YODER YEARS

Friday, July 13, 2018

Training gets put on hold: Life had other plans for me this week

Just as I was getting ready to settle into some serious training this month, life threw us a curveball. Actually threw Mandy a curveball and my training took on the collateral damage. Last Friday night, July 6th, as we were getting settled for the night, I was gearing up for a big weekend of my long run and bike. Mandy started experiencing some serious chest pains that she believed might be a heart attack. Just a couple weeks ago a co-worker of mine's husband was having some chest pains. He was going to take a shower and lay down instead of getting it checked out, and within an hour or so he had died of a heart attack. So with this fresh in my mind, I wasn't about to take any chances and took Mandy to the ER. She was diagnosed with a Winslow hernia, a rare form of hernia that needed immediate medical attention. They put her in an ambulance and took her straight to the University of Iowa Hospitals to meet with GI surgeons to figure out the next course of action. After 8 hours in the ER exam room, and talking with 5 different surgeons, the verdict was that she needed surgery that day to fix the issue. The head GI surgeon at UIHC had reassured me that she had done intestinal surgeries many times, however to show you just how rare this condition was, she did add that she had never seen anything like what Mandy had. Everything I saw that they had written down said exploratory surgery, meaning cut her open and figure it out from there. Thankfully God is great, and the 3.5 hour surgery went great. However for Mandy, going from Friday afternoon when all is well and you think you're in great health, to 24 hours later you have 22 staples in your stomach after being cut on, that is quite the whirlwind. We had to stay in the hospital for 4 more days, getting released on the following Wednesday the 11th. Mandy is still recovering and in some pain, but all is well medically and we hope for continued recovery.

Obviously my first and only priority at the time was Mandy's health and that she was going to be OK. Once we knew that was going to be the case, then I started thinking about the week of missed training. The Mon-Wed was no big deal, but I missed my long bike on Sat and my long run on Sun. This was the 2nd week in a row that I missed the long weekend workouts. This had me in a bit of panic. I was contemplating scrapping this whole quest and conceding that too many life happenings were going to keep popping up and derail my training leaving me unprepared. After some time contemplating this, Mandy convinced me that was ridiculous. I had put in too many hours to this point to get discouraged (31 miles of swimming, 819 biking, and 293.5 running), and keep on working through the process. The journey now just has an interesting and unique speed bump.

It's Friday night. The long bike and run of the weekend lie ahead. Time to conquer them and get back on track!

Friday, July 6, 2018

90 Days Out - Prepared or Time to Panic?

Half-way home on the training. I set up my training plan based on a combination of resources of the Ironman official site and triathlete.com. So what I would assume pretty reliable sources. I have been feeling pretty good where I'm at too. Been logging the time based on my plan, and not really experiencing any soreness or injury (knock on wood). But this week I got the Ironman Chattanooga newsletter and it lays out where you should be at, and how these next 3 months should look.

To this point my long bike has been 60 miles with a 2 mile run afterward, and I'm up to 11 miles on the run. The newsletter said I should be doing 80 miles comfortably at this point. Whaa?!

Also my plan had me gradually building miles all the way through mid Sept with about a 2 week taper. This thing said I should be a little more front loaded on the training and that basically all of Sept will be tapering. Huh?!

So looks like I have to change up the plan on the fly, and make some adjustments to really ramp up the miles over these next 6-8 weeks. It's doable but it has put some doubt in my mind that I have been doing enough. I guess this is why people get coaches. But I don't need no stinkin' coach!

I feel like now it's getting serious. Except for the very noticeable headband tan line that is going across my forehead.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

One Month In

Well, I'm about a month into training and all seems to be going well. I have worked through some normal soreness, but as I am building my base miles that seems to be going away. I did just run into my first minor setback. Toward the end of a 50 mile bike last Saturday, my bike started making a loud clicking sound on each revolution. Took the bike into the shop, and they said I have a bad bearing in there somewhere so they are ordering the part and getting it fixed. Good thing this past week was a recovery week so I was planning on dialing back the miles anyway. It did force me to ride the stationary bike at the Y yesterday for 2 hours though. I'm thankful for the Dan Patrick podcast which helped me get through that. Although sitting on that seat for 2 hours was way more painful than the 3.25 hours I spent on my bike on that 50 miler. I will be happy to get my bike back this week.

