Go Mommy Go!

Going Paleo

2012-02-01T13:44:00.000-06:00

Breakfast:
Eggs, tomatoes, green
chilis & ground turkey w/
roasted root veggies to
replace my oatmeal!

It goes without saying a large part of my challenges are weight related. It holds me back in the head and holds me back physically. I spend a large amount of time researching, reading and seeing doctors to learn to manage my issues. It can get overwhelming because many professionals have quite steadfast opinions of what is a best practice, either based on their education or experiences. Every one of them sound like they know what they talk about... every one of them, so how can you choose?

I've tried many different "balances" of eating, from low-carb, good carbs, to just a balance of "clean" eating. Nothing seems to change. My thyroid numbers stay the same, yet I'm still symptomatic. It's quiet disheartening in general, but even more so coming into training season again.

So I'm trying a new approach. Something called Paleo. Read about it here at Robb Wolf | The Paleo Solution. Or here Paleo Diet Lifestyle. I tend more towards Robb Wolf's site -- I just like the research he does behind his answers. It's pretty big in the Crossfit world too.

Why am I trying something new? Because everything I've done before is not getting results and I don't want to be dubbed crazy! I'm tired of sticking with the same thing because everyone says that's what I should be doing.

Broccoli, baby carrots
Shrimp, 1/2 Sweet Potato
green beans & some avocado

I was never that way before. I know better. I know I need to figure out what works for me.

I know portion control (not an issue with my altered guts anyway). I know what to eat, what not to eat. I know HOW to eat, I know good choices from bad choices. Clearly my issues are hormonal, and since I can't fight hormones with medication and win, or change my genetics. I have to find a way to work with my body and not fight it.

The diet focuses on lean proteins, carbs from fruits and veggies, healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, avocado, olive oil, and coconut oil. I will remove the foods that fight my health issues (grains, legumes, and dairy) while increasing vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

My Chiro has been suggesting this approach for a long time... she's a big advocate of living this way. And truly, when I'm on point with my diet, I'm not terribly far off from some of the fundamentals. I'm just going to take things a step further. Hubs s along with me for the ride, but is going to continue doing some of the things he knows works for him.

Grilled Chicken w/mashed
Avocado, Spinch w/a few
baby carrots and 1/2 apple.

So I'm on Day 3 and I'm still reading up on everything... especially the customization for certain goals (like weight loss) and the approach to take for endurance athletes. What have I noticed so far? Better sleep and easier to wake up in the morning. I'm down a few pounds already (water weight). I had Masters swim this morning and it was the first time in months I felt like I had something to push with. I was kinda bummed I had to leave early this morning! However right now, I just finished lunch about 30 minutes ago, and I'm feeling a little light-headed. Day 3 of no grains -- I read one resource where they said 2 or 3 days in your body starts to "withdraw" from the consumption of grains.

One of the biggest changes I've had to make was eliminating Dairy. Dairy is great for growing kiddos, but the key is "growing". Adults aren't growing any more; we're already grown! Dairy promotes insulin response. Since I used to be a full blown Type 2 Diabetic, who knows if I'm having trouble with Insulin? My numbers look good on blood draws, but that's just a snapshot of what's going on in the body at that particular moment not my body's response to intake of higher glycemic indexed foods. I've given up all dairy and cheese, except for half-n-half (for my coffee). If I'm going to have any Dairy, cream is the least processed and is a better choice than milk. Maybe one day I can let it go, but not today. :)

So here's hoping that this new approach will make my body happy.

Get the Party Started!

2012-01-23T10:10:00.001-06:00

Well, this week starts my "official" triathlon season training, with my first race being the Memorial Hermann Kemah Triathlon. It is an olympic distance race. That's my focus this year... nothing long.

Each discipline of this particular race has it's own unique challenges. For the swim they take you out on a boat and drop you a mile out in the bay, where you jump off the boat and swim to shore. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but it freaks me out a little. Did this swim as a relay last year, which is why I decided to do the whole race this year. The bike -- there's always the wind on the Gulf coast and for the Run, it's up and over the Kemah bridge for a 10k.

I lifted last Friday, WOD'd at CFBA on Saturday, did a 3 hour "Mad Spin" on Sunday, and made it to Masters this morning. I'm off to a running start.

I'm starting out with a little nagging pain. Seems my gastroc muscle in my calf has a lot to say to me lately. Grrrr

As I've said before, I'm looking forward to this shorter season. It will give me time to get healthy and more time for m family, who have been so awesome about letting my follow my 70.3 goals the last two years. Darren is training for his first half marathon and Cassie starts training for her triathlons. We'll be a busy family through the Spring/Summer.

My awesome Chiro posted these quotes on her FB page -- they're from program called Whole9 -- a Paelo nutrition program:

"If chasing performance is costing you your health, your performance better be paying the bills."

Yeah, this helps me keep my goals in perspective, for sure!

Here's to a healthy training and racing season!

Are you racing? What's your first race?

The REAL Thursday 13

2012-01-19T08:23:00.000-06:00

I am not sure what exactly happened, but I posted a TT from last year as today's... Hmmm. Seems my cut and paste skills need some help!

So here's there real TT I wanted to publish! 13 of my most favorite quotes:

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”

"As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back"

"The best way to get what you want is to be great at what you love. Like a champ the second you become cocky is the second you believe you are good enough and good is never enough."

"Lif e is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So love the ones who treat you right, and forget about the ones that don't. Believe that everything happens for a reason. If it changes your life, then let it. Nobody said this life would be easy, they just promised it would all be worth it."

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you can appreciate them when they're right, you believe less so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

"If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I will help you become that."

"I choose to live by choice not by chance,
to make changes not excuses,
to be motivated not manipulated,
to be useful not be used,
to excel not compete.
I choose self-esteem not self-pity,
I choose to listen to my inner voice not the random opinion of others."

"Nobody but you is responsible for your life. You are responsible for your life. What is your life? What is all life? What is every flower, every rock, every tree? Energy. And you’re responsible for the energy you create for yourself, and you’re responsible for the energy that you bring to others.”

“There’s a difference between thinking you deserve to be happy and knowing that you are worthy of being happy. Your being alive makes worthiness your birthright. You alone are enough.”

"I see you. I hear you. And what you say matters to me.”

"Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.”

You are responsible for the energy you create for yourself, and the energy you bring to others. Don't wait for somebody else to save you, to complete you, to fix you.

"I think there is no better way to invite a human being to view their body differently than by inviting them to be an athlete, by revering one's body as an instrument rather than just an ornament. It's a really great way to reorient how you see your body so you can see it as this incredible, awe-inspiring machine that you need to fuel well in order for it to function."

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Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun!

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Thursday Thirteen

2012-01-19T05:50:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since I've TT'd. I always think about it, but then never make it a point to do so.

1) So my mobile phone insurance only replaces my phone with a refurbished phone. I got my replacement. It's black, not red, like my initial one. Bummer. Does the term *refurb* just leave you thinking, "When is this one gonna break?"

2) Hubs and Cassinator are on their way to AL to visit Nana. I have little vacation time, so I am saving my time to take Cassie to NJ before School starts.

3) I'm spending the weekend training and reclaiming our office. Painter is coming tomorrow to paint it, but first I have to clean it out. We converted it to a play room for Cassie when she was little, because she wouldn't play upstairs alone. Now she's all cool with having her own space.

4) I like to think I'm organized, but man over the last couple years Peter Walsh could teach me a thing or two.

5) Major network infrastructure upgrade is happening next week. My first attempt at planning and executing. While it is not a complex network, I'm still soooo nervous and unsure.

6) I made the most amazing sandwich for lunch the last couple days: amazing toasted wheat bread, chicken breast, low fat/low sodium Meunster, tomato, a teaspoon of Briana's Vinegarette and avocado. Yum!

7) Registered for Clear Lake Int'l and learned Dave Scott will be there! Also registered for the Galveston Sand Crab 5k/10k night run for me and Darren. Now that's a date night... huh?

8) I made these from Little Bitty Bakes. They were fabulous. While hubs didn't like them all that well, others loved them! The "brown butter" gave it an awesome taste, and I'm not a fan of oatmeal cookies!

9) When I'm not working on the office, I'll probably be training! Go figure.

10) "When people show you who they are believe them." Seriously. Dr. Angelou knew what she was talkin' about.

11) I get extremely touched when people are thoughtful and think of me. Especially when it comes completely unexpectedly, like in a pair of gifted "I'm with awesome" socks.

12) Last funny thing I saw posted on Facebook: "My vagina is a a gaping hole of disappointment"

13) LOL. No, really. Although probably not so funny to the author of number 12.

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants and add yourself!

On Motherhood

2012-01-18T05:31:00.001-06:00

Source: i.imgur.com via Amy on Pinterest

Race Report: 2012 Aramco Half Marathon - Houston

2012-01-17T14:13:00.000-06:00

My hip problems (Bursitis!) and illness (Bronchitis!) leading up to the race left me feeling less than positive. Seems like the last 2 years it's been something, every, single, race. (Just another reason my decision to cut-back and get healthy makes more sense!) I decided I was going to agree with OC's theory that those mysterious aches and pains you feel race week really do go away just as mysteriously as they appeared.

My only goal for this was to try not to focus on all the negative. Enjoy the experience (as much as I can enjoy running!) and do my best to stick to my plan. I suppose in the back of my mind I had lesser expectations because of the state of my health, so maybe it made it easier for me to relax. Well, relative to how much one can really "relax" before running a half or full marathon?!? There is too much excitement. Too much to going on. It is almost overwhelming. I mean come on! The 2012 Olympic Trials were right here in Houston. Everyone was pumped!

For Saturday, MC's athletes were instructed to avoid downtown, and if you just had to go watch, bring chairs. Off your feet and rest! I ran a few errands, sat on my arse when I could (I am a Mom, it's not much!) and watched the highlights of the trials on NBC. I found it surprising how exciting it was for me to watch! Suffice it to say I teared up watching the 4th place finishers miss their goal of qualifying for the Olympic team representing the USA. With that, I knew was ready to go. Not ready go as in qualify for an Olympic team, but I was motivated enough to get through my challenge of 13.1 the next day.:)

One of my friends had texted me a quote earlier in the week that I just couldn't let go of. It just resonated with me loud and clear. I decided it would be my "mantra" for the day. So I made a reminder to serve me during the race. Sharpie + Skin + Portable Motivation.

"You are better than you think you are.
You can do more than you think you can."

I know. Sounds so easy. So simple. Yet I forget this very thing, every race. It is quite astonishing how quickly old, negative, thoughts from the past flood my mind if I don't stay present. In my head I hear, "You can't do that, you're too fat." "Oh, but your weight... you'l never..." It's quite maddening to me that you can do all this "self-help" to get right in the head, but can crater in an instant. I can go back there, to that negative place, so easily, and I feel terrible about myself all over again. Just when you think you've finally taught yourself to be kinder, nicer to yourself, you find out otherwise when faced with a challenge. "How's that workin' for ya?" It's freakin' hard work! I figured by now it would be easier!!

I got a couple night's of good sleep leading up to the race so it was rise and shine as normal. We met up with our group for bit, then headed out to the Start. After the gun went off it was about 10 minutes until our Corral was let loose.

I ran the first mile with a friend, which was the first sign I was starting out way too fast, since I don't run as fast as she does. LOL I just figured, "I'll calm down in a bit." "I'll find MY pace. Well, the 5K mark came and went (with a PR). I hit 5 miles in 1:03 (Usually 1:08 - WTH?!?) and the 10K mark came and went (another PR). I knew I would be toast later.

Sometime after mile 8/9, my Legs started to feel a little heavy and I had been waiting for my Hip to start bugging me (like a RunGirl) so that thought was in my head. Go away!!!

On Miles 12 and 13, I was tanking with 14+ minute miles; I took a few longer walk breaks when I started having more trouble breathing with my HR around 170-175, which is not normally a problem. (I don't think I was totally recovered from Bronchitis -- post race I was coughing up a ton of junk.)

The last 500 ft. to the finish I gave it everything I had left and it hurt, I couldn't breath, thought my legs were going to collapse under me. It was awesome! Then I see this guy. An announcer right in the middle of the chute. I was like, "Wait a second... I know him?" "But who the heck is he and why is he right in the middle of the chute?!" It was Mike Reilly (The voice of Ironman) and he said my name -- MY NAME! I was thinking, "Wait! I know that voice?!" I couldn't comprehend until I finished when I turned around and saw him. I mean I heard him running in, but it just didn't add up until I crossed the finish and looked behind me! It was kind of funny!

Time was 2:52:56 -- just :13 longer than RunGirl 13.1, my last PR. Not bad a bad day considering all the factors... but man, I know it can be better!

Uh, Mike... you're not off the hook. You and I have a date in the future at a 140.6 event, where you will say my name again. :)

I can honestly say this was the first running race where I actually had a good time at. I mean I enjoyed everything -- every one of the 4 Elvis', the purple fairies, the clowns, the smells, the big foamy-haired cheering squad, the bands, the signs, the smiles and the cheers. I realized on this run how little I noticed on my first half at Houston, so I'm glad this time was different. It left me wanting to do it again

There's no athlete I know who doesn't labor over their results, slicing and dicing the "What if's?" until they fall asleep at night. I know if I had done a better job controlling my pace in the beginning, I would have had a better outcome -- If I could have just maintained an easy 13+ min/mile pace, I could have finished right around 2:50 and improved my PR. Logically, I'm not upset... okay not THAT upset. :P I had an awesome time and this run is more proof that I am improving, and that's all I ever ask for of my self, is to improve.

Here's to getting in the lottery next year and breaking 2:45 :)

Wanna Race?

2012-01-11T15:09:00.001-06:00

I have to write a newsletter blurb for my tri club. This is just a draft.

===============

We come together as a triathlon club to train and racetogether. We continue to supportmultisport and honor the challenge of each race we take on. Training can become extremely competitive, butit is expected that we always, always, conduct ourselves, both individually andas a club, in a manner of good sportsmanship.

It should go without saying that it is an athlete’sresponsibility to understand and comply with all USAT rules at any race. Rules, though at times feel like an inconvenienceor even an obstruction to optimum race performance, exist for our safety. Rules make the race an “even playing field” for all athletes andultimately a fair, competitive challenge for all.

As a local triathlon club in the greater Houston area, our logo is known to many. We all have heard our share of, “Go BAM!” fromthe sidelines from people who don’t even know us, but just remember our Jerseys! It’s agood feeling to have so many supporters on a race course simply because we havean easily remembered name that is fun to shout; it's free press! We have a good reputation for being afriendly, welcoming club that accepts everyone at every level and sharesknowledge across the board. However,with that notoriety comes the responsibility to maintain properconduct, because it is just as easy to remember BAM! in the not-so-flatteringscenarios too.

As the triathlon season approaches we remind everyone thatconducting ourselves in a manner of good sportsmanship is just as important asgoing for that podium spot. Characteris what you do when no one is watching; it is the combination ofmental and ethical traits marking a person. It is what guides you toward taking honorable action, in spite of the final outcome. Healthy competition is awesome, but a true “win” is only a winwhen it is earned on fair, competitive ground.

When we proudly wear our BAM! jerseys on race day, there is no mistaking the spirit and camaraderie we share – everyone cansense it. We are not like other clubs…and THAT is precisely what makes our club so inviting to others.

Train hard. Be proud. Be strong. Be competitive. Be honorable.

Be the model of a well-rounded triathlete whobelongs to a kick-ass club!

Welcome 2012!

2012-01-03T14:11:00.000-06:00

Ready?
Set?
Go!

No. Not you Donna -- You stay on the couch!

I'm watching everyone get rev'd about their 2012 goals and here it is day 3 of 2012 and I have yet to log 1 workout. I'm sick as a Dog... sicker than I've been in a long while. Just a stupid chest cold, but it's kicking my ass. It's kind of annoying watching everyone so happy and motivated when I want to "play" too! Bummer. Boo-hiss.

So instead, like every other blogger, I'm going to try and reflect on the good that happened this year, and there was plenty more of it than is shown here. Plenty more. :)

Maybe this will lift my spirits! I have to find my race buzzzz. The Aramco Houston Half Marathon is 12 days away! I need some excitement!

January
My first sub 3 hour (barely) half marathon in the yuckiest of conditions.

February
FINALLY landed Oprah tickets for her "Farewell Season" and took 2 friends. Also got to experience the 3rd largest snow storm to hit Chicago! Can you say forced vacation? It was amazing though -- getting to share it with my BFF and another good friend made it all the more special for me! Remember, triathlon training waits for no one... 3 sets of "Snow Angel Repeats" as dictated by Coach.

March
The Cassafrass starts training for her first triathlon with Bay Area Multisport's NextGen group! She had as much fun training as Daddy and I had watching!

April
Memorial Hermann Galveston 70.3. Took 42 minutes off the time of my first 70.3 race... and had Chris Lieto waiting for me at the finish (Okay, it was a coincidence!). This race also marked my first trip to the med tent post-race. Boo! It all had a happy ending though!


"OC", Me, Lieto and Melanie (my OC2)

May
The inaugural Ironman Texas. No. I didn't race, but I did have my own little multisport thing going on that day! My Daughter's recital and Volunteering for IMTX with TriDiva Coco! Yikes, what a day of back-and-forth between the Woodlands and Galveston, but so worth it on so many levels! And of course there was also Cassie's' FIRST triathlon to be proud of, and her 2nd place finish!

June
1st PR'd for a first sprint distance race and 5K run at Y Freedom and Cassie's 2nd Triathlon!

July
Sadly, we lost another "TriDiva", Angel. Really, that was her name . She is fondly remembered by all.

Spreading her "peace"

August
Got to meet Dave Scott at the banquet before Clear Lake International. He got to know our table well through some joking, but he gave me tons of information and things to consider during training and racing.

September
Redman Triathlon 70.3 Distance. PR'd for my 70.3 Wahooo! Also got to meet a blogging friend, Christy at this race. Lots of things learned this month too. Lots of things.

October
Can you say, WTF? Yep. I qualified for the 5150 US Championships. Crazy stuff, I tell you -- especially from a race a really wasn't up for mentally, to begin with. Annn-nnnd, to top off the month, Cassie had her artwork picked for the 2nd year in a row for CCISD's Imagination Celebration!

November
Everyone meet the newest Toler! Otis! He's a Mastiff/Boxer mix we rescued fromt he local SPCA the day before Thanksgiving. He's become an amazing part of our family. Then there was the Turkey Day 10K that I PR'd... Oh, and that *other* race that I earned my first DNS for, Oil Man Texas. Bummer again, but still valuable lessons learned.

December
And while I PR'd again for a half marathon distance at RunGirl 13.1, the best part of December was laying low and spending time with my family and friends, for a good, fun and still relaxing holiday!

Food 1/3/12

2012-01-03T13:14:00.000-06:00

Breakfast
1/2 C. Old Fashioned Oatmeal
2 T. Sunflower Seed Butter
1/2 Apple
1/3 C. Half-n-Half for 3 cups of Coffee

Snack
.75 oz. Cheddar Cheese
8 triscuits

Lunch
Chicken "Tacos" on Lettuce Leaves
1/2 Apple

Snack
Honey Milk Light (Coffee Flavor)
1 Apple (Med)

Dinner
More of lunch (probably)

45-60 minute run
Hour of Oly Lifting

Calories: 1560
Carbs: 101g
Protein: 101g
Fat: 41g

What You Can Become

2011-12-27T05:39:00.000-06:00

"If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse;
however if I treat you as though you are what you are
capable of becoming, I will help you become that."
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Quite a Year!

2011-12-23T12:09:00.002-06:00

So this past year has been a very full year. I'm looking forward to 2012 and shorter distances. I came off of 2010 with finishing my first 70.3 at Redman (not knowing I was critically Anemic), then did 2 more in 2011. Suffice it to say, I think I've got the 70.3 bug out of my system (for the moment) and next year's focus is to get things balanced and right with my body so I can get leaner.

For next year, I really want to make the most of my qualifying spot for the 5150 Hy-vee Nationals. I know the perfect storm had to happen to actually place, but hey, I had to START and FINISH to make it, right? I'm also going to work on not having to explain how I placed -- I had a good race, that's how I placed. Right? right!

Race reports!
J~~AN - Houston Chevron Marathon (lost the lottery *sniff-sniff*)~~
JAN - USA Fit Half Marathon
APR - Memorial Hermann Kemah Triathlon (Relay - Swim)
APR - Ironman Lonestar 70.3
APR - Kona Eastside 2nd Athena
JUN - Tejas Triathlon (Relay - Swim)
JUN - FunFest by the Bay 10K
JUN - Y Freedom In memory of Elysha :)
AUG - River Cities Triathlon
AUG - Clear Lake International
SEP - Redman 70.3
OCT - Galveston 5150 PR 3rd Athena (Qualified for Nationals!)
NOV - OilMan Texas 70.3 DNS - Sick :(
NOV - Turkey Day 10K PR!
DEC - RunGil 13.1 PR!

In reading the reports:

I got a monkey off my back (finally) with a sub 3 hour 13.1 time and PR'd later in the year (so I know it wasn't a fluke!).
I conquered a swim I was scared of. Having a boat drop your ass off in the middle of the bay and swimming back, for some reason it freaked me out!
Brought some hardware home :)
Bettered my 70.3 time by 40 minutes, and then again by 90 minutes later in the year.
I challenged myself to swim faster and started Masters
Stayed the course with running to improve
I've had a more fun; Yeah!
DNS'd my first race; Boo! Whatever.
I've had a lot of fruit... from a lot of labor. :)

I walk away from this year feeling a little more confident than in the past. I no longer worry about disappointing others. I'm learning that in actuality, many of us have more mediocre or bad races than good and that's just the reality. You can train well, know you're ready, and have some random thing take ownership of your day and blow it all. In the end you can only control the factors in your control. I've learned to let go of what I can't control and just play the cards I'm dealt. Learning to anticipate the unexpected is a larger part of training than I've acknowledged in the past.

And while limitations only exist if you let them, I've also accepted that my path to a 140.6 is not a race in it of its self. I am steadfast in my idea to take on a 140.6 when I can reasonably ("reasonable" relative to doing a 140.6!) enjoy it. Could I struggle through one? I bet I could, I am that hard-headed, but I don't want to "live the dream" from the time the gun goes off. I don't want to race with a gun to my head, trying to beat cut-offs the entire day. I want to be as comfortable as possible, knowing I'll make the cutoff on all the events. If that means I'm nearly 50 before I do, than so be it. My victory will be all the sweeter because of the wait.

"If you wanna fly you have to give up that shit that weighs you down." This will be the focus of the coming year. I know what my *issues* are, and I need to cope with them more aggressively.

Oh, and it goes without saying that I'm grateful to my family and both my coaches for their seemingly endless patience with me on all levels. I'm also grateful for their friendship, support and maintaining my belief that anything is possible. The seemingly impossible just might take a little longer. :)

The "Mommy" Part of my Blog :)

2011-12-21T09:25:00.000-06:00

Part of the reason I've not been blogging much is it's the holiday season and there's much to do. We're all about holiday fun and making it a great experience for Cassie; that makes it fun for us too. Here's what we've been up to... in pictures!

Holiday Pictures!

Festival of Lights

Elfcapades!

Christmas Shopping!

Gingerbread House Constructing!

House Decorating!

Race Report: RunGirl 13.1

2011-12-20T09:08:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I know; been slow to post recently. Busy with home, work and just a general lack of time during the holiday season.

I had to post about RunGirl 13.1 though, because I PR'd. :) And while it seems that everything is a PR lately, keep in mind I have a lot of low hanging fruit. After 2 long years of training, I think some things are starting to s-l-o-w-l-y come toghether.

