Paying Homage to The Great One

It's Margie's birthday and for this one day all year, I'm asking myself: What can I do for The Great One today?

At the very least, I am suppressing the urge to discuss my training, the condition of my body, and the myriad details of my personal life that find their way into her inbox. I hope she enjoys the 1-day reprieve.

Margie is an owner of =PR= so I'll head to the Cleveland Park store to pick out gear and help put food on her table (also appropriate since I'll be eating that food off her table tonight).

I can serve as a training partner for her to CRUSH. That smile of hers changes when she gets on the bike.

Yeah beeeatch!! Happy Birthday!!

Romance Camp

We advertise in our About Us: This blog is a placeholder for us to share our race reports, attempts to balance full time jobs and training, moods, comparisons between East and West coast living, love lives (or at least Lindsey's as Lauren is married and off the market) and random bits of enlightened thinking.

INDEED, the time has come for me (Lindsey) to touch on the topic of romance. With a season full of training, travel, working, and gchatting LAHP to cause early onset of carpal tunnel syndrome, there was no time for boys. Although, I bumped into someone who is proving to be sherpa material. Perhaps one day he will be tested by the @expertsherpa himself? I can only hope... Anyway, we plan to rendezvous in DC this January, but that was proving FAR TOO LONG without seeing each other, so I boarded a plane for a 112 hr date which we called Romance Camp.

The guiding principles of Romance Camp--it's a judgment free zone (#JFZ). Always.

A lesson learned: it is better to give than to receive.

I used every trick in the book to equalize the playing field at the pool.

We even went to this GEOGRAPHIC destination:

And since the conclusion of my 5-day Romance Camp (where I shed off-season weight from excessive training, napping and pre-napping), I have been engaged in the activities printed on this post-it note:

Now we press on, awaiting Romance Camp Deux...

The Salting of America and other LAHP Musings

Life is happening again in the Pataky household and that is how I like it. Matt is making progress in his recovery and we are learning how to live with the necessary changes. I’m slowly relinquishing my temporary claim on the most sexy of tasks – dog-walking, front yard dog crap clean up, trash take-out, and designated driving. I really have no stories to relate or bits of wisdom to impart to others, so I’ll leave you with my list of random thoughts compiled over the past few weeks of pondering life, making changes, and indoor training:

- Salt (the compound, not the Angelina Jolie movie which I highly recommend, by the way) has invaded America. This substance is quite pervasive. Morton’s probably even salts its own freaking salt. SERIOUSLY. Matt is on strict orders to eat low sodium as he continues to heal, and me, being the chef that I am, thought it would be easy to avoid salt. This is not easy. One Chipotle chicken bowl with no salsa or cheese crap or rice has over 1000 mg of sodium. Innocent - looking cottage cheese has over 500 mg of sodium per serving. Our favorite pre-cooked Trader Joe lentils are bathed in salt! Most gluten-free food in a box is also quite salty. To solve this problem, we’ve had to resort to cooking that which we find at the farmer’s market and throwing in a bunch of rogue spices. Imagine that.

THIS salt

NOT this salt

- Team Pataky competitiveness knows no bounds. We are competitive meat shoppers and recently beat out all the other organic, earth-lovers at the hormone free, grass fed, better than NIMAN Ranch pork and lamb sale at our local farm. Oh yeah.

- I suck at driving. Especially when Matt is in the car and judging me. Especially when he is not allowed to drive.

- Dogs generate a ton of crap.....and do it to spite me...and only do it when I’m the one in charge of cleaning up.

- CAFFEINE should be a regulated drug. This substance is in everything and I've recently learned that it is not necessarily the best thing to overdose on while participating in endurance events. I calculated that in a normal Ironman I probably consume upwards of ONE THOUSAND milligrams of caffeine in a less than 10 hour period of time. PERHAPS THIS IS WHY I HAVE HEART PALPITATIONS FOR WEEKS AFTER AN IRONMAN? "They" don’t tell you this in Living 101, though. Anyway, if I happened to have some latent heart condition, this caffeine consumption could become extremely problematic. I'll lay off the 2x caffeine gels at my next race and supplement with some vanilla.

- Being in the not on but not off season is mentally taxing – a physical purgatory of sorts, but one that I shall overcome.