I have been keeping a log of all the time/miles spent since I signed up for this race, which was on March 14th. That was a Wednesday, and my log starts on March 17th. There must have been a few days of shock that had to wear off before I got out the door for my first training run (or I was too preoccupied by March Madness to get started right away).

Official count as of today:
19 hours swimming
523 miles biking
181.5 miles running

No idea if that is on track or if I'm not getting enough miles in. I go back and forth quite a bit on feeling pretty good that I'm doing enough, still being almost 4 months out, and sheer panic that I'm not doing nearly enough. I guess I need to trust the training plan I have laid out, and time will tell which feeling is correct. My guess is a little of both.

Another side benefit of this, that I counted on going in, is that regardless of what happens I will get in shape and shed some unwanted lbs. that have accrued over the last year or so. I use a scale at the fitness center at work, and I have no idea if the pounds are correct but I figure if I use the same scale throughout I can at least know how many lbs. I lose. I started the year on that scale at 245, which was my final playing weight at Iowa 20 years ago and have no reason to carry that much weight around now. At last check a couple days ago it read 219. So down 26 lbs. I still have more that I don't need to be carrying for 140.6 miles, so hopefully I can drop another 15-20 and see how I feel.

Trust the Process.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

The Journey Begins

Dear Scott Yoder,

Congratulations! You are now registered for the 2018 Little Debbie IRONMAN Chattanooga presented by: McKee A Family Bakery - General Entry - Individual Entry - Volume. Please check the event's website for updates.

"Holy crap, what did I just do?!" I exclaimed right after clicking the submit button.

Well, it's official. After years of deliberation and wondering if it's possible, the time has come to stop thinking and start doing. Training has begun for the Ironman, considered one of the toughest endurance events on the planet; 2.4 mile swim, 116 mile bike, 26.2 mile run. Consecutively. Not sure what I've ever done in my life that makes me think this is a smart idea, but for the past 15 years since Mandy inspired me to run my first marathon, I have always wondered if I have what it takes to finish this race. Now I guess we'll find out.

Three years ago I completed the Pigman Half Ironman. My goal was to finish that race with the confidence that I could tame the long course. While I did finish, I did not accomplish the goal. It took me 8 hours, 20 minutes, 48 seconds to complete when it should have taken me 6 hours or less. Long story short, I had kidney and liver failure, total body cramping, and ended up in the ER that night with IV fluids. At my follow up checkup 2 days later with my doctor, he said if he was on call in the ER that night he would have admitted me to the hospital that night based on my test results. There is some indicator of liver function in which normal is .6. Liver trauma occurs at a 1.2 reading. Mine was 2.75. Needless to say I retired from endurance events that night.

Fast forward 3 years later. I apparently have a short memory. The voice in the back of my head is still whispering to me if I think I have what it takes to conquer the long course. Now it's time to answer the question.

From most everything I have read about training for this race, the common theme is that you need a big "why" to do this. Because when you're 12 hours in, and everything in your mind and body is telling you to stop, you have to know your "why". So what's my "why". Great question. I'm not sure I have one main reason other than I want to see if I'm mentally and physically tough enough to do this. I also want to be an example to my kids. I want to show them, not just tell them, that if they set their mind to something that they can achieve things much greater than they think possible. I've sat at numerous youth sporting events watching parents yell at their kids to "go faster", "work harder", and "hustle" more times than I can count. And I can't help but wonder what they have done, or are doing, to demand this effort from their kids when I can't envision they ever did that themselves. I'm not saying that I am doing this to give myself the license to yell at my kids, but actually the opposite. I want to lead by example and show them how to put everything into something. I'm not sure these are big enough "whys", and who knows, maybe throughout this process I'll discover more reasons. I sure hope it's enough.