I was running backwards saying, "Hi!" to a
Friend and got *chicked* by a chick who had
run a half marathon the day before and had to
power walk the last 3 miles.
Yeah, she still beat me. LOL

First, about this race. TriGril Sports puts on this race. They do all female races in both triathlon and running and new for next year will be an mud/obstacle course race, "DirtyGirl". The 2 women who run the race are amazing, and the races never disappoint. I can't figure out how the two of them do it all (of course with the help of some volunteers). I always appreciate the effort they make to address everything that is controllable and important to having a great race experience.

You'll find all levels, shapes and sizes of athletes at their races too. It's a really fun day of camaraderie among female athletes. Lots of first timers to cheer on, lots of experienced and fast runners for your aspiration. It is a pleasant course set in a park of trees so thick you can't see the roads outside the park. :) In fact, you almost forget you're in Houston! This year they added even more sponsors, cool swag and group training runs. I was bummed I couldn't get my schedule worked out to join them on the training runs, but it seems from their Facebook page, the ladies all had a blast!

So... on to the race! It was a bit overcast and very cool to start, but once we started it was perfect. It is a 2 loop course and on the second loop I unloaded the ear warmers. :) Tights, running skirt and a long sleeved tech worked perfectly. I wasn't too hot or cold. Yay! Half the battle is being comfortable in the climate.

As always, I'm thankful for the upbeat volunteers and the aid stations were perfect, for me, at about every 2 miles. The Tri4Him folks took care of two of the aid stations and as always were cheering us all on and lifting our spirits! Oh, and I can't forget to mention the robed resident who spectated the entire time from the front of her trailer park. She was out there last year too, and returned again. We all were joking with her that next year she needs to be running with us. She was so sweet to everyone with her well wishes and "Merry Christmas!" shout outs to everyone.

My plan for the run was to make this a long training day. I've been having hip problems since the Turkey Day 10K. So OC and I talked and decided I would just target a 13:30 pace. Nothing fast... just get through the day. I would run mile-to-mile and if I finished under 13:30 for a mile, I would take a walk break to make up the difference. Somehow though, for the first 6 miles I was still under 13:30. Makes no sense to me because I was walking the difference. Guess I was running faster to make up for it. If I felt good the last 5k I would try to give it my all.

Hip got achy around mile 7 and downright hurting around mile 10. Somewhere around mile 11 I had done the math in m head and thought I had a shot to finish at 2:49. I tried to pickup the pace, but hip hurt to badly to risk it, and I was only able to go about 15 seconds faster; knew I couldn't hold it. So I trashed that idea and just tried to hold it together. I finished (very painfully, if you can't tell by the look on my face!) in 2:52 and some seconds.

This sounds contradictory, but overall I felt strong, my legs were getting fatigued, but I think nutrition played a part in that. EFS seems to work well for me on runs, and I didn't have it with me for this race (accidentally spilled the last of what I had when I prepped it!).

In the end it was 11 minutes off of last year's RunGirl time, and 9 minute PR for the 13.1 distance.

After this race, I decided I'm deferring my Half entry for the Texas Marathon & Half on New Year's Day. It's a bummer, because I want that stupid 4 lb. medal (LOL), but what I really need is for this hip to get well for Houston so I can have that sub 2:49 finish I was so close to catching today.

I have to say I'm pretty happy, can still do better, but pretty happy. :)

Juicin' it Up

2011-12-07T13:26:00.001-06:00

Here's a view I hope you don't ever have to see. I'd show you a view of my "friends" sitting here with me, but HIPPA police would probably swoop in and confiscate my Blackberry... then what would I do with the remaining hour I have waiting for this goodness to drip from the bag into my veins?

This, my friends, is Iron. As in that stuff in your blood that helps give you energy and transport oxygen. Not Iron as in Ironman. :( Though I wish getting juiced up with this stuff could make my dream come true tomorrow!

So Hemoglobin is up (Yay!). Iron stores were still low (Boo!) I should be good now to go forward from here and hope that my vitamin regime, coupled with the procedure in August, will keep me at normal levels. I started having some heart palpitations, which I recently learned can also be a sign of Anemia. the palpitations aren't my heart racing, but rather my heart beat becomes irregular in pattern and is a mixture of strong and weak beats. Very strange. Also the palpitations are not activity induced. As a matter of fact, they never happen during activity. It's always when I'm just sitting around, doing nothing, or at work. The hope here is that the palpitations weren't caused by my Thyroid meds, but rather the Anemia. This way we can fix the Anemia and up my Thyroid meds so I can feel better. Fingers crossed!

After my 10K PR on Turkey Day, I paid for it with my hip/TFL. I saw my local miracle worker, and was doing better until track last night. Track was fabulous, but again I'm paying for it today. I have the RunGirl 13.1 this weekend. I don't care if I have to walk the damn thing... I will finish it. It won't be a fast (for me) or pretty race, but rather a good, l-o-n-g training day that I earn a cool medal, cute shirt and a pink beanie cap for. :)

Totally random: Just stopped at the grocery store to pickup some lunch and chose some soup. Somehow I poured a completely full, very large, ladle of hot soup on my hand that was holding the cup. OUUUUCH! It was all in slow motion.. even my reaction. I was like, "Oh, look here, I'm spilling this homemade hot soup ON MY HAND!"

Soup's good though. :)

Choose

2011-11-29T13:06:00.001-06:00

"I choose to live by choice not by chance,
to make changes not excuses,
to be motivated not manipulated,
to be useful not be used,
to excel not compete.
I choose self-esteem not self-pity,
I choose to listen to my inner voice not the random opinion of others."

April P. via Oprah on Facebook

Everyone, Meet Otis!

2011-11-29T11:24:00.001-06:00

Been meaning to post this! Everyone, this is Otis. Otis Toler! The big "O", Oti-oh! We got word the adoption was "approved" on Tuesday, last week and we brought him home on Wednesday.

He's been amazing and we are quite surprised with how well he seems to be adjusting. He's just a big, sweet boy who needs some love. No surprises in the house, and no strange behaviors. :)

We brought him home on Wednesday and had about 15 friends over on Thursday morning and he was perfectly fine! Just laid back and taking all the attention he could get.

We brought him to the vet on Saturday for a check-up and a desperately needed "spa" day (Man! Did he stink!!). He's got some allergy issues, eye irritation of some sort, and some bronzing from licking his paws, but outside of that he's in good health. We'll get him taken care of!

He's doing amazing with Cassie. Cassie is doing well with him too, though she gets easily disappointed when he doesn't follow her around the way she'd like. He does tend to follow me or Hubs more closely. He rarely barks and doesn't scare her with jumping... she's getting to be more comfortable with him, so that's great!

He did have a HORRIBLE flatulence problem the first few days. Holy cow! I never knew dogs tooted like people do. This boy knows how to clear a room, that's for sure! We changed his food and had "good" night last night. Hopefully that's the end of that, and he just needed something more easily digestible.

We've had 3 escape incidents though, which kind of freaks me out and has me considering renaming him "Houdini" after the last one, where he managed to get out of an easy-walk harness! If he gets out and you chase him, he thinks you are playing and just runs crazy! This last time though I had Cassie with me, so I had to keep calm (she was getting upset too!) and I couldn't leave her there to run after him. It was dark out already and we were taking him for a walk in our subdivision. I just knelt down on my knees (prayed no cars would hit him) and called him calmly. After a couple of huge laps on the main road, he came running back to me. All this just reinforces the need for further obedience training.

Otherwise he's been a joy to have. He's so happy to be here (I guess!) and we're happy to have him!

We just brought him home here.


After his spa day... all nice and clean :)

Race Report: Turkey Day 10K

2011-11-29T09:37:00.001-06:00

First, without delay, I want to share I PR'd this race! I am so thrilled.

I had not been feeling all that great the week leading up to the race... I had a string of nights where I just completely crashed and felt fatigued and lethargic -- similar to how I felt before I started the new Thyroid meds.

Really my plan was to just practice my half marathon plan for this race. Instead, things worked out differently after I started. Go figure.

First, I couldn't get my heart rate down. It wasn't for not trying -- it just wasn't happening. I gave up before mile 1 was done, went with it and ran by feel. I decided I was going to try to run sub 13 minutes. I would run mile-to-mile, and take a short walk break each mile. So, if I finished mile 1 in 12:45, then I walked 15 seconds or less. If I finished in 12:20, then I'd walk just under 40 seconds.

By the time I got to the 5K mark I was pretty much beside myself, realizing all my miles were well under 13, even with the short walks. My 5K PR is something like 39 minutes and I knew I was at about 38 -- surely I would tank! My heart rate was just too high; I was pretty much just waiting to bonk.

Mile 4. Still waiting... no bonk yet.

Mile 5. Just like having (2) 1 mile repeats left. "I got this." Feeling good because I'm actually passing some folks at the end. Really? Yes!

I finished in 1:16 for a 12:18 pace. Needless to say I was thrilled. :)

I crushed 13 minute miles AND got faster at the end!

Mile 1: 12:11
Mile 2: 12:41
Mile 3: 12:33
Mile 4: 12:32
Mile 5: 12:20
Mile 6: 12:03
.19 Mile 12:01

What up... Dog!

2011-11-21T08:19:00.001-06:00

I signed up for the TX3 triathlon series this weekend. It was a good deal to register for 3 races. Kemah (Olympic), Bridgeland (Sprint) and Houston (Olympic). Those three races, plus Hyvee Nationals, will probably be my season, since I decided to take things down a notch and get the medical stuff straightened out. Oooh, and I also won a $50 gift card to the cycling shop where the registration was held. Sah-weeet!

I made it through my on-ramp training sessions for Crossfit. Man, I will say that it's a ton harder than I anticipated, and I did NOT think it was going to be easy to start. It's a great kind of hurt though, so it's all good. I can tell I won't be setting any records for a while. The daily WOD (workout of the day) is timed, and the goal is to do the WOD in the least amount of time. Heck! I get frustrated in a group X class at 24 when the instructors don't give you proper time to do a technically correct crunch or dumbbell press. On Fridays there is an Olympic weightlifting class. I really, REALLY, enjoyed this -- which isn't much of a surprise to me. I've always liked to lift! Once Darren heals up, Coach Thea said to bring him -- that will something great for us to do together. Incidentally, Coach Thea is also my amazing Chiropractor.

In other news, I went back for a follow-up with the Hem/Oc. Seems my Iron is still dropping (sh*t), but... my Hemoglobin was perfect! (Yay!)

After my follow-up with the OB/Gyn post-op, she asked my why when my Iron stores were down to "7" that the Hem/Oc didn't order GI work. It put a little scare in me to hear the word Cancer again, for the third time this year, this time in the form of Stomach Cancer.

He said there were several reasons:
1) My history -- I'm an RNY post-op. There are issues with Absorbtion.
2) My Age
3) No bloody stool
4) Very High Menstrual flow
5) Tested negative for Celiacs (evidently a potential indicator)

Now he did say that because I'm still dropping, we're going to wait 4 more months (because I've had the ablation -- need to give it time). If levels drop again, it will mean another Iron infusion and we'll probably go and run the GI stuff.

Ugh... another 4 months of waiting. I am starting to feel tired and lethargic again... had one of those nights where I pretty much passed out on the couch at 8pm. Hubs commented he hadn't seen me like that in a while. I went to bed and slept until after 6:30 the next morning, which I never do; I rise and shine at 4:30am! Saturday night I forced myself to stay awake, but slept hard and felt awful on Sunday morning. No long run for me, I felt that bad. :(

A new addition to our family? Possibly! Not by birth though, but by pet adoption! We've been mulling over for a long while getting a dog. It would be really good for Cassie, and since we know we're not having any more kiddos, it's probably an even better idea. Cassie and I visited the SPCA on Saturday, just to see how she'd do visiting with a couple dogs, and we fell for "Otis". We brought Hubs back to meet Otis on Sunday, and we put in adoption papers! We hope to hear something by Tuesday.

We're not sure if Otis is a Lab/Great Dane mix (that's what his crate papers say) or if he's a Lab/Mastiff mix (that's what the website says). He does have some behaviors that lead towards the Dane side, but when you look at pictures of the breeds it's hard to tell -- because he gets those little expressive wrinkles above his eyes that say Mastiff. Anyway, he's gentle and Cassie loves him. He's not a barker or jumper (so the neighbors will love him too!). They did say that he has "domination" issues, and that if challenged by another dog (where he gets jumped on), Otis will retaliate. Dogs are dogs, right? I'm hopeful with some learned handling we can calm the behavior. It's truly hard to believe though, since he's sooooo laid back. Even when the other dogs in the kennels were going nuts, he just walks past them like nothing is happening. No barking. No challenging them. Nothing. So wish us luck -- we'd love to give Otis a family and a home.

Family Dinners Can Build Teen Confidence and Reduce Obesity...

2011-11-21T08:05:00.001-06:00

Family Dinners Can Build Teen Confidence and Reduce Obesity
JOANNE RICHARD, QMI Agency
Toronto Sun, 11/19/11, Source

Meals heal. Dinnertime doesn’t simply fuel bodies – it nourishes hearts and emotional health.
Studies show that sitting down to family dinner several nights a week not only boosts grades, confidence and motivation, but teens are also less likely to drink alcohol, smoke or do drugs. Frequent family meals also reduce stress and the incidence of childhood obesity, as well as depression and suicidal behaviour.

According to psychotherapist Mary Jo Rapini, one of the leading causes of teens committing suicide is feeling lonely, and disengaged.

“A family that sits down and enjoys the community of one another at dinnertime bridges that sense of loneliness and assures the child they are part of a greater ‘family community’ that loves and accepts them,” Rapini says.

A strong family bond may be an antidote to teen suicide. Dr. Wendy Walsh, a human behaviour expert for CNN, says family support, not peer support, provides protection against teen suicidal behaviour.
“A new study out of the University of Washington shows that a strong family bond reduces depression and suicidal thoughts in teens who had at least one suicide attempt in the past,” Walsh says.
Non-judgmental attitudes of family often provide the much-needed psychological support for teens who suffer from depression. “Teen peers, on the other hand, use judgments and teasing to create group conformity,” Walsh says.

“Strong bonds can reduce depression in spouses, kids and teens – relationships heal,” says Walsh, of Wendywalsh.com.

Adolescence is a tumultuous time and communication is essential to thriving and surviving.
The dinner table is a great place to grow relationships. Problem is, according to Dr. Charlotte Reznick, a child educational psychologist, families are on overdrive with dual careers and highly scheduled children – the mealtime connection is dissolved, replaced by junk food on the go.
But it’s crucial to family health to come up with a workable solution, even if it’s one night set aside for family connection.

“No matter how crazy busy your lives are, find a mealtime ritual that works for your family,” says Reznick, author of The Power of Your Child’s Imagination: How to Transform Stress and Anxiety into Joy and Success.

There’s nothing like a laughter-filled table to release the stress of the day with people whom you love and who love you, says Reznick.

“It’s a great time to hear about everyone’s experience – highs, lows, funny moments, silly seconds,” Reznick says. “Plus, the understanding that comes from knowing someone really listens to you, that a family member is on your team, is exhilarating, cathartic and healing.”

Food symbolizes love. “When our family honours meal time enough to join together -- eating and sharing the day’s events -- it is an expression of love and caring. Your child feels it, and knows they are loved,” adds Rapini, of Maryjorapini.com.

Meanwhile, when it comes to technology at the table, practise what you preach. This is the time parents really have to pay attention to what their behaviour is teaching their kids, says Reznick, of Imageryforkids.com.

“If you don’t want your kids on their cellphones or playing video games on their iPad, if it’s important to keep that family time sacred, then it’s an easy answer,” Reznick says. “Zero technology at the table. No excuses, rare exceptions.”

Bon appetite! Find a meal solution that works.
According to Dr. Charlotte Reznick, some families work their kids’ schedules so there is only one after-school activity a day so everyone is home for dinner.

“Other folks choose a couple of nights a week as treasured; no one makes plans Wednesday and Sunday evenings,” says Reznick, associate clinical professor at UCLA.

She knows of another family that accepts the chaos of everyone’s schedules during the week, but keeps Friday nights as a sacred ritual. “They pull out their very best china and the kids drink juice from wine glasses. They light candles and bring the spirit of love into their home and hearts as they welcome the weekend. Everyone feels like a ‘special guest’ at the table. And everyone looks forward to this weekly loving connection.”

Feast on these tips to better connect at the dinner table:
• Start dinnertime during set-up time and involve everyone – preparing the meal, setting the table, placing food -- even the youngest can help.
• Try to talk one at a time and ask follow-up questions after someone speaks. Play simple sharing games such as “high/low” or “success” of the day.
• So no one person hogs the conversation, everyone gets to speak once before the free-for-all of anyone speaks begins.
• Express gratitude before or after every meal holding hands.
• No one gets up from the table until the last eater is done; parents may want to linger to chat after the kids are excused.
- Courtesy of Dr. Charlotte Reznick, Imageryforkids.com

For some, family dinners may not be possible on a daily basis. Dr. Charlotte Reznick suggests other everyday activities:
• Breakfast together; pack lunches together.
• Drive or walk to school together in the morning with no technology in the car.
• Shoot each other a text during the day to say you are thinking of them. Or leave notes in lunch boxes.
• Keep story time a long time – read to your kids no matter their age as a nightly ritual; it can create lifetime loving memories.
• Sit on the edge of your child’s bed and snuggle and chat before they doze off.
• Go to the farmer’s market together on weekends – include everyone on decisions about what to buy for dinners and why.

Take Dr. Wendy Walsh’s strong bonds prescription:
• Bond over words. Spend 20 minutes a day with each family member, giving them your undivided attention, and doing more listening than talking.
• Practise non-judgment. Celebrate your kids in all their weird and wonderful glory. “If they are into vampires, catch up on Twilight yourself. If they love rap music, stop slamming the lyrics and get them to help you understand the art form. Your kids will turn off and tune out if most of your words are critical,” says Walsh, of Wendywalsh.com.
• Turn off tech. Have tech-free family dinners at least four times a week. Make a technology curfew in your home where all screens go off at a certain time. Children and teens need to give their brains some downtime from tech before falling asleep.
• Give them responsibility. Help them find a part-time job. Give them an allowance that teaches them financial literacy. Insist they do community service. “Encouraging teens to grow up means giving them a healthy balance of autonomy and boundaries,” adds the relationship expert.

A Poem

2011-11-16T04:42:00.001-06:00

8 years ago, yesterday a friend lost her Daughter. She posted this poem to Facebook in remembrance to her today. I had to save it.

You can shed tears that she is gone
Or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back
Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see her
Or you can be full of the love that you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember her and only that she is gone
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back,
Or you can do what she would want:
smile, open your eyes,
love and go on.

Revised Schedule

2011-11-14T10:14:00.001-06:00

So back to that whole thing about doing things that are good for me, and not letting my self get swept up in mine or someone else's, planning/post-race euphoria and signing up for some race I have no business doing... yet. :)

I've been contemplating (again) my 2012 race schedule and I have decided to skip a 70.3 distance this year.

I knew I didn't want to do Galveston again, so I was leaning towards doing NOLA 70.3, as the location and point-to-point run sounded kinda cool and different. Then I thought a little more seriously about it -- and you know, another 70.3 is just not right for me... this year.

I have got to get the medical stuff under control. I think the constant stress of training for long distance, isn't helping my efforts. As it is, I'm a late-in-life-fluffy-triathlete who's now done three 70.3 distances in a row, with little downtime (if there is such a thing) between each. Doing this distance is hard enough on the body, but add to that carrying so much extra weight takes it's toll and I realize that.

Don't get me wrong. I want to do one -- I ALWAYS want to do one. But I know the smarter choice, the choice that will help achieve my ultimate goal, is to forgo this year and work on my medical challenges that are making dropping the pounds so stinkin' difficult.

It's all good and I'm feeling confident in my decision. So here's the plan:

So here's the list!

Run Season:
Turkey Day 10K
RunGirl 13.1
Texas Half Marathon (Woodlands)
Houston Aramco Half Marathon

Triathlon:

HITS Corpus - Olympic (February)
Kemah - Olympic (April)

Sylvan Beach - Longer than a sprint, shorter than Olympic (June)

Bridgeland - Sprint (August)

Hy-Vee 5150 Nationals (definitely an "A" Race) (September)

Houston - Olympic (September)

With a stroke of luck (and all the fast 40+ Athenas staying home in bed or racing relay), I qualified for the 5150 Nationals. I know in the real world, this doesn't happen all the time. Truly. I mean this is a stroke of being at the right place at the right time and being able to start and finish a race.

There's like 3 races in one at Hy-Vee, including a pro race. I think it could be a great, fun weekend to watch and race. So what that it's in Des Moines Iowa! It will definitely be Fall there September 2nd, so I'm up for it.

My biggest goal for next year is to kill my Galveston 5150 time of 3:38 by 15 minutes or more.

I want to swim 1.5 K in 35 minutes or better
I want to bike 24.8 miles under 1:23 or better
I want to run my 10K in 1:19 or better

So that's that. I've got my work cut out for me.

I'm hopeful that with the half marathon training this winter, my running will continue to improve. This Saturday was my first long run where I actually ran long, slow, easy AND kept my heart rate down. That's a major deal for me. I'm taking it as a definite sign that my sweltering summer of training paid off somewhere!

Next year will also include some spectating at Galveston 70.3, Ironman Texas and Redman (where my training buddy is finally going to get to do his first 140.6 race!). It's gonna be a good year.

Oh! I also started Crossfit. Just to get some strength training back to my routine during the off season, in hopes that the good hormones from the strength training will counteract some of that bad hormonal stuff happening inside me. I went for my first on ramp session after my long run on Saturday and I am still sore. It's just crazy!

That's it for now... sure seems like enough.

Race Report: Oil Man Texas; When You Just Can't

2011-11-12T05:31:00.001-06:00

Looking for my Oil Man Texas race report? Ummm, not gonna be one. Sorry!

Oil Man Texas was back on the first weekend of November. I was looking forward to the race, not so much as a race, but as a good long training day. The ride is on the back-end of the Ironman Texas course, so I wanted to take the opportunity to check it out.

Since my "A" race (Redman 70.3), my training was pretty inconsistent. Life happens: 2 hectic work schedules + just completing your "A" race = low motivation to fight for time to fit workouts in like you I was before. The plain truth: Before my 'A' race, I would have found some way, any way, to get something in on a crazy day where available time is seemingly negative.

Long story, short, during the week I had been sick. I was on the upswing Thursday and most of Friday, but Friday night I got slammed with some kind of allergy/sinus thing. I felt a little better on Saturday and figured it would pass, "It's just an allergy thing." I headed up to Conroe and checked in to our "villa" and rested. I realized I had forgotten my allergy meds {cr@p!}. I picked some up at the store, but completely tanked Saturday night. I woke up on Sunday to a head full of snot, a stomach full of drainage after a night worth of horrible rest.

I'm sharing this, not as an excuse, but as an example of when we have to make tough decisions. Decisions for the larger picture. It killed me to do so, and I'm sure it's not easy for anyone who has had to do it themselves. Even though I had logical reason, I just felt like a quitter. I had decided not to start a race. Sending that text to my coach, who was also racing, just felt awful, but I knew it was the right thing.

In my bigger picture there's an "A" race in January; the Houston Aramco Half Marathon -- plus I have 2 other races, the Texas Half Marathon on New Years Day, and RunGirl 13.1 in December. I knew I had to get on the ball with my training, with running being my weakness. I had already lost a week of training being sick, and I did not want to risk losing a second week. So there. Decision made.

