number… I clicked refresh again… again nothing… and again….
Ooohh , Amazon has a sale on Clif bars. How did they know that would interest me? Cool… but not the email I was expecting.

Scenarios filled my head.

1. Sitting in the office tracking number 1682 on my screen, ripping my heart out and eating it.

2. We do have the same bike size… with a few props; I could totally be Tamir for the day. I just need to take his clothes, get a haircut and run a bit slower. (Babe, you wanted me to write this part   , it’s all out of love)

3. Standing in the finish line, 20 depression pounds heavier, holding a sign saying “Go 1st and 2nd wheel…. We all know who the 3rd is”

Reality sunk in as we were once again taking up Amos’s sleep time. We left and I thought about how it would be ok. I’ll get the email soon.

A few hours later, we all get an email from Raanan. He got the official email just like Tamir and only I’m left in the unknown. It’s not a big deal though, maybe tomorrow…

I admit, I was getting nervous but I continued to let Tamir be optimistic for me and finally I got it… number 1683. I’m in! The 3rd wheel team is all in!

Now we can really start panicking. Before our name was on the website, our panic wasn’t justified but now we have reason to worry. Now we can start thinking about the waves and the weather and our equipment and nutrition etc. Now its official – The 3rd wheel (Anat, Tamir & Raanan) are signed up for IM Brazil! I’ve never done this much to justify a tattoo

The relationship has officially began between IWCC (My good ol’ team) and The 3rd Wheel (My new Ironman team). On Satruday we had a successful group ride together. For Tamir and Raanan, it was the first time drafting in a pellaton and for me it was the first time bringing newbies. I admit I was proud to bring my team because at the end of the day, as Raanan said, it’s all about how we look and we looked damn good.

The ride started very easy and gradually picked up speed. For a change we were riding with two other girls. They are both strong triathletes and I think it made the team look good and diverse. I remember when I first started riding with the team, I was the slow poke. It would usually get to the point where I didn’t see the group until the break or a turn. Now, I can keep the pace and on Saturday with the girls, I feel like at least if someone is riding at my pace, she’s working hard and not riding by my side to keep me company.

aanan and Tamir were strong and they both kept up nicely. It’s hard when you don’t know drafting because you end up spending more energy than you really should but I believe that soon they will be drafting pros and even get into the lead at some point.

Check out video :

Dietition

I’ve started going to a dietition; not to lose weight but to make sure I’m eating the right foods to perform better. After our first meeting, I had to write down everything that I put in my mouth. Needless to say, the very act of doing that made me lose about 1.5kg. That will only work though, if you know that someone will be looking at the list afterwards. I still had a piece or two of chocolate everyday and alchohol and what not but I guess it didn’t matter.

She gave me some pointers :

• No more cashews. They have bad fat even though they are nuts like me. I’m A-nut.
• Eat a yogurt of upto 1.5% the minute I finish a workout
• Only eat energy bars with less than 5% fat (most clif bars are more)
• Other less interesting things.

I took the liberty of checking out Clif Bars and Powerbars in search of less than 5% bars.  Here are the findings:

After some thorough thinking , I think I’m going to try Apple Cinamon, Malt Nut, Oatmeal Rasin, Rasberry Cream and Vanilla Crips.  They seem the most promising of the bunch.

Bike fitting is like going to the dentist. You come in thinking that everything is fine and end up realizing you have been walking around with cavities in your mouth for six months. The only difference is that bike fitting is much more fun; you get measured all over, the focus is on making you comfortable and most importantly, making sure your tushy (& friends) don’t fall asleep after 100km. Yesterday, Tamir came with me to get a bike fitting. He had done it before and just needed an adjustment but it was my first time. I had done one bike fitting before buying the Orbea but that was a year ago and it was time to relive the experience.

We went to Amos Wolf in Ramat Hasharon who I had met in a business meeting with my coach a while back.  He left a good impression on me at the time so I sent my friends over to him for fitting.