- The internet is a wealth of information on heart health but all of the research seems to contradict. Endurance sports cause heart issues yet sitting on one’s ass and eating Chik-fil-A (what corporate person chose that spelling?) causes heart issues. Cholesterol is bad. Cholesterol is really not so bad. Eat no fat. Eat all fat. Eat low fat. Avoid grain. Eat lots of grain..especially Cheerios because it has the heart healthy label on it. Avoid sugar (you know, the main ingredient in said Cheerios). Eat a small baby wolf at each full moon to ward off heart issues. WTF is a person to do?


- Have you taken your CPR course yet? Mine will be the first weekend of 2012.

- Mountain biking alone while the Sherpa is down is quite possibly the scariest thing possible. I think the local mountain lions know something is up and that I’m temporarily flying solo. This has increased my speed considerably.

- When you have little time for training due to life circumstances beyond your control, I have found that doing all your swim and run training in Zone 4 does wonders for your fitness.

- Similarly - training without a powermeter for 3 months has been quite liberating. I finally strapped on ye old SRM the other day in all its wired glory, mentally preparing myself to see some abysmal numbers. To my surprise, my HOUR OF POWER cycling training plan has yielded good results. If you are worried about losing cycling fitness, I recommend riding zone zillion intervals or just "all out" whenever you have the time to ride. This is also a great way to eliminate stress. (Note: I am not a coach, even though I do read Slowtwitch. Don’t follow my advice.)

- Before making decisions on where to go clubbing (because we are such huge clubbers), we must consider Matt's ICD (defibrillator). I think it almost went off at the club where his holiday party was hosted, due to the "approaching shuttle launch level" decibels being thrown from the speakers.


- Being able to ride one's bike is a beautiful beautiful thing. Matt's first ride back:


- Breaking Dawn Part I is really awful.

I think I've pretty much captured all the safe for public consumption musings in my head.



What would a blog post be without dog photos and the ubiquitous Princeton sweatshirt?


The ULTIMATE in dog gifts - combine my obsession with dogs and mtn lions.

THANKSgiving

Team Pataky has much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Matt's heart stopped last Thursday and after a million pieces falling into place, he survived and is now on the road to recovery at home with a bonus piece of equipment in his chest to prevent any other potential episodes of cardiac arrest.

We were planning to fly to London last Thursday night and decided to do a hard swim set that morning before work at the club pool across from our house. After he kicked my butt (as usual) we were talking at the shallow end of the pool when he mentioned he felt like he was going to black out and then dropped below the surface of the water. I thought he was joking and pulled him up, but immediately noticed he was unresponsive and making a whimpering sound - the most horrific thing I have ever heard. I screamed for help and the only other woman in the pool complex ran to call 911. I unsuccessfully attempted to pull him out of the water and after many cries for help, an amazing club employee ran to the pool and together we got him out of the water and onto the pool deck. I started what I assumed and hoped was CPR and kept yelling at Matt to stay with me and that he was not yet done living and that he better survive. I think at this point I started yelling at God as well.

After what seemed like hours, but was probably more like 7 minutes, the EMTs arrived; and after 2 shocks he returned to a normal sinus rhythm. Tuesday, after three stents and one ICD (personal defibrillator) installation, he was discharged from the hospital and is now recovering at home with my family, dogs, and friends.

As I mentioned to some friends and family in an email the night it happened, I have never been so scared in my entire life. To see the most important person in my life lying blue and lifeless on a cold pool deck is pretty much the worst thing imaginable. I only remember bits and pieces of what transpired but clearly remember telling myself that there were no second chances in this situation...no "do overs" if I was not able to get him the help he needed. I typically rely upon "sherpa" Matt for so much and to have the tables turned in such a way was quite surreal.

We do not know why this occurred, beyond the fact that Matt's heart is a genetic disaster. We could sit around and complain about how it is not fair for someone who takes such great care of his body, for someone who is so passionate about pushing himself to the max to have such a condition. However, we accept that life is really just not freaking fair. People do not get cancer or brain tumors because they are "bad" or "good." In the same way, we cannot necessarily ward off something like a bad heart. What we can do is be vigilant about the situation and do everything in our power to minimize the risks. Most importantly, we can use this second chance in life to truly LIVE. I have found myself consumed with the most ridiculous issues in life....whether I look "fat," why the Kona points ranking system is unfair, or why so and so does or does not follow me on twitter. In reality, though, none of this crap matters. What matters is the relationships I have with my friends and family. I would give up anything to spend an extra day with Matt on this earth and I will live each future day cherishing him.