If I'm keeping it completely real though, part of my disappointment stemmed from the realization of how little training I had done between the end of September and November. And maybe if my training had been more consistent, it would have been hard, I would have surely felt like crap, but I would have been more confident and could have quite possibly survived without the worry of losing a subsequent week of training.

Wouldda.
Couldda.
Shouldda.

Ah well.. I just move on from here. :)

Pondering

2011-11-02T14:02:00.001-05:00

I haven't been much about blogging lately. Things are just busy with work and it's kind of affecting my motivation with everything in general. I hate funks... the plus is, there's usually an upswing coming.

As for today, well I'm home sick and feeling like warm kah-kah. I'm just hanging out getting caught up on blogs and club stuff, between waves of stomach sickness. Boo.

Moving on...

So I'm seriously thinking about going to the Hy-Vee 5150 Nationals. The Nationals are in Des Moines, Iowa... where it will truly be Fall weather. Nice!

I know. Crazy? Right??

I mean, I know I'll get slaughtered by the Athenas who truly represent what the weight class is for, but heck, when will I ever qualify for something like that again? And face it... training for an Olympic over the Summer will be a bit easier than another 70.3. I've trained for 3 70.3 distance races in a row... that a lot of training with very little downtime between and I need to recoup some time back to focus on some things that will make me stronger in the future.

So I'm thinking. THINKING.

Next, you gotta go over to visit Mere at Swm Bike Mom. She just finished her first 70.3 in Miami. Go ahead... tell her how great she is. I'll wait. :)

Since I'm home, I'm getting caught up, reading a lot of blogs. Everyone is setting goals for their off-season training. I know there are things I need to focus on. Everyone wants to shed some poundage, or at least maintain through the holidays. To me, those are pretty much a given.

If there is one thing I do this Winter, it will be to get weight training back into my routine, once and for all, and forever. I started reading the New Rules of Weight Lifting for Women. It's the first time I've come across a book for women that is not, for lack of a better way to put it, pansy-like. The authors of this book are not bullsh*tters either. They're accomplished industry professionals with proven results. I like that the program is based on training 2 days a week. Something that's pretty doable; I could fit it into my schedule with my triathlon training.

I had thought briefly about taking advantage of a local Crossfit special for November and December, but that takes away some flexibility. Again, pondering. Pondering which way to go. The class atmosphere definitely gives a little extra nudge to get-up and go, in the way that Masters does for me for swimming. In any case, I need to make a choice.

Strength training is important and I feel awesome when I'm lifting. I'm not training for anything longer than an Olympic distance this next year, so I should recoup a bit of time that I can dedicate to this effort.

On the family front, Hubs is training for his first half marathon in March. He'll be sidelined for a few weeks, having some surgi-stuff done, but then he'll be ready to tear it up! I can't wait to see him achieve this goal. I know how good it felt for me a couple years ago. It was amazing.

The kiddo is doing great. Growing like a weed and is standing taller than the corn in a fully grown field. She's good and healthy, and that's the way we like it. :) She's recently started Girl Scouts... which also means Mom is doing Girl Scouts, since it's all completely led by volunteers, which I guess I didn't really know. In any case, another good reason to not be training for a half!

The other thing I need to do is work through some stuff in my Head. I need to go for a consult to for a panniculectomy, but the bottom line is, I'm chicken. I'm actually afraid the doc will tell me that I"m still too fat. My primary care physician has already told me that's a ridiculous and that I'm a good candidate for the procedure, provided we get my Anemia under control. I feel some level of excitement, wondering how it will feel to bike, run, or heck, walk up the stairs and not feel my lower stomach against the top of my thighs.

The Race I Didn't Wanna Do -- Race Report for Galveston 5150

2011-10-27T15:54:00.000-05:00

And on the 7th day she raced.

Even though, for the first time, she did. not. want to.

True story. Hard to believe, I know.

I signed up for the 5150 race because Hubs was going to do the sprint and we thought it would be "fun" to both race the same day. Plus, I thought finishing up the race season with some events in cooler weather would be a nice change from kicking my own ass all Summer long in the heat. The cooler weather might have given me a peak at gains I made despite feeling like crapola.

Since the moment I crossed that Finish line at Redman, training has been inconsistent at best. Work has been super busy and when I start missing workouts, even just for fitness, I start to lose motivation. It's a terrible cycle. I know it's even worse when I have a race looming and I have no desire to train when I do have a slice of time.

Bah.

The day before the race was a complete mom-a-thon. We did a family breakfast, and hit the school district's Imagination Celebration where Cass-a-frass' artwork was being displayed for the 2nd year in a row (my little creative genius! I can say that, I'm her Mom!). I was thankful she changed her mind and wanted to stay at the celebration, otherwise I was looking at driving 90 minutes to Brookshire to visit the happiest Halloween place in the Houston area, Dewberry farm. I really wasn't up to it, but what do you tell your kid when she says, "...but Mom, I used 6 of my 7 birthday wishes to get the biggest pumpkin at Dewberry farm!"


Not much wind, right? LOL

You say, "Okay, we'll go."... because you're trying to make up for all those times you were training for your "A" race and weren't available.

Despite being completely ready to head over there, my faith was reaffirmed when she said she didn't want to go. Yyyyes!

Race morning comes and I just don't feel like racing. I'm almost resentful that I'm up and out and Hubs is home sleeping. He got busy with work too and it totally ate his extra time, so he couldn't train at all -- He had to make the tough choice not to race.

I get to transition and setup my stuff, eat my b'fast and chit-chat with some of the neighboring Athenas. I had checked the roster and there were 15 Athenas overall, and I think 6 of them in the Masters group with me. Saw some club folks volunteering and some spectating friends. At least I kept busy and tried to keep negative thoughts out of the way.

Everything was annoying me. My bike, the fact that the weather foretasted wasn't what we were experiencing. I was just a super-grump-face. I hate when I get that way. I took a chuck of pavement and laid down to try to get my head together.

Yes, it's a magic trick. I can fit into that thing!

At the swim start some club friends and I were hanging out waiting for the wave starts. Out of the corner of my eye I see what looks like a firework. We all turn to each other and say, "Did you see that?" Turns out it was a big shooting star (we think). Immediately someone pointed out it was good luck, so I hoped for a decent race, quietly to myself.

I got in the water and didn't really make my way to the front like I had been in other races. It was a "active" start. Sometimes I think it was better when I was a back-of-the-packer; I swam alone a lot and it's nice and peaceful there! LOL Now being at least an average swimmer, I have people around all the time. On the first stretch I got hit in in the nose pretty darned good and even swam over by some of the super-fast guys in the wave behind us on the 2nd stretch. I guess at that point something clicked and I snapped into it. I thought if I'm going to have to race I'd better make the best of it, right? Right. I came out of the water at 37:51. 2:30/100 -- not that great of a swim time, really, especially since it was wetsuit legal. However my sliding, traveling lunge upon my exit was amazing and scored a 10 among the crowd.

Made my way to transition and I was off on the bike. The winds were foretasted to be < 10 mph and out of southeast. They were more out of the south and more bike >15 mph with some good gusts that got me wobbly. We had cross headwind out and a cross tailwind back. For the first 8 miles on the bike I couldn't get my heart rate down and my legs felt like, well, shit. They felt tired and burning. To be expected though, since it wasn't my "A" race. I have to remember that, but still it was completely frustrating. Athletes were passing me like I was standing still and my HR was not getting where I needed it to be. Finally, I got it down just a few miles before the turnaround. Knowing I had been riding well above my heart rate on the way out, into the headwind, I was going to have to take it easy on the way back and recover a bit, if I wanted to be able to run the majority of my run.

It killed me, but that's what I did. I watched people pass me and settled for a lower average speed on the bike so I could save something for the run. I always make the mistake, on this course, on the bike, by not holding back when necessary -- then I'm fried chicken for the run. I was disciplined nearly the whole way back, but for some reason, even in practice when we get back to the seawall and all the traffic, my heart starts to race for the last 2 miles. Oh well. Bike was 1:30:33. I was a little bummed because I can do this distance between 1:24 and 1:27. I was just hoping it would pay off on the run.

In and out on the run with very little fuss. Surprisingly my legs felt better than I expected they would. I pretty much settled in to 6:1 intervals, but I felt really strong. Maybe training for 70.3 races is what makes you a good oly racer! LOL.

Here's the surprised occurrence. I'm just finishing mile 1 on the second lap, with 2 to go. I'm going down the street and I see athletes on the other side, coming towards me. I see 5 different 70-something bibs. I was number 75, so I knew all those women were Athena, and there was far less than a quarter mile between us. I was determined to hold them off. I had no idea if their ages were under or over 40, but it didn't matter. I stayed the course and tried to push and stay strong. With less than a mile to go, I looked behind me and I did not see a single on of them.

Me, race? Yep. I actually raced. The same girl who absolutely, positively didn't want to be there at the start. LOL

Anyway, my run time was 1:24 for about at 13:30 pace. This is my regular pace without a swim and bike before hand! Since my PR for a 10K run is 1:21, I have nothing to feel badly about! Plus I negative split my run by about 2 minutes! I crossed the finish in 3:39. First was 3:21, 2nd was 3:32. I didn't realize it a the time, but not even 5 minutes after I finished they called the Athena awards. When they called the Masters category, they only called 1st and 2nd. One of my club-mates said I ought to check with the timekeeper. Sure enough it was me!

So I won 3rd Place Athena Master, qualified for the Hy-vee 5150 National US Championship race and got a comp'd race entry for that race. Not to mention I PR'd for the distance. Pretty darned lucky (thanks to that shooting star, changing my piss poor attitude, and the fact that most of the fast Athenas, who always beat me, raced relays or stayed home in bed!

Oh, and in the end it turned out that just 1 of those women were in my 40+ Athena group. The other 4 were all under < then 40... and I beat all of them too!

A good day for someone who didn't want to race. :)

One more to go... Oil Man Texas. Aquabike!

Good Grief! Where's The Time Go?!?

2011-10-14T11:29:00.002-05:00

*Exhale.*

It's been a couple weeks since Redman. Where training ended work has picked up and I'm finding myself getting to work super early and then having no motivation at the end of the day. I have the 5150 and Oil Man Texas left on my schedule. Motivation would be a good thing to have right about now.

I haven't really done anything consistent training-wise since Redman, though I did pull out a PR on the USA 10 Miler, which I was pretty surprised about. I had only done 1 or 2 short runs after Redman, but that was it. We used the 10 miler to start to figure out my A race strategy for Houston in January.

I had a hard time keeping heart rate down at the 10 Miler, which was kind of frustrating. After the race, I found out a lot of people had the same problem, so I didn't feel so badly about my effort. I tried my plan and then tried alternate things when the plan was not, well, going according to plan. That's how it goes.

There's stuff happening on the medical front that kinda has me a little emotionally loopy. In short, the "C" word was brought up again, so to rule it out I need to go see yet another doctor; this time a GI specialist. :(

I am doing my best not to let my mind runaway with this... we're just ruling it out. Right? Right.

So I have the 5150 and Oil Man left. I added RunGirl 13.1 to my schedule, since I had a free race entry from that particular race director -- volunteering has it's rewards!

Running events:
Turkey Day 10K
RunGirl 13.1
Texas Marathon (Half)
Houston Aramco Half Marathon

I have (sorta) been managing to get some weight training in. My Chrio also offers Crossfit, and I'm thinking about taking advantage of a $99 special for 2 months. I also got the New Rules of Weightlifting for Women and have found a little foundation for motivation there too. Have to decide which way I'm going to go. I know it's super important to get it in. As I tell Cassie, "It's a have to."

Post Race Thoughts

2011-09-30T10:11:00.000-05:00

What was different for me this time was I wasn't so worried about letting anyone down.

The thought of letting everyone down seemed to consume me my last two 70.3 races. My family scarified time with me so I could train. My coaches invest their knowledge and time too -- I hated to think they might feel it's for nothing much. I'm not their best, fastest, athlete, and always found myself wondering if my boatload of determination really meant anything and if my "just finishing" really gave them enough satisfaction; that maybe not my not experiencing stellar finishes they might feel as if they had not done their job.

This time though, I felt differently about it. My goal with triathlon has never been to be the fastest or to stand on a podium step, although when the fast folks don't show and it happens it's cool -- an undeniable fact for every athlete. But truly, for me, I just need to do better than I did the last time. I race against myself only, and anyone I pass along the way is simply incidental... most of the time. :) This time that's what I kept in the forefront of my mind -- my reasons for doing this crazy, sometimes stupid, sport.

My disposition with this race was completely different than in past races. I was more relaxed and felt more positive than I ever have previously. I found myself smiling through my swimming, biking and running and it felt great to actually be having fun, and not being worried about 7 or 8 hours later. I stayed present, noticed everything. It made everything so much more enjoyable.

Overall my training was consistent when I was in control. I had some medical issues and surgery during my 18 weeks, which brought on some pretty serious emotional challenges I had to accept and overcome. All that crap gets in your head and until you deal with it and flush it out it's there, interfering with your focus. There's still some lingering drama, but I'm trying to let go. There's no sense in wasting time on pepole who clearly don't value relationships in similar ways. I just hold out hope that pepole will do the right thing in the end, and I have to stop doing that. "When people show you who they are, believe them."

I did much of my training alone this year, which I'm okay with, and I think I benefited from doing so. TB was training for the full, so to start we really weren't training together. When we did go out for a ride, he's generally way ahead and really is just someone who knows I'm out there, not someone I'm riding with. While I'm racing I can't be drafting or riding with friends, so why train that way? Yeah, it's fun once in a while, but it seems counterproductive for me at this stage. My thing this year was, "train how I want to race." Not train for somebody Else's race. I really wanted to learn how to stay focused, and with that I was successful. In fact, on the few rides I did do with other people, I kinda fell apart in the nutrition area being so per-occupied with trying to keep up, or yappin'... something would always get in the way. LOL

A member of the club once said, "People tri for one of three reasons: fame, fortune or fitness." I'm definitely in it for fitness, but I have big dreams, and this race is just part of achieving that bigger goal (to do a 140.6) one day. Perhaps there is some additional peace of mind that comes with thinking on a larger scale, seeing the bigger picture, instead of looking at 1 race on a single day. There will be countless races between now and then and with each one I'll learn something else and get closer to where I need to be to achieve the bigger goal.

I felt pretty darn strong that I did a good job in holding back on the bike at Redman. However, the data told a different story. I mean, it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't according to plan either. OC was right. I went too hard on the bike. While my overall average Heart Rate was 144 on the bike, my target was 140. The data shows I spent more than an hour above. Of course my HR increasing was unavoidable on the steeper climbs -- I'm just not that efficient yet. I did do my best to manage what I was dealing with though, so I feel like there was a huge lesson learned. What it tells me is, I need to increase my weekly mileage on the bike. The more efficient I get on the bike, the more control I have, and therefore the better my run will be.

"To have the kind of race you want you have to be able to run your run." The best way to ensure that is be an efficient super-star on the bike! :)

Of course everything gets better if I can get to the bottom of the Thyroid/HyperP stuff and lift the gate on dropping this last 50 lbs. Having my skin removal surgery wouldn't hurt either! The extra pounds is a huge obstacle and I don't act like it's not there. It's in my face every day! When the weight comes off, I will be able to become that much more efficient.

So for now I'm making a point to add-back my strength training (again!), continue Masters for swimming, and find a better way to get more weekly bike mileage in -- learning how to ride better at a lower heart rate. It's marathon season now, and I have the Texas Half Marathon on 1/1/12 and the Houston Half Marathon on 1/15/12 -- so that will keep my running in check.

For this year I have the Galveston 5150 and Oil Man Texas. For Oil Man, I switched to the Aquabike. I just don't have another 70.3 in me this year AND try to figure out how to keep everything balanced with MAKING strength training a part of my training routine permanently. At least that will give me a reason to keep focus on Swimming and Biking during my Half Marathon training.

I'm already thinking about the future..

USA 10 Miler (10/9/11)
Turkey Day 10K (11/14/11)
Texas Marathon - Half (1/1/12)
Houston Half Marathon (1/15/12)
HITS Corpus - 70.3 (2/12)
Kemah Olympic (4/29/12)
Sylvan Beach Tri (6/12)
Bridgeland (8/5/11)
Houston Olympic (9/30/12)
San Antonio (Tentative -- it is might be an addition to the TX3 series)

Talked to OC about what's to come and I mentioned Corpus HITS 70.3 race. He said that would be fine, but of course he also had to inform me the race it's mid-February and could be a gamble with Corpus weather. We could have high, 30 mph, winds like the training day (that drove me to tears) in Galveston. Of course I had to remind him of something he once shared: You can't pick a course because you think it's going to be easier than another course. He does make valid points about little outside training availability being an additional challenge. Lots to think about.

2011 Redman 70.3 Race Report

2011-09-28T13:25:00.000-05:00

The alarm went off at 4:20. My first thought was, "I slept pretty well considering I have a race today." I quickly took care of business, got dressed, grabbed my gear and headed out the door, excited but calm, with Hubs.

I'm one of those freaks who likes to arrive when transition opens. It was about a 2/3's mile walk to the transition area from where we parked, and it was dark -- we joked how we probably should have brought headlights because it was so dark.

I got into transition and my bike was still there (Yay!) and I got my gear laid out. I was pretty calm, I kept wondering, "Why am I so calm?" Setting up was completely uneventful and went smoothly. I didn't forget a thing. Yay!

It was cool that a lot of us BAMmers who were doing the 70.3 were racked closely. I got the chance to meet Christy, a local triathlete, who I met at the 2010 Redman during my post-race breakdown (LOL), but under much better circumstances this time! :) Last year she was volunteering when they ran out of shirts after I had just completed probably the hardest thing I'd ever done aside from child birth! Later, weeks after the race, she found my blog; we became *virtual* training buddies and started following each other's blog ever since. It was awesome to meet you Christy! You're super. You can meet Christy too -- here's her blog.

After everything was laid out, I took care of "business." My stomach was a bit nervous. I ate my breakfast 2 hrs before race start and chilled on a piece of sidewalk. I laid down and just focused on what was ahead of me. I really felt positive. More positive than any race I've done so far, this was kind of ironic considering all of the challenges over the last 18 weeks of training.

In what seemed like no time, they were corralling everyone for the swim it was time to get the wetsuit on and meet up with my fellow athletes. We watched each swim wave start. It was kind of funny watching everyone enter the water, because it had gotten so muddy, people were sinking up to their knees. It did make the swim start and exit a little more challenging than expected, not to mention an extra 200 yard "jaunt" to transition because the lake's water levels were so low.

Swim:
Finally it was my wave's turn. I headed out to the water and went up to the front third of the wave. The gun went off, and we were off. There was more activity at the start than I remembered from last year, and I took a few hits, but nothing terrible. There was also some confusion over some buoys that had blown off course. We were supposed to keep the course buoys on our left and ignore the others, I thought, but saw people going around the ones we were supposed to disregard. I just wasn't sure anymore. I chose to keep the course buoys on my left and continue on. Generally I navigate my swim pretty well, but today I felt like I was drifting off course a lot. There were athletes around me for the whole first length of 900; I was never alone it seemed and it took a long time for me to find my rhythm.

My goal for the swim was to stay focused and not drift off into nowhere land; it's easy to do on a long swim. I made the first turn on the back stretch and my arm/hand started falling asleep. I swear this only happens in races only! Not sure what that's all about, but I can swim with it. It's more annoying and diverts my focus. In the last stretch of 900, my stroke started to feel better... guess I just needed a 1000m warm up!

I was the 3rd Athena Master out of the water; there was :12 between me and the 2nd Athena Master and 10 in our group total. 1st was one of my club friends who came out in 33 minutes! I had been hoping for a 2:20/100m pace, but I finished instead with 43 mins for a 2:15/100m pace. Needless to say, when I saw the results, I was thrilled to hold that pace for 1.2 miles! 2 years ago I was swimming a 3:30 pace for a sprint tri! Last year I swam a 2:35 pace for Redman -- so I'll take it! Getting up stupid-early for Masters paid off!

T1
Exiting the water took a little longer than I wanted. I just kept swimming as long as could; until I was scooping mud in my hands and saw red muck before my eyes. Only then did I stand up. It was a long "jaunt" to transition, but I made it and got suited for the bike. I gave my frozen Perpetuem a good shake and took a swig to make sure it was ready to drink, and I was on my way. I really didn't try to rush here, as 56 miles on the bike is a long way to go if you've forgotten something. 4 minutes and 12 seconds later, I was outta there and on the bike.

Perpetuem... yum. :P

Bike
I was almost relaxed to get on the bike. My goal here was to stay focused again and ride my plan, which was to ride by a heart rate of 140. I knew this would be a challenge given the rolling hills and the few steeper climbs, but I would do my best. I actually enjoyed the course. While it was still a challenge for me, it didn't seem as bad as I had thought it would be. I quickly gained some confidence when I saw that I could still make some decent time AND ride my heart rate.

I loved the long gradual climbs and the long fast down hills. It made it fun to ride. When I started out, MC passed me (she was doing the full distance), and then about 20 miles in, I saw OC (he was doing the half and in 2nd place overall!). The course was nice, in that you were never alone. There were always athletes coming and going. It made it more fun, even if I was being passed up. :)

The aid stations were placed well, I thought, and I took fresh hand-ups of water whether I needed them or not. I only missed one, when it fell out of the volunteers hand. I have it down though: I point and make eye contact -- "I got you!" Then there's no mistake, they are ready!

My only complaint was the 8 miles of bad pavement. It was about a 4 mile stretch that you hit again on the way back. Man, it was bumpy and full of pot holes, however they were well marked. Lets just say that on the new race wheels, the girly bits were not very happy. LOL :P

I made it to the turnaround and ironically enough (or not really), I started coming up on and passing the people who had passed me. Not a ton of them, but some -- mostly those who probably went out too hard. At about 40 miles in I was passing some athletes I wouldn't have suspected I could. It all helped me to stay positive and know that my plan was working... I just had to stay with it.

About 45 miles in, who do I see on the side of the road? My Training Buddy, who had been sick and quarantined to his hotel room the day before. He and J came out to cheer us on!!! Another pick-me-up.:)


Finishing the Bike

My biggest challenge with this ride was the steeper climbs. There was no way I could stay at HR of 140. Even "granny gearing" it up the climbs, my heart rate would get to 155. My plan was to make the best effort at maintaining 140 on the climbs, but let myself recover after at 130-135 if I went >140. If I found I was making decent time at a lesser HR, I would just cruise around 130-135 and not push for speed. My hope was things would average out in the end and I wouldn't be too bad off.

As I neared the end of the bike course, I realized I felt pretty darned good and I was getting excited. I don't display my speed on my bike computer, because it only makes me lose focus on what's important (for my plan). By the time I looked at time vs. mileage, I saw I only had a few miles left and I was 3:10 in, I was thrilled... and then maybe got too excited. I rode the last 3 miles around 145. Ooops! I'll blame it on that last climb up to the Damn. That was cool riding up there, being able to see the race site. I dropped to #7 out of 10 Athenas on the bike.

On my rides at home, with pancake terrain, I average around 17, so I was hoping to average around 16 given the hills. I finished the bike in 3:26 for an average speed of 16.3 and average HR of 144. Last year I finished in 3:47, with an average HR of 157 and average speed of 14.8. Huge improvement! I'll take that too.

T2
Rolled into transition hap-hap-happy. I got ready for the run and my legs felt fantastic. I just couldn't believe it. I did have to take a moment to pee (a good sign!) and mix my Perpetuem for the run, but 5:10 later I was out on the run… Smiling! If you know me, I never smile on ANY run... that is until, “Crap! I left my Garmin on the bike!” Oh well... it is what it is. A mistake, but I'd manage.