The damage of the visit is :

1. I’m lopsided… or as Amos put it, one side of me is collapsing
2. My back is crooked when I ride
3. My right heal is going in too much
4. I need a new stem and new handlebars in a different size

Overall, there are enough negative points for the change to be worth while and hopefuly help me utilize my power more. Amos had all sorts of gizmos that he used to measure me.  My favorite by far was the butt bone measurer (I made up the name).  It’s a white pad that you sit on and the color changes wherever you ass bones are. That is how you know what kind of seat you need… Genius.  I bet their elevator pitch was something like “We make butt bone measuring seats for bike fitting. Although there is a lot of competition in the ass measuring sector, we feel that our unique butt cheak pressure pads will give us a competative edge.”

Another genius thing is what measures how in line your knee is with you foot.  His friend works at in construction and he got a “lazer” and with this “lazer” he can see if you’re in line or not. Also very cool.

The bottom line is that I need two things : A new stem 90mm with negative seven degrees and 38cm compact handlebars because I was apparently leaning forward too much.  Those will be my next two purchases.  Another purchase that we will probably get soon is a compact crank. In the Israman there is a giant mother f**ng hill and my gears will just leave me pedaling with snail cadence.

Last years fitting (Get a grip cycles in Chicago) :

This years fitting (Amos!):

Last years fitting :

This years fitting :

Comments are welcome!!!

We are all standing in the cold staring at the Red Sea with our untinted goggles and bright yellow bathing caps.  The Jordan flag peaks up from the other side of the water and three big red buoys stand between us and the other side. Under each yellow bathing cap is an anxious face awaiting the final and most anticipated triathlon of the season; the race which supersedes all others in its grandeur; the race where you are bewildered by the tropical waters, faced with the intense desert wind, and … well, you have to run too.

My friend turns to me and says – “That’s her – should I introduce you?”.  I decided to choose a competitor for this year’s race. I’ve never raced against a particular person.  I always raced against myself, but this year I chose one who I deemed worthy. “Yes, introduce me”.  She didn’t know it then, but she was being marked as a target.  5,4,3,2,1 and we were off. Very quickly, opponent raced ahead and I thought to myself “Well, that was a short lived dream gone to the sh**ter” but I plowed onward in the water.   My swim was disappointing… Even the tropical fish seemed to have a disappointed, wide eyed look on their faces as if to say “You dare swim in our waters at this pace? Have you seen my son, Nemo?”.  I quickly shake the thought and somehow finish the swim which gets me off to a bad start and serious disadvantage.

After a quick transition I’m faced with the unforgiving head wind of Kvish Haarava.  It’s the Queen K highway of Israel so to speak.  Soon, I notice that some women in the age group before me riding nearby and I’m keeping their pace.  They may have swum 5 minutes faster than me but I can hold my pace with them on the bike just fine.  In the distance I see opponent struggling with the wind.  This is my chance to pass her.  I creep up and without a word, go past and keep with the girls who were later going to take 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place in their respective category.  I passed them and they passed me until we were near the turn around point, they were a bit ahead.  I had passed opponent but the fight was not over yet. The gap that was formed during the swim has diminished and the goal has changed into creating an even larger gap between us.

Another quick transition and I was at the run. I took my GPS because I wanted to know how fast I was going.  This motivated me to keep a good pace and I kept wondering why I had never done this before.  Every once and a while, I would see Gisenu (Tamir) on the run but our encounters were brief.  We were both short of breath and each faced with our own personal goals.

Triathlons are one of those sports that make you wonder what monkeys think of humans.   We think of what monkeys do all the time (at least I do) but how often do they look at us and ponder what we do? The biggest difference between us and monkeys is that we wonder what they are thinking and wonder if they are wondering what we’re thinking but we don’t really know. I can get even more ambiguous if I have more time…

To cut a long story short, I passed opponent by 11 minutes (!!!) and got second in my age group.  There was a nice ceremony and I got yet another trophy for the collection.  Now back to reality and Ironman training. The very next day we rode up the Israman hills just to top off our race from the previous day.

Video From the climb in Eilat