Thanks to all of our family and friends, both local and far away, who reached out to help us via hospital visits, prayers, emails, expert cardiology advice (karen :) ) and phone calls. We are both touched by your support for us. I am also so thankful for all the emergency medical professionals who save lives every single day. We both have much to process, physically and mentally, but are so fortunate to have a network of support upon which we can rely.

Happy Thanksgiving and please go sign up for a CPR class. :)


Matt's hospital view for almost a week - not too shabby.

Guatape ITU World Cup Race Report

Following up with the altitude tent post, my race report version of "Sleeping my Way to the Top" can be found on DC Rainmaker.com. It features tales of mudslides, garbage bag rain coats and over-fried fish. Check it out. And to avoid accusations of cross-posting, I will include bonus material for loyal slog fans. Some blogs have give-aways... I present you with low-resolution pictures.

Here are the elite men lining up on the pontoon. There were 60 of them, and earlier on in the morning, 50 women started the race.

The moto leads the way around the bike course:

Andy Potts got a flat tire and ran around like a mad man for a replacement wheel to finish the race. Slam dunk!

The men exiting the second transition--from the bike to the run.

I think he was in a scavenger hunt and gathering as many signatures as possible.

A view while ascending El Peñón de Guatapé. I'm aware the font changed...

Euros scaling the stairs.

Bird's eye view of the hotel.

View from the top.

Attending church, kind of.

Clowns. Yes, it's as fun as it looks.

Flora outside my hotel room. The bars over the windows helped me feel right at home--just like my old apartment on U St.

A minor lapse in judgment at the Medellin airport led to this.

When I was plastered to my bed, SNOW, of snowtaxi fame (this links to an oldie, but goodie, including Lauren's FAVORITE photo of me racing in a red cotton long sleeve)... brought the Sl00t back to life.

Sleeping My Way to the Top

To read a scintillating account of my 2 week stint in an altitude tent before the Guatape ITU World Cup, check out the guest post I wrote for endurance sports technology guru, Ray of DCRainmaker.com.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/11/guest-post-sleeping-my-way-to-top.html

The comments contain some good insight from my coach, too.

A Tip from Malcolm X: Reach for the Clean Glass

I finished reading the bestselling book, The Help, which centers on racial relations in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960's, so The Autobiography of Malcolm X was my natural next choice when browsing my roommate's book shelf. Before reading his autobiography, my knowledge of Malcolm X was limited to a few lines of text from a history book as being the most aggressive voice in the African American civil rights movement. But, who knew... Malcolm X was buds with Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) and lead the prayer before Clay defeated Sonny Liston for the WORLD heavyweight champion title. Factoid du jour.

Malcolm X's life story is powerful. He left 8th grade after being discouraged from pursuing... anything, and then hustled on the streets of Harlem and Boston. At age 20 he was caught for burglary and imprisoned 6 years. He made the most of his time in the big house by homeschooling himself. He copied by hand the ENTIRE dictionary, read extensively and developed his verbal skills in debate groups. He said, "the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive," and that "months passed without my even thinking about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life." He sounds like a person of flow (the concept created by one of my favorite psychologists, to read and pronounce, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi).

Malcolm X publicly demonized white Americans for oppressing the black man for 400 years, and with this in mind, I pick his favorite lesson from his mentor, Elijah Muhammad--add another tally mark to the "irony of life" list.

One day, I remember, a dirty glass of water was on a counter and Mr. Muhammad put a clean glass of water beside it. "You want to know how to spread my teaching?" he said, and he pointed to the glasses of water. "Don't condemn if you see a person has a dirty glass of water," he said, "just show them the clean glass of water that you have. When they inspect it, you won't have to say that yours is better."

I discussed this gem with the great Margie and recognize that this is her approach in teaching me about triathlon and life. She provides me with unconditional acceptance, fostering an environment where I am truly free to fail. I either get it right, or am closer to figuring it out. I can't recall ANY instance when I have been condemned or gotten in trouble about a decision or action I made. I am responsible for my performance as an individual and the person I answer to at the end of the day is MYSELF, who is a hard enough critic. Being encouraged to think for myself, whatever the outcome, is what gives me the freedom to find my clean glass of water.