Run
I can honestly say that out of all my races, probably more than 50 by now, I have never felt as good at the start of a run. I just could not believe it! The course was 2 10K loops that followed Lake Hefner. Most of the course I had company, but the back end can get a little lonely. Anyhoo, you're only there for a couple miles, I'd say it's a decent course for the 70.3 distance. Not sure I'd feel the same doing 4 loops on the 140.6 distance though.

My goal was to run aid-station-to-aid-station. Again I started seeing my club friends on the course and it was lots of fun. First one I passed, in the opposite direction, was OC. He was finishing! About 2 miles to go for a 4:37 finish for the 70.3. Wow! He wound up winning 2nd overall for the 70.3!

I achieved my goal, partially, at least for the first 10K loop. I came back for the 2nd (and last loop) and could tell I was fading a bit, but continued to push on. Everyone said I looked great at the turnaround, but by the time I got to the last 5k, I was cooked. My lower back hurt like it's never hurt before, I couldn't take in anymore nutrition and I started to have GI issues. Here's where that :58 minutes of riding above my heart rate was going to bite me. Boo! I stopped to use the port-a-potty and felt somewhat better, but after that, if I got my HR up, even just lightly jogging, I felt like I would puke. Had to move to "Plan B" and walk fast, to ensure I'd finish, instead of being scooped up by the passing golf carts because I was puking. I pretty much walked just over 5k back to the finish.

So in the end my run wasn't stellar, but I could tell I had made great progress compared to last year in so many ways. I held at number 7 in the Athena Master group with 3:34:57 for a 16+ min pace on the run, vs. last year's 3:54 for the same 13.1.

So with that I made it to the Finish at 7:54:06. Last year's time was 8:36:55! 42 minutes less than last year, and a Personal Record for the 70.3, since I beat my 7:58 in Galveston!

When I crossed the Finish, the first person I saw was J, a friend, who was volunteering and then Christy, who was so thoughtful. Evidently they ran out of womens shirts again this year (they're sized so small that everyone takes a bigger size, then they run out by the end). I was lucky though. Christy hooked me up with a mens shirt (until they get more womens shirts which they'll send to the finishers). She said she told them there was no way I was not getting a Finishers shirt. Again, so sweet! Thanks Christy!

Redman 70.3 - Pre-race Report

2011-09-26T11:58:00.003-05:00

Wednesday:
After seeing my family off to work and school, I visited Dr. Taylor one last time for a little tweaking and cold laser. After that, my TB (aka Training Buddy aka Hombre) picked me up and we were off to the airport. OKC, here we come!

We arrived and it was pretty uneventful and calm. Just the way I like it. The first sign I see as we leave the airport is for a restaurant named, "Kona Ranch." How appropriate. LOL

"Kona Ranch"

I checked-in and found my room had no fridge! I thought for sure I had one last year? I called the Marriott folks and asked them about it. They said they were "by request only", and didn't know if they had any left. Wonder why? Maybe the 1,000 triathletes descending upon their business in the next 4 days had them all reserved. Hope and pray, hope and pray! Anyway, they checked for me and 3 minutes later and a knock-knock at my door and the fridge fairy appeared! My lucky day. Whew!

So TB had did some research and found a decent local grocery store, so that was our first task at hand; stock up on a few things for my room, so I wasn't eating unknown crap. Picked up some yogurt, granola, whole wheat bagels, almond butter, fruit, etc. Foods I eat normally.

Then we headed out to drive the bike course.

Now, I will preface this with the fact that in Houston we have no hills. So if you're a Sooner or Boomer, and you read this, understand it is F-L-A-T here. There's nary a climb anywhere to be found outside of bridges and overpasses. Redman is billed as fast, flat course... perhaps for those who train there year round. LOL

However, note that if you ever decide to race the Galveston 70.3, we have wind, in exchange for your hills. :)

In any case, as we drove the course along the outskirts of the city to the country roads. We drove through part of the course where it was evident a tornado came through, with tops of trees snapped off and debris still around. Kinda made me sad for a moment, thinking of the folks who had to live through it.

The course was full of rolling hills with a little bit of climbing and a a few steeper challenges. Definitely more challenging than last year's course, I felt. Now, driving the country roads is a bit deceiving because you see everything coming ahead of you. It's like tunnel vision, as TB described. It just makes it look worse than it might be.

It is so easy to get overwhelmed with the thought that something is going to be more challenging than you ever anticipated, but then isn't everything about triathlon? Winning (or finishing well!) never feels good until you cross the finish.

Some of the climbs were just long and gradual, but then the downhills were equally so it events out somewhat. The course was pretty much an out and back (with a small difference on the way back) and it seemed on the way out we kept going up in elevation... so that just meant on the way back we'd be going down more.

However, as I watched the course go up and down, it was never more clear to me that the only way I would be able to have the kind of race I shooting for was to stick to my plan and ride my target heart rate. No matter what. I would have to do whatever I could to stick to it. I had to race my own race, stay focused and ignore everyone who might be pass me.

The winds were projected to have a tail/cross winds on the way out and head/cross head winds on the way back. Yet another reason to keep my HR on target, so I didn't die on the way back. Was I worried about the bike? A little, but it was more about the unknown.

The unknown is out of my control.
"It doesn't matter."

I've been saying throughout my training, "I need to train how I want to race", so this should be nothing new to me, at all. Right? Right. Right!

Then that was it. My Wednesday was done! TB and I had a good dinner and made it an early night. I called the Family and played a few rounds of Words with Friends with Hubs. Made it to bed by 9:30 pm.

As I went to sleep, I thought positively about the bike course and how I would need bike to maintain my HR. No mashing the pedals. Come up out of aero on the climbs and keep my shoulders relaxed. I knew I would have to granny gear it up some of the climbs, get passed by a ton of athletes and smile, and take advantage of the downhills and not coast. I needed that valuable momentum behind me to help with whatever was next to come.

Thursday:
I slept super good the night before and rose bright and early, I mean dark... it was 4:30am! It was okay. I wanted to be used to race day scheduling. Today we were headed out to the lake for the event's scheduled open water swim from 7am to 9am. When I first woke up it was thundering and lightening and thought we'd have to readjust our itinerary. We waited a while and then headed out when it seemed like it subsided. When we got to the lake, it was chilly, windy and raining. Definitely not optimum weather for open-water swimming, but you know what?

The weather is not in my control.
"It doesn't matter."

Something is missing! This was the swim entrance.
Last year it was covered in water.

With that, I saw no lightening and heard no thunder, so I headed in for the swim. One of my fellow club members decided to pass on the swim and do it the next day. I decided it wasn't a good idea for me, and that this choice was in my control. I knew I had not had a wetsuit on since April and was afraid if I had a problem, I would need time to rectify it. Once I saw a couple athletes brave the water, on their way back to their vehicles, I made my way to a pavilion where we chatted with the swim director. He explained how the new swim course would look because the water was so low in the lake. And by low I mean it was low, Low, LOW! Dirt now resides where we swam the course was last year. It's jut unbelievable a body of water that size can get that low.

I also recalled my troubles last year with my zipper pull coming unvelcroed, quite literally burning my arm pit and creating a chafe that caused me a lot of pain during last year's run. As I swam last year, the cord kept getting caught under my arm each time I stroked. Despite my efforts to reattach it during the swim, it just wouldn't stay. The water was 70 degrees this year, so I opted to try the sleeved suit first (I had brought a sleeveless too), and completely eradicate the risk of the pit-burn again, and hit the water -- a choice completely in my control.

Like a spa treatment!

The water felt good and admittedly there is something fun about swimming in the rain; it makes me feel like a kid! Since the water was so low we had about a 200 yard walk to the water's edge of muddy red dirt. It squished between my toes like, well, mud! I waded out there and it finally became deep enough to swim a bit. I was relieved the water was plenty cool enough for my sleeved suit. Which incidentally fit better than it did last time! Imagine that? It didn't shrink. LOL

Now the practice swim was done and my wetsuit decision made. Next we were off to grab some lunch. We took a ride to the local bike shop, since they had some cool stuff last year, but I wasn't really moved to spend on anything more than replacing a shirt of Darren's that got ruined by bleach. The bike store is "Schlegel Bicycles" and the shirt has treads across it and says, "I got some Schlegel on my shirt." It's cool :)

My ears seemed to be bothering me a little after the morning's swim, I wasn't sure what it was, so I did make a stop at the pharmacy to get some swimmers ear stuff to knock that potential issue out, then back to the hotel for more rest.

My bike arrived on Thursday night via OC and the bike trailer. Brought my bike and transition bag up to my room and by now some other club members had a arrived; socialized and got caught up. Good times.

Funny story. We're chit-chatting in the lobby with some other athletes and this girl says something to the effect that she checked out last year's results and decided she was going to race Athena, instead of her AG, because there was only one entry in her group. Ironically, I was the only Athena Master in 2010! Pretty funny she made that statement to me. I told her that was me -- we both got a laugh out of it. I informed her we had 8 others, for a total of 10 in our group.

TB had to do a run while we were there, so I took the opportunity to just hang at the lake and do a little race visualization. I know, I know.. might sound hoakie, but I swear it works -- especially for remembering everything in transition.

I wrapped up Thursday night with dinner, called the family, more Words with Friends (started to suspect Hubs was using a helper, until he played the word "t*ts." Okay, maybe not). LOL

Friday:
The alarm goes off at 4:20 and I spend time getting all my gear and nutrition ready; I've got it all layed out on my bed, along with my race day apparel. All that has to be done the morning of the race is roll out of bed, get dressed, remember to grab my nutrition from the freezer and roll!

We headed to breakfast and I kept it pretty bland. TB wasn't feeling so well so he headed back to his room. He was with fever and nausea. YUK!

Later, I told him I'd find my own way to packet pickup. Luckily OC was having lunch next to the hotel, so I was able to hop a ride with them to the race site. I walked to the restaurant to meet them and had a little panic session when I realized I didn't have my wallet. I had to run back to my room (I had put it in a different bag). I grabbed a yogurt and some granola from the fridge for lunch so no one would have to wait on me and then we were off to packet pick-up.

Packet pick-up was pretty uneventful. Got my goods, bought a red Redman jacket and was delivered back to the hotel. I put my numbers on my gear and waited until 3pm for the bike transport. Headed BACK to the race site (thank goodness for me it was only 10 minutes away, if that.) Dropped my bike off with a sigh of relief. *exhale*

TB still wasn't well. I called him to see how he was doing, and he gave me the keys to the rental car so I could get dinner. I didn't want to have to go to any restaurant and I didn't want to go to the house rental, where a few of the athletes were staying, and try to make/eat dinner with 15 other people. I needed to depend on myself and stay on my schedule, which was a choice in my control. Not that it wouldn't have been a good times, but there was no sense in me driving more than 20 miles away to an unknown location in a city I'm not familiar with. Instead my plan was to visit the local grocery store and pick up a rotisserie chicken and some potatoes, and that was dinner.

Racked-n-Ready!

I returned to my room to eat and had a "knock-knock" at the door. It was some of my fellow club members. They were delivering a specialty cupcake from Pinkitzel -- a cupcakery in OKC. I chose the chocolate malt. This was definitely post-race fare and it went directly to the fridge. Not to be enjoyed until after I finished!

After dinner I met up with the few other athletes who also didn't go to the house, and socialized a bit, but I was back in the room by 8:30. Mixed up my Perpetuem, stuck it in the freezer and applied my tattoos. I was in bed by 8:45.

Hubs finally arrived in OKC some time between 9:30 and 10:30 and quietly came in to the room. I woke up a bit, but went right back to sleep. Sleep was good.

More to come:
Race Day! 2011 Redman 70.3

It's Time!

2011-09-21T07:38:00.002-05:00

Wait... that sounded like my water just broke!

I mean it's GO-time! :)

It's been non-stop action here at the Toler house since the weekend. Between work, prep and packing I"m looking forward to getting a chance to relax before my race! Sounds funny, eh? I'm heading out to Oklahoma today for Redman's 70.3 distance on Saturday.

I'm excited and I feel like I'm going to have a good race.

Today is just checking in to the hotel, a trip out to the local grocery and relaxing. Tomorrow will be an open water swim, Friday bike check and bike check-in.

While triathlon is an individual sport, it takes a village to get an athlete to the hardest part, the Strart line. Special thanks to my coaches OC and MC, the healing talents of Dr. Taylor, JJ Spencer and Robin! My BAMily too, but most of all my Hubs for being so supportive in every way possible (and acting as my personal bike mechanic)... not to mention Cassie, the best cheer leading Daughter a Mom could have! ♥

More to come. :)

If you want to, they're offering athlete tracking this year. I'm number 1385. Check here Saturday morning and plug in my bib number to follow me! http://www.redmantriathlon.com

A Good Read

2011-09-14T09:19:00.002-05:00

Digging Deep to Your Best Ironman Marathon
by Sue Aquila for Endurance Corner

Obviously these tips can apply to any distance race! Again with the "being present" stuff. :)

======

I've been in similar situations to what the author describes. For me, it goes back to making sure you're giving your full, best or appropriate effort at every moment.

When I did my first half marathon, I had to ask myself some of these same questions she poses in her article. For unknown reasons I would just walk a little longer on a walk interval. My brain would tell me I felt horrible, but there were no other indicators that would corroborate what I *thought* I was feeling.

I love the point she makes about the Finishers at Ironman. How may have shuffled through most of the marathon, but all of a sudden are able to dig deeper past anything they felt earlier, and run that chute all the way in -- in good form and smiles too! Yet to see them an hour earlier, they themselves may have been contemplating their physical ability to finish.

The Finish line, in the last hours of an Ironman race, is amazing, inspiring and an motivational event for me. It's my favorite part! I dare anyone to watch the last finishers of the night and not find themselves thinking how cool it would be to do a triathlon. Spectating at IMKY in 2010 was just an awesome day! So awesome I wrote a non-participant, volunteer, race report! Aside from MC finishing her race, the end of the evening proved to have memorable highlights for me...

"...we went to the end of the finishers chute; just before all the bright lights and music get loud. We cheered runners on. These athletes were spent and their faces showed every ounce of determination they had. It was amazing how most of them came to life and donned a smile twice their normal size. It was great to see them realize... I'm going to finish!!!

One guy in particular, I don't know his race number, came toward me for a high five. Clearly he was talking himself through finishing. I don't think he was delirious, but I do think he was completely spent. He jogged past me to the city sidewalk. He totally dodged the chute and was now running on the sidewalk. It was just 100 yards to the finish, but he wasn't going to cross the line if he continued. I literally sprinted when I realized what he had done and then realized he didn't know what he had done. I collected him and sent him up the chute to Finish. The time was about 16:51 or 16:52... I can't remember for sure, but I have an idea of who it was looking at the results. So Joseph Prudhomme of Miami, if in this small Internet world you find this story -- Awesome job! Not to toot my horn, because I'm glad I was there, but could you imagine if after almost 17 hours of effort and months of training to not officially finish? Oy!!

I never saw Hammer girl* finish, but Mel said she saw her on the course and figured Hammergirl was at mile 18 when Mel was at 23. Mel said she looked good. I"m sure she finished after Mel, but before we came back down at 11pm.

Lastly, there was a female athlete who approached the chute at like 16:50-something, She had on a NJ Triathlon jersey, so you know I had to show a fellow Jersey girl some love, right? She wasn't young, but she wasn't old... I felt like if you saw her on the street you'd never suspect she was a triathlete. Anyway, she was looking really spent (who didn't look spent?) so I talked to her and ran along side of her from the sidewalk and she started to pick-up the pace and run again. Unfortunately the clock ready 17:01 by the time she had crossed. After that, the music was turned off and they start breaking down the race. If you finish after 17 hours your an Ironman in your heart, but not on the results page.

As we walked back to the hotel I saw my fellow Jersey girl exiting the Finisher's chute. She was completely alone. No friends or family. I was curious if she had finished (I was glad to see she did have a medal, but her results were not on the results page). She was walking ahead of us, stopping occasionally to rest. I didn't want to say anything to her, well, because, I didn't want to bother her if she didn't want to be bothered. Leave it to OC though... he just struck up a conversation and told her good job. She smiled and continued on. I'm not sure I would have been all that talkative either. *hugs* to that lady from Ocean Grove, NJ "

*Hammer girl was a girl I took interest in because, quite honestly, we had the same body type. I was hoping to see her finish!

The Anxiety Gap

2011-09-13T18:53:00.001-05:00

Just read this on Facebook...

Psychotherapist Fritz Pearls said:
"Anxiety is the gap between the now and the later."
Where is your attention? Do you live in "the later" more than the now?
Then you are trapped in your thoughts, because what is the future other than a thought in your head? Only your thoughts can make you anxious! Bring your attention to the now. Seeing, listening, breathing, feeling the aliveness inside your body. Welcome home.
With love, Eckhart.[Tolle]

Forgive me if it all seems a little tree-huggin' hippy for you, but I dig anything that keeps me "present." I make my best choices when I am present. Before you know it, life will pass you by and you lose time you just can't get back.

Maybe Just a Little...

2011-09-13T08:46:00.003-05:00

Okay, so maybe I am getting a wee bit excited. FINALLY! I will apologize ahead of time for the random, scattered thoughts I'm about to share. In my mind they are all related. LOL

I was beginning to think the new pre-race apprehension I have experienced with my last several races was going to follow me to this race as well. Being side-lined for a couple weeks was super-bad for my head, but I'm coming out of my funk. I did take a moment to remember all challenges I had. Between surgery and injuries, it is enough to make anyone feel less than positive about what is to come. However, after a good training weekend, I'm secure knowing I am not only capable of finishing, but definitely capable of doing better than I did before.

The plan now is to focus on all things positive and the things I can do to ensure I'm prepared and ready for race day. I've got checklists and packing to do, and it always seems like it's so much more when it's a destination race. It can be a little overwhelming, but fun too.

I think it's great to do destination races with a bunch of other athletes, and we have something like 22 athletes going between my tri club and coach's athletes! It's going to be good times, for sure. I love the camaraderie, the spirit, the BuzZzZzZzZ, but it is all too easy to lose focus on one's plan. For me, I work best when I rely upon myself -- take control of the things I actually have control of. Get myself where I need to be, when I need to be there. My itinerary is done, which has proven to work for me, so I am not just following a randomly assigned plan for the sake of convenience or doing things as a group. Sounds a little snooty and maybe anti-social, but it's just me taking care of my business.Word :)

My training buddy isn't able to race because of an injury, which is a complete bummer, because he was on pace to have a killer first 140.6. While I feel for him, but also applaud his desire and spirit to still come to the race to provide support and root everyone on come race day. He is being smart about his choice, because there will be another 140.6 for him. Very soon.

I get excited about the unknown. Tapering has always been a thing I am never sure about. When I first started this triathlon, I never got that "springy" feeling in my legs I hear so many athlete's describe. Occasionally I feel like "I gotta go do something!", but never just springy, full of energy! LOL So there is always worry in the back of my head that says, "Did I rest enough?" "Will my legs feel loose or heavy as iron on race day?"

It is a strange mix of having confidence in your plan, the hours of training, and anticipation of the unknown. It's having faith at the start of the bike that once I get a few miles in the legs will feel better. It's knowing full well that the first 2-3 miles of the run will start out tough, but it will get better. It is keeping focus; doing what I can do, to the best of my ability, in each moment.

No complacency on the swim, no coasting downhills on the bike and running smart.

Whatever the day brings, I know I'll bring my best. I'll roll with the punches. I know you never can be 100% ready for everything that comes your way during a race, but I also know one doesn't have to run an 7 minute mile to be "quick on your feet" to overcome challenges either.

OC once told me, "From the moment you decide an Ironman race is your future, even if it's years from now, that's the very moment you start training for it."

Every race I finish, every race I might falter, brings me closer to that ultimate goal.

Bullets; Because I Need Order!

2011-09-11T13:34:00.001-05:00

So much has been going on. Forgive the randomness of this entry!

Work has been ridiculously stupid. My help desk person and I have been at complete odds with one another, which really isn't a news flash, but her complacency and lack of desire to work as a team came to a head. Had to *officially* deal with the issues. I just don't understand some people. I know I can't change her, but she's not offering any ideas for improvement. I know where this is headed. I don't like it. On top of this a server crashed this past week I think I put in close to 60 hours this past week, plus my training! Somehow I was still able to see my family.
Hubs is having a tough time at work too. He's having to reel his people in and get them working in a more organized fashion. He's stressed. I'm stressed. Communication can be hairy and I hurt his feelings this week and had to apologize. An upcoming "A" race, 2 Triathletes, each with full time jobs and co workers who make it more difficult than it needs to be, an almost 7 year old and a list of tasks and chores a million times longer than you'll ever have time for. It's all just a recipe for disaster, but somehow we manage to walk the tight rope, even if "I'm sorry" comes a little late. :(
Injury. After 2 weeks of treatment at another chiro's office, while my chiro was on a well deserved island vacation, my injury wasn't getting any better. I was hopeful because I heard good things about this practice. I became frustrated easily because I made an appointment with a specific doctor and then when I got there they did a switch-a-roo on me. I'm sure the Doc who saw me is great, but his treatment plan didn't work for me 1 week of no running (4 weeks out from my A race)? Okay, I'll listen. I go back a week later (and 3 treatments later) and he says no running for a another week? Oh, hell no!
Soooo, I was stressing over the no running thing and this new friend, Jenn, who is a therapist/specialist with MAT (Muscle Activation Therapy), offered to help me with my injury. I saw her for a treatment, and she said,"Run!" So I ran on Saturday! I definitely didn't hurt as much and it was nothing like what I had been experiencing. In some ways I actually felt stronger. My regular chiro, Dr. Taylor, is back in town and agreed that running should be okay (so 2 out of 3 professionals agree!), but wants me to come in to do some cold laser on my glute. If you need some MAT in the Houston area, look Jenn S. up here on DailyMile :)
Went and saw Doc Taylor for some ART and cold laser. I'm feeling a gazillion times better. So grateful to her and Jenn!
Today's training went well. Practiced my pre-race breakfast and was right on the money with my ride nutrition (unlike my ride last week!). Today I went 53 solo miles in 3:09. Goal was not speed, but to keep control of my HR and stay in my 70.3 HR zone. I only spent 9 minutes total above my zone, and that included climbing the Kemah bridge. I was pretty happy with my ride overall. Headed out for transition run after and no glute pain! Just my normal knee twinges that generally dissipate the longer I run.
My race wheels and TT Helmet both worked well. Seems just a tiny bit silly to be riding race wheels when the bike's "engine" is so big, but hey, we got a great deal and Hubs and I can share them. Every second adds up on the long haul. I just need a black seat, super wing and bottle holders. Cuz ya know it's all about how it looks. :)

I walked in from my bike ride this morning and my kitchen is full of bikes. Mine, Darren's and yesterday we went to the local bike store to pick up valve stems for the race wheels and came home with a new bike for Cass-a-frass. We promised her a new ride when she learned to ride the two-wheeler. She got an Electra Hawaii. Even the tread on the wheels are Hawaiian flowers. So cool. Incidentally, she pointed out, "Mommy, we can have the same bike! They have one in your size too."
Here's to the taper... massage coming on the 13th. Yyyyyes!

Perfect Timing

2011-09-11T12:36:00.000-05:00

I just found this draft blog and never published it. Amazing timing... with my race BuzZzZz setting in.This was actually from 2010, after I finished my first half marathon.

I had found this quote:

"You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face."

