The Iron Shecky

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." ~Dr. Seuss Last Saturday, I hopped on a plane to Chinandega, Nicaragua with 33 of my coworkers for what was to be an amazingly incredible heartwarming week.  After a 4 hour flight and a 3 hour bus ride, we arrived at the Amigos for Christ property shortly after midnight.  After unpacking, and a little hanging out, most of us were in bed; we knew we had a long day ahead of us. 8 or so people went to church on Sunday morning, while the rest of us hung out at the compound.  We had a short orientation about the week before watching an inspiring Ted Talks video.  This video became one of the themes for the week.  Our plan for the day was to climb the active volcano, Cerro Negro, which last erupted in 1999.   This volcano gains 780 ft of elevation in just .3 miles!  The ground is not solid.  It is made up of little lava rocks.  Fo...

Gulf Coast Triathlon - Half Iron Distance Triathlon - Mixed Relay Date of Race: 05/10/13 Total Race Time = 4:40:42 Overall Place = 5/19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sheryl Shectman Swim: 31:52 (Pace: 1:31/100yd) I did this race for 3 reasons:   I have never done an ocean swim See where I am in relation to my Louisville goals Have a fun, awesome weekend The day before the race, I noticed many athletes were getting in the water to practice. I wasn't planning on it. After I ran into Patti, Rich, Jeff, and Kim, they said I should. I did, and boy am I glad. I'm glad I spent 15 minutes or so figuring out the waves before the race. I warmed up for about 200 yards or so the morning of the race just to get my arms loosened up. The relay wave was last, so I waited on the beach for almost an hour after the start. Typically my nerves get the best of me and I have to hit the port-a-potties, but for this, they didn'...

Coliseum Rock 'N Rollman Half Ironman Aquabike Date of Race: 01/06/2103 Total Race Time = 4h 3m 32s Overall Place = 8/12 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pre-race: Eyu-Jin picked me up around 3:00PM. We swung by her bf's office to pick him up and we were off. We arrived in Macon in the 5:00 hour. Boy was it hot! I picked up my packet and then headed to transition to drop off my bike. Along the way, I ran into a group of ATCers and I mentioned my shifting has been off. The recommendation - head back to the pavilion and have Cadence Bikes check it out. Its a good thing I did, because Fiona needed some serious adjustments. (I do find this odd since she just had a tune up about a week prior) Once everything was good to go, I headed back to transition and dropped off my bike. Just outside transition a few folks were sitting around, planning a large get together for dinner. I was in! We headed back to the hotel to relax fo...

 "Either you run the day or the day runs you." Ironman Louisville - 140.6 August 25, 2013 Total Race Time = 16h 22m 21s Overall Place = 2282/2500?? Age Group = Female 30-34 Age Group Place = 97/98 I am going to start this off in early January, where a few stupid decisions left me in a walking boot due to a stress fracture and a sprained ankle. No running for 10 weeks and no biking outside for 8 weeks. Fast forward to May - short 3 mile "runs" consisting of 1 minute run, 1 minute walk. When that was mastered, I moved to 3 minutes run, 1 minute walk. One week of that and I was on my way to Ironman training (slow and steady, listening to the doctor's orders) I am not a strong runner to begin with, so this was painful and miserable. If it hurt, I stopped. I didn't push it. I didn't run two days in a row, so this took out bricks. (I did one brick during training and that was for Chattanooga!) I had planned on spending my winter in En...

John Tanner Sprint Aquabike Date of Race: 04/27/2013 Total Race Time = 1h 05m 20s Overall Place = 6/12 Age Group = Female 30-34 Age Group Place = 3rd Overall Female Pre-race:   For an 8AM race, I set my alarm for 4AM.  This allowed me time to snooze at least twice, double check my gear, eat, load the car, and wake Scott.  Around 5:00, I popped an english muffin in the toaster. (Some article, somewhere, said to eat 3 hours prior to race time, so I did.)  The plan was to leave the house around 5:30 for the hour drive to JT State Park, but we didn't leave until 5:45.  While only 15 minutes later than planned, I started the "oh no, I am not going to have enough time to set up transition."  It took about an hour to get to the race, and like last year, I had to pull off the road and use the restroom at the closest gas station right when we got off the highway.  Dang nerves! Once inside the park, we parked the car, and I headed towar...

It has been 4 weeks since the boot, and they couldn't have been better! Swimming: I have continued to swim 2 - 3 times a week, averaging anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000 yards each week. I can definately tell my endurance is picking up as a 3700 meter workout isn't as terrifying as it seemed at the beginning of the year.  My shoulder has been acting up, but Shannon has been working on it every 2 weeks.  This has certainly helped the pain during the swim and for the few days after as well. Biking: I never officially introduced you to Fiona!  She is 47cm of wonderfulness! I bought Fiona back in January, before the injury.  She sat by herself in our storage room for a while (probably wondering what her purpose in life was.)  The first week and a half out of the boot I took Fiona to spin class and did the workout that the rest of the class did.  I was able to keep my effort up to where it should be; no slacking because of my injury!...