So in the Yoder Years Blog, that has been admittedly too quiet over the past few years (been very busy, but even more reason to probably document things), I hope to document the journey. And that's what it will be, because this is going to be WAY too much work simply for one day in September. I hope to embrace the process. And in the end, I may fail miserably and go down in flames, but at least I can say I tried.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Over the Last Couple of Years

It has been awhile since any updates here so quick review....

Scott & Mandy - We got passports! Through Scott's work we went to St. Lucia and the Bahamas. We decided if we didn't have kids, living on the beach selling bracelets made from shells we find seems like a pretty look idea. Then eventually buying jet skis and renting them out to people on the beach.....after they bought one of my bracelets, of course.

And, I also took a trip to Haiti. I was able to spend 10 days at Real Hope for Haiti with Nick & Staci, Deb & Doyle and others fun people from Minnesota. I was in charge of making wedding cakes for two weddings. Wait until I get the pictures on here for how they got to the reception....ha! I was also able to spend the afternoon observing in the doctor's office.....lets just say HIPPA doesn't exist there. And beyond that, just spending time loving on kiddos recovering from the effects of starvation. What a mission RHFH is for the people of Cazale.

Scott is the constant rock of the family. He continues to work hard at Mudd, you know...so we can eat and everything. And he also kept the family on track while I was back in school.

I have currently completed my PTA courses and working through 14 weeks of clinical. Got to say, I am enjoying working at a clinic as opposed to a classroom every day. But working everyday is hard. And, I've done it for 3 WHOLE days. Luckily for me, there was a weekend in between day 2 and 3! Scott has spoiled me. He has worked hard to ensure that I could stay home with our kiddos for the last 12 years. I'm a grateful mama.

Brooklyn - some how this girl is almost to junior high. She is playing soccer, volleyball, basketball...and it toying with the idea of cross country and track next year. She has a strong body with a very soft heart.

Alex - this girl is about 1.5 inches from being as tall as I am but has finally grown into her legs for the moment. Another growth spurt can change that at any moment....but for now, no more running like Bambi. She is fast and looks graceful when she runs.

Riggs - he keeps reminding me he isn't a baby anymore. I keep reminding him that he IS my baby and we will snuggle until I say so. Poor kid. But lucky for me, he loves his mama and puts up with it. Especially when dad says its time for bed....that ensures I get lots of attention and snuggles. I realize he is totally using me to delay bed time but ask me if I care. I don't.

Maizey - new addition to the family. She is a slobbery, loud talking, opinionated, grumpy 2 year old... English Cream Golden Retriever. And she loves snuggles from her buddy Riggs as much as I do. Everyone else that tries to snuggle with her gets her patented 'grrrr'. We say we love you, you say 'grrr'. She really is a sweetheart but might love wrestling more than anything else.

So, missing a lot of details but hoping this will get this started up again to keep track of all the crazy going on for us.

Monday, April 27, 2015

While the Boys are Away the Girls will Play

Its always fun when Brooklyn and Alex are on the same team

every other year. This is a same team year!

The girls had their 3rd game of the spring season.

Won 3-0.

Alex scored 1 of the goals!

Their overall record is now 9-0.

Love coaching this U10 team.

They all work so hard and get along great.

Below is last week's game. Brooklyn scored a goal.

side note: we must live in Iowa.

This week....windy and freezing. Last week....hot and sweaty.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

A Day in the Life of Hawkeye Football

Scott took Riggs down to Iowa City to experience Hawkeye Football.

Scott was coaching at Kamp Kinnick, an alumni led football camp for kids before the Hawkeye Spring Game and Riggs was going as his assistant. But, he ended up being able to participate in the drills too! Its all about who you know ;)

Not sure who had more fun, Scott or Riggs?!

If you ask...they both say 'ME'!

Pouring Rain....but loving every minute of it!