Then my coach had sent me the following. And yeah, it's my blog... I can toot my horn. :)

Great job yesterday. I know you had a new issue you had to work through. You managed it and still did an amazing job. Even though it wasn't your plan, you did fantastic. Once you sit down for a minute and look back at where you were and compare it to where you are today, you are someone's hero! Keep up the great focus - be proud of what you did yesterday - learn from your successes - fix the mishaps - look forward - have fun and lets get ready for April!! I enjoyed seeing you run yesterday and look forward to a great season! YC

Then my other coach sent me this:

Great job. You should start writing all this down. You are going to write a book that is going to help a lot of people someday (soon). This is a feat that some people would never consider starting from where you did. You need to share this. M

Three-day Weekend!

2011-09-04T21:29:00.001-05:00

Well, just about every triathlete I know is excited for the three-day weekend! Not just the extra-day off from work, but the extra free day of training! Kinda twisted thinking, eh?

I've been restricted from running this past week -- until next Wednesday. My ITB is really aggravated because my glute is so darned tight. I've been receiving massage and ART treatment and things seem to be a little better. At least now I can walk up and down stairs with little to no pain.

Needless to say my 2 hour run was a no-go this weekend. Instead I did a bike/swim/bike. MC (My Coach) and TB (Training Buddy) road with me out to a lake almost 24 miles away and we swam for 30 minutes, then came home. The wind was blowing and it was a pretty rough ride home, but I survived it. TB did too, in spite of his injuries.

It was the first time I've ridden *with* MC. He's just stupid fast, but I thought it was nice of him just to take a day to ride with a couple of his athletes he doesn't ordinarily get to ride with. I think I was more self-conscious about it. I just felt bad he might be wasting a perfectly good training day for himself, settling for 16/17 mph when he could be going 23/24 mph on his own and even faster with a group!

My nutrition was horrible on this ride for some reason. I mean, I planned accordingly, but I think I was so preoccupied with keeping up that I neglected to drink and hear my reminder alarm on my watch! Have to be better than that. I was 7 lbs. down after my ride! That's not good.

I was paying for it today -- I've been feeling a little off. Went to volunteer for a race today and came home and took a 2 hour nap! I've just felt lethargic all day.

Tomorrow is a holiday, so there's no Masters swim. I have to swim on my own and do a 1 hour easy bike ("no data!" just ride).

In other news, Darren found a deal on a set of Zipp 404 Z4's. We had to drive about an hour and 15 minutes to get them on the other side of Houston, but it was a pretty good deal. They need a little TLC, but appear to be true and will serve us well. Nothing a little clean-up and some new decals won't make look better. I'm excited -- it was completely unexpected too! I did promise Darren I wouldn't pink them out, so that he could still use them (an not lose his "man card"). LOL

I also got a deal on a new aero/TT helmet. I decided to take the plunge on one, before we got the race wheels. I'm looking forward to my new Rudy Project Wingspan Helmet. I've talked to a number of folks and they love them. We'll see how it goes.

Race Report: Clear Lake International Triathlon

2011-08-30T16:33:00.003-05:00

Saturday's Weather as we left the race!

After the Friday night banquet and hearing Dave Scott speak I was raring to go. I got to transition and setup. Did I mention I was just 6 bikes away from Dave Scott in the same rack? Well, I was!

Anyway, checked and double-checked everything and headed inside to the hotel's lounge, which was air conditioned and empty at 6am, to just relax and visualize my race -- of course keeping in mind the new things I learned from Dave's talk the night before.

My wave start was 7:21. I left the comfort of the hotel lounge and headed to the swim start. I decided to take a quick ~~confidence test of the 9ft ladders~~ swim and warm up. The first thing I noticed was how salty the water was. It was surprising to me. Anyway, the ladders didn't fail me, though I did pity the athlete who would get stuck be hind me climibing up!

My wave actually went off at 7:28. We all started staging around 7:15 and I felt good. Almost instantly it seemed like our wave was called to the dock and it was our turn. I'm not sure why, but the women were taking their sweet time! DR was telling the women, "I have to start you in 8 seconds... get in!" I was in and ready to go -- right up towards the front. No fear!

We actually started right in the marina; we jumped in off the fuel dock. Of course there was lots of whining going on about water quality because of the fuel (Blah, blah, blah...). It was extremely salty, but other that that, I didn't feel like I was swimming in an oil slick and I didn't smell fuel. I think people just tend to have a negative bias on everything. It's easier to rip something apart and be negative, than it is to focus on the positive (the water being calm and a bearable temp).

When I was less experienced swimmer, I would be alone pretty quickly. Now I'm a MOP (middle of the pack) swimmer and I have people around me, for what seems like the duration. The first 250m I got completely beat up by the other women. After that, things thinned out. I did a great job taking the shortest distance between points, except it meant picking up a couple cuts and scratches from cement pilings under the water which you couldn't seen initially. We had a little current against us on the way out, but on the way back we had a little push in. At the end of the swim I had to climb that ladder as part of my swim time. Boo! Anyway it wasn't too bad. Swim was done in 38 mins. Again hoping for 2:15-2:20 swim pace, but had to settle for somewhere around 2:30 for the 1500m. It was actually 4 minutes longer than my Kemah swim in April, which I find hard to believe because I'm a much better swimmer now than I was then! The real swimmers say the course was long. Whatever! It's always long... never short.

T1 was pretty quick -- a quick rinse of my mouth from that nasty salt water, shoes and helmet, and I was off on my bike.

I remembered the climb at the start and was glad I had my gears set in the right place. After about 10 minutes I started my nutrition. I downed 2 Thermotabs with some water and took in some Perpetuem. I had my watch set every 15 minutes, but also set it to give me a halfway beep. At the half way points I would take just a small swig of water. everything was going well. Target HR for my ride was 140, but I couldn't get it that low. Guess it was race day excitement and some cross headwinds.... I worked really hard to keep it under 150. Twice over the Kemah bridge brought it to 160 the first time and 158 the second, but I didn't start again until it came down under 150. I averaged a 149 HR and 17.6 mph for my 28.5 mile bike. While it wasn't my exact race plan, I was happy with that because I really did practice restraint. I just kept remembering that I needed to "run the run", like MC said.

T2 was a tad longer. Socks, running shoes and then I realized there was no water on the run out! I was glad I had extra on the bike; at least enough to get me to the first rest stop. Quickly, I took the water I had, and filled my run bottle containing the Perpetuem powder. I was really glad I could think on the fly, since the first aid station was a mile away. Problem and solution.

I look like I'm ready for high tea! I was waving!

As soon as I started the run, my kneed was filled with a stabbing pain I cannot even describe, and unlike anything I experienced before. Generally speaking, when I run I have twinges of knee pain which fades away as I run longer. But this? This was way beyond a twinge. I couldn't run, couldn't walk. Tried pushing it the first loop thinking maybe I could shake it out, but nope. I was so frustrated; I felt good and capable of doing more, outside of the pain, but I couldn't. I started to get emotional because I didn't know if I should quit and not risk further injury, or tough it out (because what if I had a like situation at Redman, right?).

On the 2nd loop, I kept stopping to figure out how to stretch to get some relief, but nothing was working. Eventually I figured out my glute was the cause, so once I started stretching that, things improved a little. I still had to stop frequently to stretch, but at least I could jog. That's where "Do what you can do in this moment" came in. I just played that over and over in my head.

I had a rabbit to follow on the run and towards the end of the race we became friendly and chatted a little. She was able to run it in to the Finish; I tried to keep up, but then essentially undid all the good I did! Ouch! I crossed the finish to my fellow BAM! chicks cheering me on! The BAMily was all over that race; it was so awesome! In fact, that was probably the best thing about this event Thankfully, another DailyMile friend who I learned was a massage therapist, was at the finish and took care of me. She was my savior! At first I was like, "Huh?" when she asked me if she could massage me -- then she explained she used to be a massage therapist. Quite frankly though, I didn't care who's elbow was jammed in my glute if it was going to ease the pain!

There were so many compassionate and supportive folks on the course. A bunch of athletes I met through DailyMile and athletes from Tri4Him were all so supportive. Not to mention my own BAM! teammates who made more offers than I could count, willing to stop their race to help me stretch and figure out what was going on with my body. There was one Tri4Him athlete, a woman, who ran past me and said she was praying for me and that she read my blog! Whoever you are, thanks! I sincerely appreciate the sentiment. :)

The frustrating part was, I did my job on the swim and bike. The heat was bad, but truly it wasn't killing me the way it seemed to be killing others. The aid stations were perfectly spaced for me to keep cool and my nutrition on the bike proved to work, because I felt good on for the run! Had I ran at least my regular post ride run, I probably would have been right in the middle at 4th or 5th place, instead of last.

Eh, shouldda, wouldda, couldda.

And remember what I said about it being so easy to focus on the negative? Truly, in the end I'm not upset that I finished last. I'm grateful that I was able to finish at all.

Oh, totally random! Guess who won a pair of KSwiss Blade Light Running shoes for doing a Ford Ironman challenge on DailyMile? Moi! That makes 2 gift cards, a wetsuit and now a new pair of running shoes I've won, just by logging my training!

Friday Night Banquet with Dave Scott

2011-08-29T14:52:00.004-05:00

Me & Dave Scott!

It's no secret, that to start, my head really wasn't in the game for CLI. I admit as the race drew closer, I was feeling more positive. My ITB knee pain was looming over my head and I was a little worried. I knew I was going to try to get into see Dr. T. to help get some relief, so I was at least hopeful.

I saw my coach at Masters Friday morning, where I had a micro-mini bike/swim/run brick. After that little challenge, I knew my ITB was going to be an issue for Saturday's race. I also knew I had to get in to see Dr. T. I was just hoping she could take me.

I told MC about the pain and we went over my plan. I really felt good about the race plan and the race... all except for my stupid ITB. I headed to work and immediately left a message for Dr. T. -- turned out she was on vacation but came in for a couple hours to take care of the 4 of us that called her! She's super! She said, "I might be able to let 1 person go, but I can't do that to 4 athletes." Needless to say, I was grateful!

I canceled a different Dr. appointment, because I have priorities, you know? Then rushed from work to see Dr. T. By then it was time to get to the race hotel. I was volunteering at packet pickup, then had the banquet at 6:30, where I was also helping. My first run-in with Dave Scott was at packet pickup; he was there, borrowing a bike from a local bike shop and getting fit on it. Nothing like riding a brand-new, unfit bike on race day! I was like the paparazzi and snapped an unsuspecting and unclear photo of him -- not even worth posting. LOL

Truly I thought the talk would be a repeat of River Cities in 2010, in that he'd share the same stories. Nope. It was another great, motivational speech! He shared with the athletes ways to have a better race day experience and what to do when you're struggling to do better. So much of it made sense, and not to swell MC's head, but much of it sounded like what he might tell me on a given day. Since MC was going to be out of town supporting his brother at IMKY, he was sending me texts, I told him I have Dave Scott here to take his place. LOL

I did get to have some one-on-one conversations with Dave. We talked about River Cities last year, how there is no way possible remember every athlete he's ever encounters that says, "Yeah, don't you remember me from "X" race?" I told him it's like saying, "Do you know my friend, they work at NAAS?" here. We also discussed the edible viability of some kind of chicken-in-sauce thing on the buffet that was passing as a protein source. A few good laughs. I also appreciated the fact he took time to actually ask people their name when he was in conversation with them. At least for that night, he'd remember those he spoke with. Though later you'll see why I'm certain he won't forget our entire table for a while.

In short, if I wasn't ready to race before, I was ready to go after his speech. There were a couple of highlights that made me laugh or were worth remembering:

His son told him if he didn't do the 10K in < 40 minutes, not to come home to Boulder, CO. Dave did it in 41:56... so I wonder if he went home? :)
He talked about how back before triathlons were cool guys used to race in Speedos. Of course that warranted a groan from MOST of the crowd. My friend Kathleen, however, in a just-loud-enough-to-hear voice, replied "Darn!" Dave heard her, as did the whole room, and everyone laughed. Kathleen is a self-proclaimed number 1 fan of Dave Scott, and I believe it. I wouldn't challenge her for one second! And that's why he'll remember everyone at our table for the rest of the weekend! On to more serious stuff....
On the swim, concentrate on blowing bubbles out long. The longer you blow bubbles the more oxygen you can take in. Get relaxed and get your breathing pattern going; that's key to a strong swim.
Don't settle for complacency on the swim. We get out the the mix, then spread out and it's easy to lose focus and get complacent. Get relaxed, yes, but once your breathing is going, take risk -- go harder, turn your arms over faster and kick!
On the bike hydrate every 8 - 12 minutes... every 15 minutes isn't really good enough in this weather because we never take in as much as we think, so take small, frequent sips. Let your HR come down and start nutrition on your bike after HR settles, about 10 minutes into your ride.
When you're out there riding long and solo, remember to recall the things that bring you joy about triathlon.
On the run the heat is going to be a challenge. He shared his mantra with us: "Do what I can do in this moment." This was something a sports psychologist shared with him when he decided to try a come back in the late 90's. "Do what you can do in this moment" proved to be my mantra for my race. More on that later.
Lastly, Dave told a story of how after he won Kona, I forget the year, he couldn't sleep. Though every piece of his body was spent, he still went down towards the Finish to reflect. He said it was early morning and he was just milling around. As he got closer to the street he saw 2 men with race numbers coming towards the Finish. As the men drew near they saw Dave; they recognized him and had heard he won the race that day. They actually thought Dave came down to run them in! Dave thought for certain they couldn't be IM athletes, but they were! For that moment they were the best of friends, latched arms and essentially dragged a completely and physically spent Ironman champion with them across the Finish. Back then there were no cut off times, I think Dave said the guys had been racing for 23 or 24 hours. After the banquet we were talking and I asked him if he would meet me close to the finish at tomorrow's race and run me in like he did for those guys. He said "Uh, No, but I'll buy you a beer at the Finish." LOL

There was lots more, but those were the main things I walked away with.

The--en, The next day I arrived at transition for the race, and guess who was racked just 6 bikes away from me?!? Yep. Dave Scott. So when I saw Kathleen, his biggest fan, was volunteering in transition, I hat to tell her and she came screaming over -- quite literally, too. Thank goodness he wasn't there yet; he would have thought she was completely creepy the way she was mauling his bike. It is so funny funny how this grown woman gets giddy s a school girl when he is around. You can't help but laugh.

Not two minutes later Dave comes down with 2 little convenience store plastic bags to setup his transition. There were only a few of us at the rack. He was hilarious, acting like he didn't know how to setup his transition area. I commented on how I brought a backpack big enough to hike up Everest, and he comes down with 2 little convenience store bags? He laughed. I let him do his thing... by now athletes realized he was there and they were just buzzing around trying to get pictures and a chit-chat with him.

When he left the rack to go wait for the race start, he patted me on the back and said "Have a good race, Donna!" I was a little stunned and just said, "Thanks! I will." I didn't say "I'm gonna try." I said, "I will." He remembered me. Me? Even with pulled back hair and in a sausage skin of Lycra. LOL

Race report to come...

Wanted: Raceday BuZzZz

2011-08-26T09:30:00.004-05:00

So tomorrow is Clear Lake International Tri, and I'm doing the Olympic distance. My head just not in go-mode... I have no race day BuZzZzZ at all. This same thing happened before River Cities, but I was able to come out of my funkish state and get in the game, so I'm hoping for the same with this race.

CLI changed it's venue this year, so it should be interesting. The swim is in the marina, the run is a 3 loop course for 10k and the bike is on local roads that I am completely familiar with -- including 2 passes over the Kemah bridge. We'll see how it all pans out. The run course is going to be a little wonky, as they had to change the course at the last minute because a local HOA didn't want the race to go through their neighborhood.

1/2 of the Kemah Bridge

The last time I did CLI, I did it as a relay and I thought I was going to die on the bike because it was so stinkin' hot. I mean, it literally feels like you're riding into a hair dryer that on high heat. Our runner had turned an awful shade of green... it was a pitiful day. Since then, I just haven't been motivated to re-register for this race.

However, that was then. This is now. I wasn't training then, the way I do now. I know I'm prepared and that should make me feel great about everything. Right? Right!

Perhaps the other mentally limiting factor is I'm not really "racing" it tomorrow. People pass me right and left when I am racing... but tomorrow I'll be executing my 70.3 plan. It's really more of a long, supported training day for me. So even more people will pass me than normal, and that can easily leave you feeling badly if you're not in the right mind-set.

Alternatively, I could do my 70.3 effort and be completely surprised! So many folks will come out tomorrow, balls to the wall, and burn it up on the bike trying to average a certain speed on the bike, killing themselves -- if I have a good, solid run tomorrow, I could still have a really good race. I think there are 7 Athenas racing the Olympic. I know I won't place (there's a few really fast ones racing), but not finishing at the bottom is always my secret goal. I would love to finish smack, dab, in the middle or better! LOL

So my plan is to take the swim at my 70.3 effort -- a decent pace, but not oly effort. On the bike my heart rate stays under 140 -- "granny gear and smile over the bridge" (that's what MC says) "Do not let heart rate get out of control up the bridge." The run: keep HR under 150 and if I have anything left at the end (theoretically I should since I'm racing an Oly at 70.3 effort), then tear it up... well, as much I can tear up a run -- which isn't saying much. LOL

The mantra for the swim and bike is "Run the run!" I have to remain conscious of my effort on the Swim and bike to have a good run. I'm going to run the course and walk the aid stations... just like I want to do at Redman.

I've got my nutrition plan slated, just need to follow it. I feel good about that part. It will be the first time I use Thermotabs in a race. I took a few this morning during my mini brick and no adverse affects, so here's hoping! :)

Tonight is the race banquet. Dave Scott is actually going to be there to speak -- he'll also be racing on Saturday too. I'm certain after the dinner and hearing him speak, I'll feel better and maybe will have found my mojo!

And it goes without saying, I don't ever race now without remembering Elysha. "Have fun and don't take this stuff too seriously."

Nutrition Plan for Oly Distance

2011-08-24T15:51:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I've got the plan worked out. Providing everything goes well testing Thermotabs this week, I'll run with them on Saturday. This plan is based off my original caloric and sodium intake recommendations by my sports nutritionist. At the time I wasn't using Perpetuem, so I've had to adapt the plan. I've over-planned, just in case I'm out on the bike longer than expected, but generally I will finish the bike under 1:30 and the run under 1:20.

My Redman race plan will be similar, except my requirements will be extended to meet the time requirements for the 70.3 distance.

This plan is based on my weight, sweat rate and BMR. I can genuinely tell a difference in performance when I follow this plan (especially the pre-race breakfast and 20 oz. of G'ade) vs. when I don't. The G'ad ade for breakfast is supposed to be a primer for your body to prepare for the distribution of fuel to your body.

The thing I really like is that aside from breakfast, everything is liquid. The Thermotabs (salt pills) are not coated and are not in plastic caplets. They're like aspirin, only buffered. My hope is I'll be able to absorb these. We'll see!

NJ & Me - Perfect Together!

2011-08-24T10:23:00.003-05:00

Headed back to NJ for a week to visit family. It was a great visit and too short, as usual.

The weather was the best! I received text messages from friends training in 100+ degree heat killing themselves, meanwhile I was having my best long run and time trial run ever! It was back to reality on Sunday as the blast of heat hit my face as I exited the HOU airport. I knew I was not in NJ anymore. Boo!

Running really was great, and I have to admit I was looking forward to possibly enjoying it! I had to do a 2 mile time trial while I was there, so I was going to run from my Mom's house to my old high school and hit the track. I did just that, but the track was being resurfaced. So on to "Plan B": I did my time trial on the road. My time was 23:20! 11:38 for the first mile and 11:42 for the second mile. That was with a 1 mile warm up. I can't tell you how good it felt to see those times. It relieves me to know that there is improvement, even though I can't always see it.

Run Route from Fair Haven to Sea Bright.

So if my time trial run wasn't good enough, my long run was also awesome! I did just over 9 miles miles in 2 hours. It was a long slow run too... I kept my heart rate in check for most of it, though it did get away from me on a couple hills. But to be able to hold a 13:04 pace for 2 hours is huge for me. I only took walk breaks every couple miles, since my ultimate goal for Redman is to do the run and walk through the aid stations.

Oceanic Bridge, Sea Bright, NJ

I wish I took pictures while I was running, but had no where to carry my camera. It was fun because I ran the same route I'd ride my bike to the beach when I was a teenager. Riding my bike it seemed soooo far. Now I know it was about 10 miles -- didn't have a bike computer then! The scenery was beautiful. I ran From Fair Haven to Rumson down Ridge Road, over the Oceanic Bridge and hung a right and ran until my turnaround time. The homes on this stretch are just magnificent, full of character, and each more beautiful than the last. The trees are tall and over the years now provide a ton of shade. It was just so pleasant.

This week is another taper week. I have a race on Saturday, Clear Lake International. I'll be doing the Olympic distance as a dry run for Redman which is just about 5 weeks away! I need to get my nutrition plan nailed. Still haven't quite figured it out. Sadly, Perpetuem Solids aren't going to work. They're too big and I'd have to carry too many of them. They're the size of a Nuun tablet in circumference, but like 3 times the thickness. I did think of wearing my nutrition "Rambo" style, and exchange bullets for tubes Perpetuem Solids, but thought better of it. Could you imagine? But I really would need to carry something like 28 tables for 3.5 hours. It's insane. It's a great idea they have with the solids idea, but not so much for longer workouts. Bummer.

This weekend I'm going to do my regular Perpetuem and Water/Nuun on the bike and try Thermotabs for sodium on the run. A few people I know really like the Thermotabs and they're not coated or a caplet, so I think I might be able to absorb them pretty well. We'll see how it goes.

Making it Easier for Me and EVERYONE

2011-08-15T11:38:00.000-05:00

One of the hardest things about training for 70.3 (or whatever your distance) is balancing everything. I have a 6 (turning 7) year old, a Husband, a House and a full-time job. It takes a village to make sure everything gets done and my family is amazing with helping they way they do.

Most of the time I do okay keeping up with everything, but Sonja Wieck's latest entry got me thinking of some of the things I try to do (not always successfully or timely) to make things easier for my family, for me and to make sure I stick to my training plans. Now, especially, in the last 5 weeks before my "A" race. My biggest problem is, once one thing falls out of synch, other things do as well and domestic chores just snowball! The same goes for my training... if something happens and I miss a session, my training sessions snowball and I'm killing myself by the end of the week. Not good for quality training sessions or keeping injury free.

Sonja's entry has some great ideas for being organized and she shares some great resources that help ensure success during "crunch time." So be sure to check it out! It was funny to see I'm partially as organized as a pro, but just don't have pro speed, pro build and mad-pro-skillz. LOL I do, however, have the same domestic challenges, and there is some comfort in that fact, knowing we all have the same struggle.

Some of my tips... Many of these ideas are no brainers... some are great! I'm just short of implementing them all 100% of the time. It would be amazing if I was super human and could! LOL

1) Use Google calendar. Both Hubs and I are online all day long at our jobs. I linked my Training Peaks schedule to my Google Calendar, so he has an idea of what my training plans are for the week. He does the same with his.

2) Most days, I make my breakfast the night before and early morning workout. Most of the time I'm good with this... occasionally I'm rushing to do it in the morning. If I don't do this, I'm setting myself up for a fail with breakfast. Not good.

I also try to make extra for Hubs, to make it a little easier for him too. Funny story: Last week it was one of those weeks I wasn't so well at pre-prepping. So there were two days where I made my meals in the morning before leaving. I was so consumed with getting MY stuff together, I forgot about Hubs. Last night I said, "Hey I'm sorry I didn't make you any eggs last week, I was just consumed with trying to get myself out the door in time." He says, "Yeah, I was kinda wondering what I had done wrong." For a second I thought he was serious, but he was joking, thankfully.

3) Use the auto-brew feature on the coffee pot! Hubs generally sets it up and he'll remember for a long time... then he'll get lazy, then I'll set it up for a while, then I get lazy. We both appreciate the fact it's there, ready, when we come downstairs, so why we get "lazy" with this task sometimes is beyond me. Maybe it's just rebellion for having to maintain an already tight schedule? LOL

4) Try to make things easier for Hubs to get out the door with the Kiddo when I'm at early-morning workouts. Hubs and Cass-a-frass are kinda pokey and they know it. Easily taken off track by morning TV or the computer... locating the hair brush or the favorite swim suit. I try to make Cass' lunch and sometimes breakfast, if I have time.

5) We've tried to "empower" Cass with things she can do to help in the house. Like emptying her backpack and lunch box after Day Camp, and even making her own lunch for the next day. This worked really well for a while, but she groans and is, well, *over it* now. It was something that worked and we really should be better about enforcing it. Even the little ones have to pull their weight where they can.

6) Don't knock it until you try it: Alternative scheduling. I used to do all my workouts after work. This made for some later evenings and that didn't work well for the family. I decided to try to do my workouts in the early-am. Hubs is not an early-AM trainer... definitely not as early-early and I'm willing to go. I'm not a complete fan of it, but it makes for better balance at home so I can deal with getting up and half-past-still-dark, if it means getting my workouts in.

7) Don't waste time folding workout clothes. We have more workout clothes than regular clothes in a week's worth of laundry. We have bins for tri shorts, running skirts, running shorts. I still hang my tech tees/tanks, but that's about it. This was hard for me, because I come from a family of undie-folders; we also gave up folding undies! We have a bin for those as well!

8) I'm convinced too that my favorite race tech-tees and sports bras last longer because I don't put them in the dryer! I always hang them dry. Hubs hacked a drying rack in the laundry room. We had one of those over-the-door hooks in the bathroom with like 8 hooks on it. He moved it to the laundry room and it's been totally awesome to hang my sports bras on to try!

9) Because I swim a 5:15am Masters Class 3 times a week, I keep a bag packed with all my stuff I need to get ready for work, which I do at the Fitness Center. Each day I have Masters I just need to pickout my clothes and throw undergarments and shoes in my bag, which always stays packed for convenience. I use travel size shampoo/conditioner which I can refill once a week. I also have one of those towels that velcros around you, which is soooo nice to get ready in, rather than trying to put clothes on a showered body that is still sweating from a workout.

10) I have a separate bag for all my pool toys (goggles, kick board, bouy, Zoomers, paddles). The toy bag stays in my car, so it's not forgotten.

11) We have cubes with storage for all of our swim/bike/run stuff. Hubs has one set. I have another. Even Cassie has a cubbie! It's really helped me have one central location for everything and I'm now less likely to misplace my heart rate strap, sunglasses, or favorite visor.

12) I'm still trying to become okay with the concept of saying "No" and asking for help and clearly communicating what I have time to do and what I don't have time to do. This goes for doing things with Friends, triathlon, chores, errands, etc. This is still a hard one sometimes. I'm getting better at it because I appreciate the balance it can bring when practiced routinely. I'll get there. :)

13) When 2 people are training for a race in the same household, everything gets completely crazy twice as fast. Flexibility and communication is key. If you're the one not training, you're helping to get caught up with all things domestic. It gets stressful because you can easily feel a disconnect because you're training all the time. In our case we have a kid, so unless we spend $$$ for a sitter, we can't really even train together. We have done that before though! It's important to make family time -- we know when we need it.

In closing, I feel like this time around I've been better balanced. Has it been crazy? Heck yeah, but I think the early-morning training is better for the family. More of an inconvenience for me and an added morning challenge for Hubs having to get Cassie and himself out the door, but I'm home most nights, which wasn't happening before. I also took time at the beginning of the year to consider a smaller race schedule, knowing I had the September 70.3 race. This race kept me focused on training, more so than racing, so I wasn't racing every weekend, like I've done in years past. I also learned to say No, and volunteer less, especially when longer training weekends begin (like now!). Also, a gentle reminder to the spouse that heavy training weekends are approaching, is a nice heads-up. Hope I don't sound like a know-it-all. We still have our struggles, but we recognize it and are open and flexible to working through the challenges.

Kristin Armstrong on Focus

2011-08-12T06:31:00.002-05:00

Kristin Armstrong on Focus

Read This...

2011-08-09T15:49:00.004-05:00

Okay, if you've seen the recent Nike ad, you can't have fun here. If you haven't, then read on.

“My butt is big and round like the letter C and ten thousand lunges has made it rounder but not smaller and that’s just fine. It’s a space heater for my side of the bed/ It’s my ambassador to those who walk behind me/ It’s a border collie that herds skinny women away from the best deals at clothing sales. My butt is big and that’s just fine and those who might scorn it are invited to kiss it. Just do it.” Nike.

What do you think when you read this?

For me, I think it's kind of cool and reminiscent of the Dove campaign where they used "average" women/models in their advertising. I think it's verbiage that makes a woman feel comfortable with her imperfections... learning to accept them and finding the positive. Don't like it much that it pokes digs at skinny chicks, they have issues too. This isn't about being fat or thin... it's about being comfortable in the skin and body you're in, have self-worth, and treat yourself with kindness and a healthy way of living.

Now... scroll down....

Read the same ad -- now how do you feel about it?

Does the accompanying picture change your interpretation?

I'm just curious. I've seen many varying opinions on the Internet.

I'll share my thoughts later. For now, leave me a note. What do you think?

Race Report: 2011 River Cities Triathlon

2011-08-08T12:16:00.006-05:00

So this race is called the "Best lil' Triathlon in the South" and boasts that Lance Armstrong holds the original course record. The course has changed since he's done it, but they still boast. The field is limited to 1,000 participants. The race sold out in 25 minutes, online. They also said 50 athletes showed up to packet pickup at closing, hoping for no-shows they could buy. It's about a 4.5 hour drive from Houston, and I think well-worth it if you're up for doing a destination race, doable over a weekend.

It goes without saying, they also have the best swag of any race I have ever done! This year was no exception... I got an amazing backpack/transition bag, a race-themed Tech Shirt, a Tee- shirt with the monster logo (to the left) on it, a running Jacket, a running hat and a pair of seamless socks. Last year we got a piece of triathlon-friendly luggage that retailed for $250. The same bag was on clearance this year for $90!

What I like most about this race is the thought they put into the details. It's in August. It's Louisiana. It's gonna be hot. They remember things like kiddie pools of water to wash the sand off your feet, after the swim, as you enter transition. Their aid stations on the run are well-equipped... even for the slowest of finishers. They have Spray stations on the run course, iced wash clothes, and seriously, the best volunteers. I was thanking them for being out there in the 100+ degree heat, and they were thanking me for racing. What????

So while the water is pretty dark and you can't see your fingers 3 inches in front of your face, the rest of the course is quite scenic and is in a state park. The bike is rolling hills with a couple challenges, but nothing you have to get out of your saddle for. The run course is mostly shaded and also very scenic.

I ♥ Swag :)

I packed everything I needed for RCT and didn't forget anything. Yay! It was a drama-free and relaxing ride to the race. I decided to keep my own room so I could have some quiet time. Good choice. :)

We went out the park and drove the bike course. It was the same as last year... rolling hills with a couple of bigger ones. It was a slightly challenging course for me since I'm not great at climbing, but they were one right after the other, so I knew if I could work the down hills, I could pretty much make it up the next one, most of the way, anyway.

The night before I got my stuff ready, rolled my glutes and quads a bit (quads were sore when swimming at Twin Lakes Friday night -- glutes had been tight post-track) and hit the bed by 8pm. I don't know if I was nervous or what, but I just didn't feel "right" about this race. Maybe it was all the talk of the head and how miserable it was going to be... I don't know. I wanted to do it, but it was like a part of me wasn't into it. Just couldn't find my mojo. I did a race viz before bed, called the family and then lights out by 8:45

Got up the next morning and felt better about race day. Still apprehensive. Got to transition in plenty of time to setup. Found the in's and out's, counted my racks. Ironically, Joy's race sat right in front of a "No Alcohol" sign. That was funny. LOL. For race nutrition I did my 2 hr. pre start breakfast (bagel thin, almond butter, 1/2 power bar, banana, yogurt and 16 oz. of Fierce Strawberry G'ade). My wave start was at 8:39 -- finished eating by 6:30. Got my "poupon" and felt relieved that was out of the way.... for the 2nd time -- I knew I was good to go! :)

Had lots of time before my start, so after I was setup, I went for a swim. I swam out easy to the second buoy and back. I'm glad I did... I forgot how black that water was! I still noticed my sore quads on the swim. That was irking me, but I tried to forget about it and kicked some more to try and loosen them up.

Me (far left) and my BAM! friends

Once the race actually started I felt better... was getting more excited. Me, Sandy, Debbie, Kathleen and Cathy were all in the same swim wave! That never happens!!! On the swim I started right behind Cathy, so I claimed space right up front. Of course I didn't stay with her for very long, but I didn't shy away from the front there was lots of activity at the start, as usual... lots of kicking, beating, slapping and shoving LOL! I did feel good swimming. I noticed I was never alone (a good and bad thing), but I was still sighting and navigating the other swimmers well. I was feeling confident. By the time I knew it I had made the first turn and passed Joy -- she was in the wave ahead of us. Then, about half-way through the back stretch, a 2 blue caps swam right over me, literally! The Clyde wave started right behind us and caught me before my last turn. I had two guys literally swim right over me, and I think I accidentally copped a feel of another swimming near me. Yikes! Only a few had passed me, and they were FAST -- so I was knew I wasn't doing poorly. I started sighting on the finish arch and was feeling good -- I knew I was going to have a good swim. I got out of the water and my watch said 21: something -- I was hoping for 19:/20:. It was an uphill, sandy beach run to the timing mat. The clock time was 22:01. for 2:30/100. Was hoping for 2:20/100m -- especially since I had just done the lap at Twin Lakes in just under :20 on Friday -- and that wasn't race effort. Later, a lot of folks seemed to think the course was long -- but then everyone always thinks that when they don't achieve their desired race time. Anway, this year 22:01. Last year: 23:37. A little bummed. :-/

I did not rush myself in transition. Upon entry to transition, they had baby pools of water to rinse the feet off (that was new this year). Yay! I got my gear on fast, but took time to reapply sun screen. Had a little problem getting my bike out of the rack with the water bottles on! Had to take them off to get my bike out, then put them back in. Weird design racks. Next year, maybe I need to mount my bike the other way? To exit transition you had to keep with the directional flow of traffic in a horseshoe shape. It didn't really affect me on the bike out because I was closest to the out... on the way back in I would have to completely go around the horseshoe to get back to my rack. Last year: 2:41. This year 3:01.

I exit transition and start the bike. For some reason the mount/dismount line was another 20 feet away from the transition exit -- up hill, of course! A lot of folks were struggling to get on their bikes right at the line, so I ran up past them with my bike and mounted well beyond the line where it was clear. I also noted that trying to run in my bike shoes, for the full horseshoe on my return would not be good. I decided I would take off my shoes once I got to transition and put them on my bars and run the horseshoe barefoot to my rack.

Once I got started on the bike, it took a good 3-5 miles to feel okay. I just kept remembering last year how bad I felt to start, and tried to be patient. I started feeling a little better, first in spurts it seemed, but it was probably the rollers that gave me that impression. I was riding unaware of my heart rate, because my Garmin was reporting wonky numbers... like 65 bpm, when I'm climbing consecutive rollers? Not sure what that was all about? I just did my best to ride by feel. I alternated Perpeteum & Nuun and just Water w/Nuun every 15 minutes on my ride. I did 3 scoops of Perpeteum (knowing I wouldn't drink it all, but extra just in case). Although I didn't need it, I did carry an extra bottle of water w/Nuun in case I launched one, or for some reason was out on the bike course longer than hoped/planned. I set my timer for every 15 minutes and took my nutrition as scheduled. By about 12 miles in I was feeling pretty good -- not great, but good. Probably should have eased up a bit at the end of my ride a little to get ready for the run, but I just started feeling good on the bike! The rollers were fun and as usual I was slow to climb (my right quad was causing me pain on the climbs) but killed it on the downhills. Even other riders were commenting -- we were all leap frogging. At the end though, I was able to pass those I had leap-frogged once and for all and tand finished ahead of several of them. Last year: 1:04. This year 1:02.

Hit the dismount line, entered transition and remembered to take my shoes off -- I put them on my handlebars and was off running the horseshoe to my rack. Nothing of interest here... got my socks and kix on quickly, race number, exchanged my helmet for my visor, poured a bottle of water over me (it was warm but worked enough), some more sunscreen, grabbed my hand held and off I went. Last year: 3:13. This year 3:31.

I chose not take the Garmin with me. My personal goal was to run the course and walk the aid stations (there were 4 of them). I didn't want to see my pace and get focused on it. I had heart rate, but that wasn't working right. I was a slow to start on the run, but eventually I got going after the first .25 mile. It felt slow and legs felt crappy, but I just tried to keep my goal in mind and moving forward at a non-walking pace. It was stupid hot by now, but tried to ignore it, thanking the volunteers and being happy, because I noticed, that the heat aside, I really was feeling better on this run than I have on any run, in any race. I took a swig of the Nuun from my hand held and spit it out. Ugh!! It was like drinking boiling water. I emptied it, took the lid off, and prepared to fill it at the first aid station. Another runner started running with me and chit-chatting... well, she was chatting, I was mostly listening. She told me I did great on the bike -- she was one of the ones I was leap-frogging and that her goal was to keep me in her sight... I thought that was funny. Then she said I was keeping her running! I had to laugh out loud at that. By the time I knew it, we were beyond mile 2 -- she said we had been running a 12:30 pace -- I knew my overall pace was a actually slower than her, because I started the run ahead of her. She said this was her IM pace! She told me how she ran this pace for CDA and I told her she lived my dream to do a 140.6 one day. She said she had no doubt I would. :). The run course was awesome. There were 4 aid stations with some kind of sports drink, ice water and iced down wash clothes. At each station I dumped two cups of water on my head, drank 2 waters and took two fresh wash clothes. I tied one around my neck and put one in my sports bra. Every aid station was well-equipped and I got new wash clothes each time. Add to that three spray stations! Nice cold water to run through!!! The 2nd to last part of the run course was the trail portion of the run course. It was well under a 1/4 mile, but it was a small descent and then a steep, up hill in the dirt and uneven ground -- just the kind of "yuck" you don't want to see in the last mile of your run. Nothing insurmountable, but when you look at it you just say, "Ugh!" The only redeeming value of this extra obstacle was the aid station was at the very top. I filled my hand held with ice water again and used it to drink and keep cool. I realize I won't be able to do that during a 70.3 -- I'll still need to take in electrolytes. But dang, it felt good for this 5k. I have to figure out what to do have cooler hydration on the run. I don't think freezing a bottle overnight will really make a difference at a 70.3 when I have a swim and bike for it to thaw out. Anyway, Jennifer and I finished the run course together, but split up and did our own thing coming into the home stretch. Right as I was entering the chute, some girl started puking her guts out right there. I either had to hurdle her or quickly go around. Poor thing! Last year: 45:55. This year 42:39 -- from a 14:49 pace/mile to a 13:45 pace/mile. I finished but felt good. Not that I wanted to run anymore... but I think I could have, if I had to.

Overall Time Last Year: 2:19:55
Overall Time This Year: 2:13:40

What I did right:
Kept patient and positive on the bike on the bike and run -- gave my legs a chance to come around.
Kept walking on the run limited to aid stations -- granted, there were 4 on this course, but still a first!
Nutrition is working so far!

What I need to do:
Figure out hydration solution for run before CLI... cuz it'll be hot!

I really want the opportunity to ride the Redman course several times on the CompuTrainer.

Thoughts:
Slightly bummed about my swim time. I really, really felt good and thought it would be better. I'm completely okay with my bike and run because I know my legs were fatigued and to still be able to pull of better than last year in 100+ degree heat, is a sign of improvement. Being able to run that course and walk the aid stations is going to go far for my confidence... kind of like doing the Silverlake mile swim did for my open water swimming a couple years ago. I just needed to see myself do it.

53 and Counting

2011-08-03T12:05:00.000-05:00

53 days to go until Redman. Just 53.

53 days to go, and I finally made it 100% through a 3 mile track workout. 3 miles... and I have a 70.3 coming. Of course the intensity is different, but one would think I would make it better through a 3 mile track workout than I have been lately. In any case the workout was good. Almost broke a 10 minute pace with a 10:01. The rest of my 400's were also between 10:01 and 11:08 pace, with the exception of one which was 11:48. Not sure what happened there... maybe I stopped to bake a ham.

I know those times aren't staggering fast, but when I reflect on last Summer's track work and fast was a 13 or 14 minute pace on 400's, I can certainly appreciate the improvement. I know getting the right medical protocols in place to deal with my challenges was key. I hope to continue to experience improvement.

Our Masters pool is closed for resurfacing, so I've had to go back to 24. Ugh! After swimming at the fitness center, I forgot how much I loathe the pool at 24. MC picked me up at 5am and I got my swim done. It was a good workout. Seemed like a really quick 2500, because I was done just a couple minutes shy of an hour -- surprising since I had some IM in there and I can back or breast stroke. For some reason though, my butterfly is coming along nicely. I don't get that at all.

Looking at a 1:30 trainer ride today and a run/bike tomorrow and a 3200m open water swim on Friday.

I was going take care of my trainer ride at lunch and stay late at work to make up :30 minutes, but I brought my gear, but not my bike. How's that for forgetful?

52 1/2 days. :)

July Crazy Brick: Cooking From the Inside Out!

2011-07-31T06:57:00.004-05:00

I woke up at 4am to get ready to crazy brick. I saw some lightening and heard some waves of rain pass over us, but still couldn't tell how the weather would be for the day. I knew I wasn't going to head to G'ston to brick with the rest of MC's athletes, but I also didn't want the workout hanging over my head all weekend. I originally wanted to start at 5:50 am to get it done and over with as early as possible, but that wasn't happening with the supposed "threat" of Don. Once the sun came up, it was clear out, so I hit the road around 7am.

Overall the brick challenge was okay. I had a really great first :30 run in that my pace was sub 13 AND I ran the whole thing without intervals. However, I didn't pay attention to the fact it was supposed to be a slower "IM effort" run. My IM effort heart rate is pretty much speed walking, since my running pace is slower. We were supposed to target IM effort to simulate the energy expenditure for the swim. Oh well.

The bike plan was 45 minutes at IM effort, 30 min at Oly effort and 45 at IM effort. I had a little trouble keeping the 2nd 15 minutes at oly effort -- not really sure why, but it all came back to me -- I just had a lull in the middle there -- might have been the wind, which started to pick up while I was out there. I had a pretty solid ride and averaged just about 17 for the 2 hours I was out... right where I want to be for race day

Now, the second run? Holy crap... head index was 103 by the time went out and I have no idea what I was thinking when I left for my :45 minute run with a 10oz. palm bottle. It was just terrible. I went out fine to start, but at 25 minutes in I just tanked; I had to start doing intervals.

As bad as the second run felt, I really attribute it to the heat and not bringing enough hydration with me. I really feel like my nutrition is making a difference in my overall performance, and am glad that alternating Perpeteum and Nuun seems to be working for me. My stomach felt fine for the 2nd run yesterday, so that's a good sign. Clear Lake International will be the real test, in a race setting.

I just really pray this whacky heat cools off, just a little bit, soon! I hate that feeling of cooking from the inside out.

By the time I got home yesterday I couldn't tell if I had been triathlon training or had done a Muddy Buddy race. My bike... and my body, were covered in dirt. My bike needs some love today, for sure.

Muddy Buddy or Triathlon Training?

Speaking of love, after my brick I came home and pretty much just laid on the kitchen floor in a puddle of dirt and sweat. My sweet girl gave me an ice pack to help me cool off and Hubs ran to the store for 4 bags of ice, so I could recover with an ice bath. How's that for a support team at home? :)

Train Like Stan!

2011-07-28T10:43:00.000-05:00

A little fun for today. These are actual advertisements for the London Active Triathlon.

On Running

On Biking

On Swimming:

On Supplements:

Trying to Beat the Heat!

2011-07-27T12:57:00.002-05:00

It's been a bumpy road back after my 2 week hiatus, and I realize that's no newsflash to my blog because I've been whining about it ever since!

I share it again because some people really think I don't ever stop or 't experience challenges with maintaining my training schedule. I do. I have challenges everyday. Like everyone else, I have to accommodate work and family, so on occasion I need to be able to shift around training sessions. MC is not a fan of shifting or snowballing workouts without GOOD reason, and rightly so... doing so creates the perfect open invite for injury.

Most days I make the right/good choice (I say the right/good choice because sometimes NOT training is the right/good choice). Some days I fight the right choice. On rare occasions I just say, to hell with today. Sometimes you just have to be flexible and improvise.

Yesterday's track work was better than last week's 2x attempt fail, but only by a slight margin. I warmed up and did just 3 of my 10x500's and quit. I couldn't breathe. The air was so hot, it was as if there was no air to inhale. Track is hard for everyone right now. I just couldn't help but feel like a complete wuss on the way home. Besides, track is supposed to be hard, right? Right!

Knowing all that, still I bailed. I decided I would finish on the treadmill at the Y and do something. My 500's were taking about 3:30, so I did intervals on the treadmill. Since I run by heart rate anyway, I just made sure I hit my goal 5K HR on the intervals. I did a 1 minute walk, in lieu of walking 100m on the track. When I got the Garmin data home, it was pretty darned close... the outdoor data vs. the indoor data. I realize that the treadmill controls my speed ad therefore there's not total gain in that area, but still I ran my intervals between 11 and 11:15 pace, which is a good clip for me.

In the end I got 10x500 in. It wasn't exactly according to plan, but it was better than driving the car straight home and parking in the driveway.

I have to figure something better out. Scheduling to go after dark usually means I'm not going. I hate going early morning and being alone at the track (it's kind of secluded). And we definitely know that I just "cook" between 4pm and 5pm. Ugh! I need the Fall to come... or just a 10 degree drop would be nice!

This weekend we have another brick challenge scheduled. It's a 30 minute run at Ironman pace, 2 hour bike and a 45 minute negative split run. I can feel my stomach turn just thinking about how hot it could be. With the possibility of the tropical depression hitting the Gulf, we'll probably get to add a boatload of humidity to the mix. Yay!

My plan is to start my run at 5:50 am, bike by 6:30am, run by 8:40am. I can be done and out of the sun by 9:25! After that the family is headed out to cabin near Surfside for a quick overnight getaway at the beach. I'm actually looking forward to it... especially being *off* from training on Sunday!

I use Nuun tablets as part of my nutrition/hydration plan. Nuun recently changed their branding and added some new and interesting flavors. I'm always a little hesitant of the flavors outside of orange or lemon lime. I've been lucky with Nuun so far. I like the Lemon Lime, TriBerry and Kona Cola. I got super brave a few weeks ago and tried the Grape. Completely exotic, I know. I absolutely love the Grape. It's better than any other flavor I've tried to date. I went to their website and learned they also have strawberry lemonade! I need to get some; I ♥ strawberry lemonade.

If you don't know, the tablets are like alka-seltzer; you just drop them in water. Once they're done fizzing the carbonation is lost, so their safe for "re-engineered" stomach pouches. They're combination of electrolytes/salt, sugar-free and only 8 calories per tablet and carbohydrate-free. They have a really light taste which seems more than tolerable. Generally Gatorade, EFS and even Cytomax can only go down my hatch for so long. I think I may have found something to drink, for the duration of the race, that won't leave me ditching my ultimately useless fuel belt somewhere! This weekends crazy brick will let me know for sure. Here's hoping.

Good-bye...

2011-07-27T11:32:00.006-05:00

In the big picture, races and training are really nothing compared to family, friends, and that thing we all have no choice to do called "work." In that spirit, I wanted to take a moment to remember Angel. A friend and fellow triathlete who left this world to raise a little ruckus in Heaven. I met Angel through a mutual friend. From the first moment I met her, I knew there was nothing I could do but admire her bigger-than-life personality. I mean, really, you didn't stand a chance not to like her. She literally was bigger than life in every way! In her company you could not ignore her positive energy and free spirit! When I was told she was sick with breast cancer, I would have never believed it in a million years, you know? But then who would have thought she'd beat BC, just to battle Leukemia thereafter.

Angel, in the black. Finishing
when others might have quit.

The last time I saw Angel was at the Sweet & Twisted Tri in 2009. A group of us "TriDivas" were supposed to do the race, but one-by-one, nearly everyone had to withdrawal for some reason. Despite the fact no one else from Angel's group of friends in Dallas were coming, she forged on and met up with Elysha and I. We had some fun times pre-race, shared some meals (and of course laughs). At the race we waited for and cheered for one another at the finish. Angel had a challenging race that day and could have easily given up, but true to her fighting nature, she she headed back out to the course to Finish. :)

So with both Elysha and Angel up there in Heaven, I'm guessing someone's planning either one heck of a party or most fun triathlon ever! Both of these friends were special to their loved ones and friends and their loss will be deeply felt. Recently, someone who had the chance to meet and photograph Angel, wrote this perfectly fitting tribute. Rest peacefully, Angel.

And by the way, Angel is her real name. Not ironic at all, because I'm certain she was destined from birth to be a role model of spirit and strength.

There's Always Another Day to Train

2011-07-25T13:55:00.000-05:00

5:00pm... Rush home from work after being held-up in traffic. "Good. Still have enough time to squeeze in track before I pick up the kiddo." Get changed grab gear and head to track. "Man! What's going on at the track?" Some kind of athletic camp thing and they're using the track. "No problem. Will hit the Intermediate school's old-school gravel track." "Good... all to myself." Star my warm-up. Legs feel like dead weights. "It will get better.. just need an extra lap of warm up." No... not better. "Okay, let's get it started. Maybe the faster turnover will make it better." Nope. Legs don't want any part of this playtime today. They felt like lead after a warm-up and 2x400's and I just felt horrible from the heat. I decided to throw in the towel and go home.

I went home only to decide to give it a shot later at 7pm -- This time I made it 4x400's and 4x200's and said, enough!

Some days you just have to know when enough is enough.

2 weeks ago I had surgery and last week work took over and made training pretty much a non-event. In my "infinite wisdom" I thought I'd be able to do out track work, as normal, but was rudely awakened. I don't know what I was thinking? I guess the point is, I wasn't. Thinking, that is. You can't go from doing not-much to doing speed-work as usual. It's just silly, not to mention stupid.

Of course I see that now. Doh!

My inability to pull-off track made me somewhat determined to make this weekend a great training weekend. I decided to head out to Memorial Park with my training buddy for a change of scenery. Sometimes changing up the run location makes me feel mentally better and I have a better run. "Hombre" is my training buddy. Actually, these days, he's more of a co-pilot, because the only part of training we actually do together is drive to a location. He swims, bikes and runs way faster than me AND he's training for a 140.6 distance. Still we keep tabs on one another; it helps sometimes to have someone checking in on you.

So I got in a hard 8 mile run. It was ugly, hot and pretty darned painful. I knew I would not feel good the next day, when I started feeling soreness the same day as the run. Typically it takes 24 hours! It's amazing how 2 weeks off can leave you feeling like you're gonna die.

As I came downstairs on Sunday morning to leave for my long bike and I just knew it would be as bad as my run was. Call me silly, but it was probably the whole having-to-hang-on-to-both-hand-railings, that gave it away. Haha! Every step hurt!

Surprisingly my ride was good, until the last 8 miles. In fact, I was having a pretty darned good ride! I probably pushed it a little too hard on the way out, but I was feeling strong. It would have served me well to dial it back a little on the way out and have some more left in the tank for the ride back, but I felt pretty good, in spite of my soreness. About 40 miles in my legs were just tweaking... right on the verge of cramping. Hammies, quads, calves... probably my toes too! I tried to relax everything but that didn't work. I finally had to jump off my bike, stretch and walk around.

I finished the 51 mile ride in 3 hours, so I felt pretty darned good about it. I know the only reason my legs tanked was because of the beating they took the day before. That, and I wasn't properly recovered and likely not completely well-hydrated. By the end of yesterday I felt like I had just done a 70.3. Needless to say, me and my rubber legs skipped the 20 minute transition run that was supposed to follow the bike.

Enough was enough. :)

So with recent news that Lonestar's Sprint distance is moving and will join the Galveston 5150 beginning this year, it means the only race in Galveston this April is the 70.3. Now, I could go and do the 70.3 because I know most of my club friends will be doing it, but I'm starting to take a second look at the races I do and why I want to do them. I want to be doing races I want to be doing... even if it means traveling a little for them.

I've found that websites aren't always reflective of the quality of the event. Some of those races that have old-school HTML pages, no Flash, background music or video, sometimes have the best races. I'm learning that asking around is the best bet on finding out the true scoop on a race. I'd like to get in a few races in the Dallas area next year and use the race weekend as a way to visit with friends too! Some races I'm considering:

Gulf Coast Triathlon
This is on the Ironman Florida course. They offer a 70.3 distance. It's Mother's Day weekend.

HITS in Corpus Christie
This race is in February. Would be super nice to race in an effect where it's not a sweltering 100+ degrees. I think I'm done training for 70.3 events over the Summer! I've never been to Corpus and it's some place I think I might like to see.

All this is just rambling really. I need to get through this year first!

I still have an entry to Oilman Texas (formerly Ironstar) burning a hole in my tri-bag. I think I've decided to do this race as a relay, and actually do the run portion. I know... I can't believe I'm saying that, but I have got to get my running going over the winter. One of my coaches said he'd consider putting together a relay with me. We have time to think about that, but it could be fun.

Blueberry Greek Yogurt Banana Bread by Daily Garnish

2011-07-18T15:10:00.001-05:00

Photo from http://www.dailygarnish.com

I'm always out for recipes that have healthier ingredient alternatives. Seems like whenever I try to make a substitution, more often than not, the recipe fails. Every once in a while I find a blog full of edible inspiration... Emily at Daily Garnish recently published this recipe of her own creation.

It is fan-freakin'-tabulous... and buttah free, to boot!

Go now and make it :)

Nine Weeks In... 8 To Go!

2011-07-18T14:44:00.000-05:00

So I'm in my 9th week of 70.3 training for Redman. Just 8 weeks left after this week so I'm officially "half way there" (from Living On a Prayer -- my official 70.3 theme song by Bon Jovi). I know I've seen improvements in all areas. In fact my run pace after a long bike is what my half marathon pace was with taper and rest. Still not super fast, but I'm feeling very optimistic I'm going to have a good race at Redman, especially with good conditions. I just have to keep focused through this heat and make super good efforts at proper recovery.

Right now I'm averaging about 90 miles a week's worth of swimmng, biking and running. It's about 7500m of swimming, 10-11 miles a week of running and about 75 miles of biking.

Speaking of focus, that's been a bit of a challenge lately. There's a ton of stuff going on with others around me, not to mention my own stuff. Somehow through offering support and/or compassion, I allow myself to be sucked in. I'm not sure how it happens, I honestly don't ask for it, but both my Husband and my BFF think I'm a human magnet for others who have problems or are suffering drama in their lives. I've had to re-evaluate some friendships in the name of maintaining my focus and sanity. It's all good though. I'm feeling better about it.

I had my surgery and now that's behind me, so I feel like I can move forward and put the emotional stuff behind me. I'm recovering well and today was my first day back to training. I have to say it felt really good to be back. Swim this morning was awesome. Of course it felt great, I've been off an entire week, right?

So I have an easier week ahead of me, ramping back up after having a week off.

Like the song says... "Don't Stop Believing" :)

2011-07-15T17:11:00.000-05:00

Chrissie Wellington: Challenge Roth: Once In a Lifetime Moments

"This is what I devote my life to – putting my heart and soul on the line to test my limits. But, to be honest, I still cant quite believe what I achieved – I defied what I thought was possible, and that is a wonderful feeling. That’s not to say there isn’t room for improvement, there is – across all three disciplines. But this result nevertheless teaches me never to stop believing. It should teach you all never to stop believing too. Our limits may not be where we think they are. I hope that these performances open up people’s eyes and imaginations to new horizons and new goals." Chrissie Wellington

Color!

2011-07-13T14:56:00.000-05:00

That playroom we wanted to reclaim as our office? Well, we have color now! I'm hoping this weekend we can get the flooring down and then get the playroom in order! Crown molding, ceiling fan and moving the furniture would be great too! Right now we all have make-shift computer spaces throughout the kitchen and living room.

I was a little nervous about the red, but in the end I like it. I really like the white ceiling, and I really didn't want to get into painting our blinds and Eyebrow.

The room used to be a basic, blah, builder, off-white color.

Recovery

2011-07-13T14:25:00.000-05:00

Okay, so surgery is done and now I'm on to the business of recovery. Here's hoping the Novasure procedure helps minimize my bleeding and keeps me from becoming Anemic, otherwise I have to prep for more drastic measures. However I'm being optimistic that we're done here. :)

I was pretty solid up until I went into prep. I tried to hold back the tears for the finality of what was about to happen, but a few escaped. The nurses were concerned I was doing something against my will, but I let them know otherwise. I really didn't have a choice. This is what I have to do to keep me healthy for me, my Hubsand and Daughter who I have in the here and now.

So my healthy, pink, cushy uterus is now all gray, dingy and, well, just looks old. They even gave me before and after pictures! It's pretty darned ugly. Thought I might post pics, but then thought it might been too much.

However, it is interesting how the inside of the uterus looks like Mars.

They determined the fibroids in question were not inside my uterus, which was good, in that no plucking of anything had to happen, and I only needed the D&C and Ablation.

Official recovery time is 1 day. 1 day for the average person. Doc asked me what my training plans were and she said, "I don't want you out there riding 5 or 6 miles!" LOL. I had to tell her I just rode 50 on Sunday. She grimaced and said, "Okay, let's give it a few days" and that my training "makes [her] feel like a slug." So I'm walking for the rest of the week. Seriously. My coaches put walks ON my schedule!

In about a month I get to see all my doctors again, and hopefully all with good reports. :)

Meanwhile here's to the rest of the week with extremely light training.

Thursday 13

2011-07-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants and add yourself!

Training Weekend: Crazy Brick

2011-07-05T14:44:00.002-05:00

Saturday was my much anticipated crazy brick: 1 hour open water swim, 2 hour bike and :20 negative split run. I prepared my nutrition, had my regular 2-hour-before-race-start breakfast, 2 bottles of water w/Nuun and a multi-hour bottle of Perpeteum.

The whole idea of the brick was to make sure our nutrition is what we need. I've been struggling, trying to find the right nutrition since last year. My last Endo said, "No" to Soy, but the new Endo says "Yes!"

So the brick is supposed to mimic race day and time spent on the course. A lot of folks don't eat before the swim.. or maybe they do a gel :15 before, but for half and full distances, sometimes it's not enough. You get half way through the bike and you're already behind on nutrition, which makes you behind on nutrition for the run. Nutrition is key for half and full distances. You can't screw it up, or you'll be living the dream in a bad way.

Personally, I can't eat or do gels minutes before a swim. That's why I have a good meal 2 hours before. The idea is that it takes 90 minutes for your body to process and eliminate what your body needs and doesn't want. It seems to work for me. It may not work for everyone:

This a modified version of the breakfast I got from my Sports RD last year. There's just no way to fit that kind of volume in my stomach, so I had to make adjustments:

100% whole wheat Bagel Thin (It's supposed to be an Ezekiel muffin' but it's too much for my pouch)
2 T. Almond Butter with a little bit of Honey
1 Banana (supposed to be 2 small bananas, but again too much for my pouch)
Hammer Nutrition Bar (These are super easy on my stomach)
16 oz. of Gatorade (this primes your system to start processing carbs as you take them in -- it works too!)

On Saturday I was out of Hammer bars, so I went back to my PowerBar since I had some laying around. It tastes fine, but as soon as it hit my stomach, that was it. I knew it. No more. Tummy doesn't like them.

Swim: My swim was pretty good. I made it just about 3 laps around the lake and they say it's about 800m per lap. I swam closer to the outside on the first 2 laps, and not as much on the 3rd. so I did somewhere between 2100 and 2400 in the hour. It was intervals of a 8 minutes at a moderate/easy pace and 1 minute of race pace throughout the hour. I felt strong the entire time, but hampered a little by my hip flexor -- I was having some pain while kicking. Not sure what that's all about, but I'll see if it returns during Masters tomorrow.

Bike: My 2 hour bike was awesome and I felt great the entire time. I got in just under 35 miles for just over 17 mph average. That's right where I want to be for Redman... 17-18 mph. I felt strong the entire time and even surged several times to catch people ahead of me. It was a good ride... all except for the bee that met it's demise in the air vent of my helmet!

Run: My :20 run was okay. Pace was slow, but it was stupid hot and terrain at the lake was grassy/gravel and rocks. Not conducive for me to run on -- I just don't feel stable. I run much better on pavement. It was a chore to get done, but it wasn't for lack of nutrition or energy... I just wanted to be done!

Thereafter I went and jumped back in the lake to cool off. So did my brand new Blackberry Torch :(

On Sunday I was supposed to be off, but did a 1 hr easy, easy, EASY ride, then stretched.

On Monday was another 2 hour ride, and again I did almost the same nutrition, but I was missing the Hammer Nutrition bar. My ride was solid, though the last :30 minutes my quads were burning a bit. I worked hard to keep my pace up and still wound up averaging about 17.5, so that was good enough for me.

All in all it was a successful training weekend. The Perpeteum is working for me and I feel so much stronger for a longer period of time. This next weekend I have a 3 hour bike, and I'm going to throw in a short transition run just to see how my stomach feels.

Spending Dough, Crazy Brick and Serious Stuff

2011-06-29T14:26:00.001-05:00

It's been an expensive couple of days, I'll say that much. It started yesterday with needing new tires for my vehicle... $825 later, I have new tires. Ugh!

Then I had to find 10 speed Dura-ace bar end shifters for my bike, so it could be fixed before this weekend's training session. I can get through the week taking spin class for cycling, but going a weekend without a long bike, on my bike? No way.

T., my bike fix it guy, texted me before I left the bike shop and said I needed a new chain too... there I go, back into the store to spend more money.

He just texted me a little while ago that my bike is done and it "rides better than it ever did." I hope so! I"m so tired of problems. It ought to ride itself with a full tune-up, new shifters and new chain! :)

Tonight my Daughter is going to learn to ride her two-wheeler. One of my friends from the club is coming over. He swears he'll have her riding in an hour! He's as excited as she is. I have an hour run tonight, but I can't miss the biking session... so chances are that run won't be happening, but who knows.

Saturday is "Crazy Brick". We have these training challenges every 6 weeks, to help kind of gauge where we are at. Essentially we're doing a triathlon on Saturday! For those training for a half I have an hour long open water swim, a 2 hour bike at race pace, then a negative split run. Sounds like overkill, and it is, but it's good for the mind.

I need to workout my nutrition. I'll probably do my regular race day breakfast, plan a multi-hour bottle of Perpeteum & Water for the bike/run. I need to experiment with solid foods on the run. Seems like by the time I get to the run I'm at capacity for drinking another drop, and just feel like I'm going to vomit. Yuck.

Masters was good this morning. It was a challenging workout with 15x100's on my interval. Whew... I get tired thinking of it. At first I was going for 2:20/100m for my interval, but after I made the first 5 with more than 10 seconds to rest, I dropped to 2:15/100m. I made most of them, missed a few, but only by 3-5 seconds. I would love to do 2:15/100m at Redman. That would be a great improvement over last year's something like 2:35/100m. I know I'll be better. By how much? Is the question.

My surgery date was rescheduled to 7/12. I'm kind of thankful I don't have to wait until 7/22. I just want it done and over with!

The Body Marking Debate

2011-06-28T10:18:00.001-05:00

So if you read my mini rant yesterday about body marking, then you know how I feel about it. However, I thought it was important to learn exactly what the rules were before I start preaching the rules. I checked out the regulations on USAT's website, and I couldn't find any clarification. Instead, I emailed my question and the Officials Commissioner wrote me back:

"Body marking of category, age, or division, is not required by the Competitive Rules. Only race number body marking is required. Identifying each athlete by division or category is optional for race directors. Accordingly, your should address your concerns to the individual event organizer where you compete. The race director may very well be able to accommodate your request and be happy to do so."

So there you have it! You really don't even have to have your age, just your race number! My apologies to Sarah for being thoughtless and embarrassing her, prompting the discussion at the race!

Race Report: Y Freedom Sprint Triathlon 2011

2011-06-27T14:55:00.003-05:00

Elysha, Me at Danskin '09

I am, by no means, full of myself, but I know when I feel good on race day. Last year I spent so much time being tired from training, not knowing I was Anemic, so darn near every race I felt like crud -- it really did take some of the fun out of it for me.

Last year, this race in particular, was just a killer for me. I cried a lot at this race, missing my dear friend Elysha. It was a good day last year in that I was able to help her son and his friends do the race, but outside of that it was such a bad performing and sad day for me.

Sherry, Marla and Me

This year, another one of Elysha's friends decided to do the race, so it was again a chance to remember Elysha and smile. I met up with M to give her tips on transition, and I was so happy she was doing the race. M had told Elysha she would do a tri with her one day. Who knew Elysha would be gone so soon? Life is too short. Anyway, when M crossed the line, one of the last finishers, my eyes just filled with tears. I still miss her so much. :(

So, on with the race report. Have yet to get our splits for the race, so I have no idea what my times were. The splits I have listed are off my Garmin, which are not completely accurate because it relies on me remembering to press the start button (Ugh!) I started it late in all cases, but these numbers are close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades.

Y Freedom 2010 ===>2011

Swim: 8:26.2 ===> ???
Bike: 36:48.5 ===> 33:13
Run: 47:48.5 ===> 38:17

Total Time: 1:37:11.8 ===>1:26

Got up, had my coffee. Got in 20 minutes on the trainer (not 30 as assigned). I didn't get do the recommended hot shower either, but I was fairly certain my GI issues were done, and I didn't want to wake the family up. :)

Brought breakfast with me: A mini whole wheat bagel w/almond butter, small banana and a Hammer nutrition bar for pre race breakfast (2 hours before start). Drank 16 oz. of G2 and 16 oz. of water. Ate breakfast at 6am (1.5-2 hrs before swim start.)

Got to transition setup. I felt really good. I had plenty of time, so I did swim an 300 easy in the pool to warm up. Drank some more water and hit the potty for one last time.

Swim: Swim started fast and fine... didn't seem like as long of a wait as normal. No one passed me, so that was good :) The guy behind me tagged my feet just once and I gave him the opportunity to pass me at the wall, he declined -- I felt good. On the last half length it was a line of people walking! So frustrating. Did what I could, there was no getting around them. This is the reason I generally hate pool swims. I do think my swim went well. We'll see.

T1: I think it was pretty fast. Uneventful. In and out.

Bike: Forgot to turn the Garmin on, so the first few minutes on the bike was getting that going, but once I left the park I enjoyed the cross-ish tailwind and tried to keep my heart rate 160-165, which I was doing solidly and still feeling good. At the main turnaround we had some cross headwinds so that slowed me down a little, but I still kept the HR 160-165 and 19-23 mph! At 7.5 miles in I went to downshift, after turning directly into the wind, and the shift lever just came apart in my hand. Crud.

Anyway I pulled over to try to collect the pieces that had dropped on the road, but I couldn't find them. As you might imagine I was pretty frustrated. I was having a great ride, and I knew it! The v'teer was going to call someone to help me and I almost gave in and said, "Sure.", but I still didn't know if my bike was rideable. I got back on and attempted to ride. When the lever broke it threw the chain to the smallest ring in the back and I was still on the big ring in the front. I figured it would be tough, but at lest I could make it work for the last few miles. I also didn't think it would be worth the risk of shifting the front, something else breaking, then finding myself walking my bike back to a DNF. Anyway, I made it back. Whew! Wow! According to the Garmin I stopped for almost 2 minutes for my bike issue. I could have shaved 5 minutes off my time from last year, but I'll have to settle for 3. :)

T2: Probably okay. A little longer than T1. Uneventful.

Run: Left on the run and I knew I went hard on the bike on that last few miles, so I tried to stay positive. After a half mile I had to take a quick walk, "Ugh! Already?" I just kept it together and kept moving realizing the whole run was ahead of me. Head up, open chest, hips under me. HR was between 155 and 165. I took a few more quick < 30 second walk breaks as needed. It seemed like in no time, I heard someone say the finish was a just a 1/2 mile away... then I was done. :) It appears I picked up approximately 2 mins pace per mile from last year. Maybe all this stupid running is paying off. :)

All done!
George (his first tri!) and me

Post race: I felt spent when I crossed the Finish. My quads were burning -- pretty certain I just tore them up on the bike. Sprints are supposed to hurt, so it's all good. Outside of the malfunction, I don't think I could have put forth any better effort at swimming, biking and running. Clearly I need to pay more attention to technical things, like my Garmin. :)

Overall I like the race for a number of reasons, but truthfully, I hate pool swim triathlons. They're crowded and you are somewhat limited on the swim by the people in front of you... unless you're good at being aggressive and navigating. I do this race because Elysha loved this one (of course she did; it was a pool swim!). I love that it's so close to home and this year we had a ton of BAMmers show up, so that always makes for a good time.

After the race I took a shot at one of my club mates, Sarah (a fellow club-mate and Athena athlete), who I knew would understand my jabbing as somewhat serious as well. Make no mistake, I clearly see her point too. When athletes choose to race Athena or Clyde, they're supposed to get an "A" or "C" on the back of their clave, instead of their age. They are competing in a weight class rather than an age group. They make this choice when they register for the race. Generally volunteers are body marking and they either don't know about weight class competition, or are never instructed by the RD to inquire. The premise is, that if you are racing weight class, you want to be able to see the others racing weight class... just as the age groupers can identify others in their age group to compete against.

Evidently I was the only Athena stupid enough to mark their calve. :P

Now, I'm not a top competitor, so it's not like anything was taken from me, but I do feel like I deserve to know who I'm racing against. It was clear to me during the awards why several of the women were working to pass me... it was because they were Athena and I was marked. (If they only knew how bad my run was they wouldn't have had to work so hard!) I was suspect because of their size (which I realize isn't always an indicator) but all of them, only had race ages on their calves. I thought surely they wouldn't do that?

I think it should be the athlete's responsibility to let the body marker know. After all, the athlete knows what they registered for, age group or weight class, and further, if they don't have themselves marked appropriately and place, they should be penalized, just like they were breaking any other rule.

So what of it?

If you are racing Athena or Clyde, what's your take on having appropriate calve markings?

Mental Toughness

2011-06-23T09:08:00.008-05:00

It's occurred to me that one of the hardest parts of training isn't really biking and running in the heat, and it's not swimming in a pool or lake that's so warm you feel like a piece of poached salmon. It's not getting up at 4 am and repeating the insanity day-after-day, nor is it early bedtimes, whacky nutrition and declining invites because you "have to train."

One of the hardest things to train is your mind. When you first start, there's lots of "low hanging fruit" which translates to quick improvements when you start training. It makes for good motivation to continue. However, when all that low hanging fruit is harvested and you have to start working a little harder to get the fruit at the top, that's when the mental training begins.

Everyone handles stress differently. When it comes to training, if I'm stressed, I tend to want to train alone. Others just force feed themselves their workouts in and effort to release some of the stress. I say go for whatever works for you.

I see the lows of training as a necessary evil; forging through them helps you become more efficient navigating through tough and challenging times. Eventually your lows just don't seem as low anymore, because you've learn to navigate through them faster. Just like on race day, when things maybe aren't going your way, you become injured, you're not making your goals and you just know that no matter what you do, and no matter how well you can turn it around, that you will still might not finish satisfied.

There are athletes with natural ability who have a good foundation, they train well, they never seem to have an "off" day, they get better and faster. However, just because someone is an awesome athlete doesn't always mean they have the mental tenacity required to get through tough challenges on race day. Just maybe, because they don't have to manage as many lows in their training, they also don't have the learning experiences of pulling themselves up and out of whatever is going wrong. I've seen some really awesome athletes have less than stellar days when they couldn't get their head-game together because they've not been a position often enough where it was required.

Now, I may not be the fastest athlete out there, but I'm pretty darn tough in the head. I know, seemingly ironic given what I've been going through the last several months; it sounds like one ginormous whine-fest. When the odds are against me I know how to wade through and process what I need to. It sometimes not very pretty and can take time, but in the end I can say I've dealt with whatever it is and can move on. Just the exercise of managing issues makes my mind stronger.

At Lonestar 70.3 I chased the cut-off the entire day. I was in the last swim wave, I had to have a good bike to have plenty of time for my run, but not blow-up on bike! I had to be so disciplined throughout that entire race, and it wasn't until I had 10K left that I felt like I could breathe. Even then I was concerned about my focus. That entire race was like having a gun to the back of my head for 6 hours.

In spite of having to crawl out from under all these lows lately, I already feel just a little stronger. I feel like if I didn't have all these sh*tty experiences, that maybe I wouldn't have the tenacity to make it through races like Lonestar or even worse, last year's Redman.

So "Here, here!" to coming up and out of sh*tty experiences! :)

Which brings me to my point..

One of the blogs I follow is "LP (Dwarf) Triathlete" he's a little person who absolutely loves triathlon. There's no doubting his passion and drive for the sport. I've been following him for a while now and he's pretty inspiring (as you might imagine). He has that mental tenacity, that doesn't allow him to quit, no matter what he's facing. He recently did his first 70.3 (here's his race report) and it was a rough day for him, but he finished -- and he's living proof that mental strength is just as important as physical endurance.

Here's Your Sign: Your Favorite Race Signs

2011-06-20T17:19:00.001-05:00

I want to be ready with some awesome signage for Redman. I'm doing the Half, but I want to be ready to root for the half dozen who are doing the Full. They're going to need it!

So what are some of your most favorite race signs you've seen? Here are some I've seen personally, and found on the internet:

"You're living my dream!" IMTX 2011

"If you pass-out we'll DRAG you across the FINISH line" Houston Marathon 2011

"Hello complete stranger! I'm proud of you!" Housotn Marathon 2011

"Do it for the tamales!" IMFL 2010

"Your Feet Only Hurt because you're KICKING ASSphalt!"

"No time for tiring, only INSPIRING" Houston Marathon 2010

"Pain is temporary, but results on the Internet last forever!"

"Chuck Norris never ran a marathon"

"PR or ER"

"I didn't wake up early to watch you WALK!"

Mind Matters & Weekend Training

2011-06-20T17:17:00.001-05:00

It goes without saying last week was a pretty emotional week and yeah, it impacted my training a little bit; short about 45 minutes total, so really not that bad. I got my surgery date for the end of July and I just can't believe the ups and downs I'm experiencing, grieving for something I don't even have; grieving for having my option taken away from me. :(

My life is full though, and I'm completely blessed with my Daughter and Husband. While having another child would be nice, it's not a necessity for our happiness. Disappointing? Sure, but we are still happy without another kiddo. Cassie will be fine and will still thrive without a brother or sister. She has cousins who adore her as if they were her siblings... heck, probably even better! Knowing what we know now, we just have to make more of a concerted effort to foster those long distance relationships. I think as they get older, that will happen a little easier.

So training. I was registered to do the Swim for Sophia, but after my Friday breakdown, the last thing I wanted to do was a swim race with 200 other people. My mind just wasn't there. Frankly, my swim is coming along fine, so it's not like I had to do it. I've already swam the 70.3 distance and know I can do it. I'm just trying to improve right now. Instead I went out for a run. It was hot and humid, but I got it done. Pace was about a minute off and in spite of drinking 30 oz. of water in the 90 minutes, I was still down 3 lbs. after the run.

On Sunday I had a 2:30 ride and again, I just rode alone. Hubs and I wanted to try to ride together, so we actually tried to get a babysitter for Sunday morning, but no luck. Babysitters have too much fun on Saturday night. :) Maybe another week we'll get lucky.

For my long ride I tried Hammer Nutrition Perpeteum for my nutrition on the bike. I still have to do a longish brick with it, but I think I like it. It has a really light flavor (I tried the Orange-Vanilla... it just has a faint "dreamsicle" taste that isn't overpowering. I made a multi-hour bottle and used that and water for my ride.

My ride was good. I pushed the pace in the crosswinds and horrible headwind I had on part of the way home. I did have a nice tailwind for about 12 miles on the way home (where I was able to make up my time from my gas station stop). I only rode by heart rate, I didn't even look at speed. I had left my Garmin running at my stop at the gas station, so my average would have been even better than the 16.7 mph I wound up with for my 41 mile ride.

Masters was fine this morning. No drama and a good workout :) Had some really great 50m sprints!

Favorite Oprah Quotes from her Finale

2011-06-20T17:09:00.000-05:00

“You can help somebody. You can listen. You can forgive. You can heal. You have the power to change somebody’s life.”

"Nobody but you is responsible for your life. You are responsible for your life. What is your life? What is all life? What is every flower, every rock, every tree? Energy. And you’re responsible for the energy you create for yourself, and you’re responsible for the energy that you bring to others.”

The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”

“Everybody has a calling, and your real job in life is to find it.”

“Start embracing the life that is calling you. Find your calling—know what sparks the light in you so you in your own way so that you can illuminate the world.”

“There’s a difference between thinking you deserve to be happy and knowing that you are worthy of being happy. Your being alive makes worthiness your birthright. You alone are enough.”

Turn your wounds into wisdom.”

Try saying to your loved ones: “I see you. I hear you. And what you say matters to me.”

“There’s always room to grow when you lead with the truth.”

"Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.”

"And you, whose names I will never know, have been the greatest love of my life."

I’ve talked to 30,000 people on this show and they all wanted validation. Everybody wants to know, ‘Do you see me? Do you hear me? Does what I say mean anything?

Each one of you has their own platform. Mine is a stage in a studio. Yours is wherever you are you can help somebody, you can forgive, you can listen, you can heal -- you have the power to change someone's life.

You are responsible for the energy you create for yourself, and the energy you bring to others. Don't wait for somebody else to save you, to complete you, to fix you.

Ups & Downs

2011-06-16T10:24:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was a particularly tough day, for many reasons. It started off bad, went to just barely okay, and by the end of it I was spent.

Masters started off great... I was pleased with my TT effort -- especially being able to note such a marked improvement over my 2011 time trial. However at the end of the TT I got into a little scuffle with my lane mate and it's been bugging me entirely too much. I'm not certain he was having the best of days. He's a great runner and biker. Swimming? He's getting better, but suffice it to say that swimming is probably the only thing I can do better than him.

During our time trial I came up on him at around 800m in. I started ahead of him too, which means I was ready to completely lap him. I tagged his feet with my right stroke, then with my left and backed off. He hammered me, solidly planting kicks right in my face and then shot me a look. It was abundantly clear he had no intention letting me by.

I was kinda stunned at his behavior. "Did he really just do that?" This guy is competitive with his own level of athletes, but generally a good sport to all, so I thought, "Maybe I'm making this up?"

Fueled by his behavior I sprinted and tried to get around him again in the next length. Even though it was clear I was overtaking him, he wouldn't give me any clearance to pass AND there was and another swimmer coming, making us 3 abreast the lane. We got to the wall again and he stayed the same side to push off and I did the same, but this time I got past him. It was entirely too much drama for 50m, and it sucked all the fun out of my morning. I just hate pissing people off.

So yesterday morning I sent him a message, "Hey, Did I piss you off? I'm sorry I tagged your feet in swim this morning. I was just trying to get past you."

I mean we were, after all, doing a time trial.

10:30 last night he replies, "Yes. I will get over it."

I don't even know for sure what I did!

Was tagging his feet inappropriate?

Or is his ego just a little bruised? I don't have the reputation for being a super-fast athlete, you know?

So I replied again. "I don't want to continue to piss you off, because then both of us will be miserable. So, how do you suggest I handle this situation next time?" Passing him is bound to happen again at some point, just as I'll have days where he passes me... especially with those damn fins. :)

I just don't want there to be all this tension at Masters, because then I won't want to go. Ugh!

So that's, that.

I rushed home from work, leaving later than I hoped, and headed out to brick to make up what I didn't do on Tuesday morning with usual my run/bike/run. Although this time I did just a longer bike/run. The bike was good. It was 1 loop easy and 2 loops hard... repeated it and ended with 1 loop easy. I felt good about my effort, though I kinda went outside of the Heart Rate MC planned. It was so freakin' windy yesterday! It was like riding the Lonestar course. I couldn't help it.

The run? Not so good. I could feel my calves tight on the bike and on the run I was just cramping. Tried to tough it out for a mile out and just gave it up. It was an ugly stretch of walk-stretch-run-walk.

This morning was a fartlek/spin/run. I'm guessing I wasn't really recovered from yesterday. the 1,000m TT, the brick and 6 hours of sleep, probably did me in. I got out there this morning though and did it... ugly as it was. My normally 18 minute run home from the Y took me nearly 22.. it was so freaking humid, even my legs were dripping sweat.

Bad days are bound to happen and that's okay. It does make you appreciate the good days even more. I know part of it is my state-of-mind. I hate that I upset someone I genuinely like and respect.

1000m Time Trial

2011-06-15T11:15:00.000-05:00

This morning at Masters we did 1000m time trial after about a substantial "warm-up". LOL Had a little scuffle with a lane-mate (not quite sure what his effin' problem is yet), but outside of that it was good.

In January 2010, I was swimming 1000m at 2:33/100m

Today? I swam 1000m in 21:15 that's 2:07/100m

Would love to get under 2:00/100m for this same time trial. One day.

CompuTrainer Fun: FTHR Testing

2011-06-14T14:34:00.004-05:00

I've never had the chance to ride a CompuTrainer before and Hubs and I have been contemplating the purchase of one. MC gave me the opportunity to do my FTHR test on his. It's way cool, and if you're a data geek, it gives you plenty. I have so many numbers and charts from my 90 minute test, it's a little overwhelming! I have data for the right leg, left leg, spin scan, cadence, wattage, heart rate... there's a ton of it! All if it helpful with improving cycling performance.

Your FTHR is the highest average sustainable heart rate you can produce on either a 40km time trial on the bike or a 10km run. So, whatever your average HR for the 20 minute TT portion of the test, minus 5%, gives you a "functional threshold" for HR... an important number to know for training.

This is the test (source Hunter Allen & Andrew Coggan):

20 minute warm up riding at a moderate pace about 65% of your max HR
3 X 1min fast pedaling efforts at 100rpm with 1 min easy recovery between each
5 minutes @ 65% of max HR
5 minutes all out. Punch it and hold it!
10 minutes easy @ 65% of max HR
20 minute time trial on flat course. Do not start out too fast!
15 minutes at 65% of max HR
15 minute cool down

So the goal is to produce the highest average watts for the 20 minutes. You can't go out too hard and then blow-up, because then you can't calculate the data. The directions say it's "better to start out in the first 2 minutes a little under what you believe to be your FTP, build up along the way, and then ride at your maximum level in the last 3 minutes." The later is what I was focusing on; building and ensuring I was working at my maximum level in the last 3 minutes.

Time-wise, I executed the test correctly. Coach says it's been surprising how many screw it up! But that was about the only positive. LOL He says, that if I did the test again today, it would come out better now that's I've done it once. It was surprising to me how the most subtle changes in stroke and balance can change the data.

The 5 minute punch was good, but when I got the the 20 mins, I started in the same place as the 5 minute punch and when my legs started to burn after 5 minutes in, I was afraid I would blow up after 5 minutes and not be able to make the 20. For about 2 minutes I slowed down only to realize I was then going too easy. What I didn't think about is that little correction cost me 10% of my testing time! Plus, every time you shift your position on the bike it's recorded and it costs you in power, so you have to get balanced and comfy on your saddle to begin with.

Keep in mind, I'm a maybe a step above a recreational rider. I've never been fit for power on my bike and only know the most basic fundamentals about stroking on a bike. We won't even get into what the charts shows about the weaknesses in my stroke! I did walk away feeling like maybe I should sell my bike and give it all up, but naaah. At least now I have a baseline. I can't be any worse than I tested, ever again. LOL

5 minute - punch and hold:
19.35265 Average Speed
177.5714 Average Watts
91.2449 Average Cadence
140 Average HR
161 Max HR

20 minute - TT
17.61005 Average Speed
146.9744 Average Watts
89.80513 Average Cadence
143 Average HR
157 Max HR

FTP Heart Rate = 149

Essentially I skewed my 20 minute time trial data by taking 2 minutes to figure out where I should have been. MC says I'd be over 18 for average speed and over 150 for average watts. He is certain, knowing what I know now, I would test better the second time.

Also, my 65% of my max heart rate really doesn't feel like I'm doing anything... so on the "easy" parts I was riding at more like 80-85%

For now though, we're using 150 as my functional HR threshold on the bike, until I retake the the test.

And yeah... I'd really like a CompuTrainer. :)

Race Report: FunFest Run by the Bay 10K

2011-06-14T11:22:00.001-05:00

I don't generally plan to do running races, except for the half marathons and a turkey trot over the fall/winter months, but sometimes it's nice to run a supported race for a long run on Saturday morning. I get to run with others, there's hydration on the course, and I generally run somewhere different. It's nice way to break the monotony. :)

Friday night was a rough night though. At around 1:30 am I woke up vomiting clear stuff. Ugh... even to think about it still makes me want to gag. It wasn't fun. I was up until 3:30ish, then must have finally fallen back asleep. I woke real tired and groggy. Suffice it to say I did not have my race day BuZzZz going. :(

Until the rough night, I was looking forward to this run because I had been making good progress and I wanted to see what I could pull off (even after a full week of 70.3 training). I tried to remain positive, knowing I didn't feel quite as badly. I knew I'd have to change my mindset and go for it. I headed out and saw some tri club friends there and that made me forget about how cruddy I was feeling, so that's a plus!

I had never been to this location before, so I was looking forward to running someplace new. The race started and ended in a park, but took you along Skyline Dr. out to the dike. I thought it humorous that they billed this race as a "..scenic run through Bay Street Park and along the waters of the Gulf. Feel the cool gulf breeze..." I'm here to tell you, there was nothing that resembled a breeze. It was terribly hot and humid... exactly how it's supposed to be on the Gulf Coast in June. Ugh!

I had a cup of coffee, tried to eat something before I left, but really couldn't. I drank a 32 oz. bottle of water from the time I got up until the race start. I stupidly didn't bring my own water bottle (there were water stops darn near every mile though) but they started running out of water on the back half -- even before all the fast people hit the last aid station, I heard!

On the start I took off with everyone. I got swept up in everyone's pace so I had a great first mile! LOL That always happens!! Miles 1 and 2 were great, with no walkbreaks... Mile 3 I took one quick one on a long uphill; so as to not to let my HR get away from me.

Then came Mile 4: I was overcome with that feeling of nausea. Gah! I tried to keep going but I think I took at least a full a minute walk through an aid station. By mile 5, I started to feel a little better, and mile 6 was only faster because there was long downhill and I could see the finish! LOL

Mile 1 11:46
Mile 2 13:24
Mile 3 13:27
Mile 4 14:35
Mile 5 13:30
Mile 6 12:50

So, while I know I can do better, I'm pretty pleased. I couldn't control being sick, but I certainly did have control over my own hydration and should have brought a bottle with me. My goal is to be able to run at a fast enough pace to make it from aid-station to aid-station for my next half marathon. I only want to carry a small bottle of nutrition. I hate the belt and I always find a way to ditch it!

But... even feeling sick and having issues at mile 4, I still PR'd my 10K time by 3 minutes with a 1:21

Hire a Triathlete, USAT

2011-06-10T10:58:00.000-05:00

Blog Post: Hire a Triathlete | Community | USA Triathlon
by Rob Urbach / June 09, 2011

After I accepted the position of CEO at USA Triathlon in February, I attended a summit where I was introduced to a number of CEOs from different companies. One CEO in particular had been sought out for his position in a high-profile company because of his qualifications, one of which was that he’s a triathlete. As CEO of this particular company, which is a household name, his leadership qualities and endurance were traits necessary to perform his job duties well under pressure.

Think about triathletes you may know. They are determined, disciplined folks who manage their time well and are typically prepared to deal with stressful situations. Being a triathlete takes dedication and focus to keep going when you hit a wall in training or a race. Triathletes understand the importance of balance as they make time for training sessions between the time they want to spend with their families, friends and careers. Triathletes are familiar with commitments when they map out their training plans and race schedules year after year. Triathletes set goals and follow those goals through to the finish, to the best of their abilities.

The sport of triathlon requires attention to detail and triathletes need to work hard to make sure that all the pieces of their race-day puzzle – swim, bike, run, transitions, nutrition – fit together in order to cross the finish line strong.

Though this particular CEO was extremely qualified for his job because of his résumé, the fact that he was a triathlete gave him an added boost.

As I heard his story, it occurred to me that the unique qualifications it takes to participate in triathlon are also important for an employee who wishes to be successful in his or her job. Discipline, time management, commitment and dedication are all characteristics of an ideal employee.

What’s more, triathletes understand what it is like to be part of a community, surrounded by others who are working toward a common goal, even if it is an individual pursuit like triathlon. Triathletes are team players, and they are willing to step up and help a fellow race participant – a quality that is admirable in the corporate world when everyone needs to be on board.

The bottom line is this: Hire a triathlete. One of these strong, motivated athletes may be just what your company needs.

Sharing with fellow athletes: How do you think being a triathlete has helped other aspects of your life? Post your reply in the comments section below.

More Small Victories!

2011-06-09T15:06:00.000-05:00

Wow! This morning was great for me, if I do say so myself. I'm sort of waiting for the bottom to fall out of my "speed" bucket, because I had two more great runs this morning!

Run 1 was :40 fartlek run to the Y for spin class. It was 5 minutes easy, 8x1 at 5K pace with 1 minute jogging between each minute, 5 minutes easy and then a mile straight out and easy the rest of the time. My 5K pace was more like a sprint, because maintaining at 10 minute mile for me is not possible on 5k, and each of my minutes were all 10 min/mile paces. Me? 10 min/mile pace?

Don't laugh, you runners, but I did the 10 min/mile pace 8 times in a row!

LOL (I can laugh... you can't!).

My average pace came to 12:45 for the 3.18 miles. I'm thrilled with anything under 13!

Spin class was good, but my legs were spent from the fartlek. I got on the spin bike and really had to get into a couple minutes before it felt better. Eventually it did and I left it all on the bike by the time class was over.

After spin was :20 minute run home. No goal for this run, and I didn't expect much either because spin was tough today. Coach says I can kill it on the 2nd run, if I want, since it's such a short run. Kat, my tri-club friend, is also the spin instructor at the Y and she decided to run with me the length of the parkway to get to my house. I laughed to myself because she's just a chatty Kat and I'm dying trying to talk and run. I always run alone... I never talk. I can't believe how much harder that makes keeping control of your heart rate!

In any case it was a good run, and my 1.6 miles home was a faster pace (of course the distance was shorter) than my first run... 12:44. Okay, I know, only 1 second faster, but would have been even faster if I didn't have to stop/slow down for traffic! So I made it home in 18 minutes -- that's 1.5 minutes off my best time so far.

Kat was slackin' because she was running MY pace all the way out there, so of course she'd "feel great." I told her she had to sprint back to the Y, and she said she'd text me. She made it back there in 12 minutes! One day I'll grow up and run like her... or anyone else faster than me. :)

Small victories. I have to remember these moments because when August comes and I'm having to slow down even more because of the heat, I can reflect back and feel some kind of success.

Masters Swim tomorrow.... 5:15, bright (or dark, really) and early!

Answers

2011-06-09T14:46:00.003-05:00

On Tuesday I was supposed to see my OBGYN to get the reults of my Ultrasound and have a biopsy done. I show up at the office, and they tell she had to do surgery that day and was not coming back to the office. The attendant told me she tried calling me, but I had no messages. This kind of ticked me off because no one called my cell or work number after I just filled out a dozen pages of contact info on my last visit there, updating everything... but that doesn't matter, really.

When she told me the doc was out, I couldn't control it, and busted into tears. I felt like such a wuss. She rescheduled my appointment for the end of June (so now I had to wait another 3 weeks for an answer) and I walked out... then the flood gates opened. Another 3 weeks of not knowing what the heck is wrong with me? Another 3 weeks of feeling like everything is on hold. Ugh!

It's the unknown I can't stand. I can't prepare for it. I don't have the chance to be ready for whatever is being dished out. It's completely out of this self-proclaimed control freak's control, and it's pretty much the worst way for me to feel in my world.

But... the attendant called me yesterday morning. She was so sweet. She said, "I kept thinking about you last night and I felt so bad... I should have checked your information better." "I know it's last minute, but can you come in for 11:15?"

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (my reply) I was so relieved.

So I went and found out I have 2 little fibroids (only 2mm in size) that are causing all this stinkin' trouble! Just 2 little buggers the size of a bad zit. I mean really, look at a ruler... 2mm is freakin' small! I just can't comprehend that something that size can mess me up this way! It's both unbelievable and fascinating in a weird way.

The good news is I can be fixed. It will require an ablation (Nova Sure), which will take care of the extreme blood loss, which will in turn take care of the Anemia! Hopefully no more IV Iron Infusions! Basically the ablation burns the lining of the uterus away. I know, sounds rough. Doc said she'd try to "zap" the fibroids if she can get to them, but they're near the Fundus and she might not be able to get to them. She also said she'd "clean-up whatever else I find." Which kind of tickled me because I immediately pictured her pulling a kitchen sink out of my uterus. LOL

The bad news is that means no more babies AND Hubs will be "snipped" too, so there's no chance of getting pregnant. Getting pregnant after an ablation can result in serious complications.

Muy mal. :(

I don't take the no more babies thing lightly either. It's just that I've been processing the possibility for the last year, knowing it might come to this. It's still disappointing to have the decision made FOR me; like someone too my choice away. I hurt for my Husband too, because I know as an only child, he really would have liked (as would I) to have had a sibling for Cassie.

It would have been nice, but Cassie is healthy, beautiful, smart and thriving. Really, we couldn't be blessed more than we are with her. Some people don't ever get the chance to have their own, or parent any children at all.

Unfortunately, Cassie is at the age where kids ask all the time for brothers or sisters. I just tell her, "Mommy is broken and my tummy can't carry a baby." She accepts that answer for now. Thankfully. I'm sure the deeper questions are forthcoming.

So to end on a happy note...

The surgery is not long and it's supposedly just a 1 day recovery, which means everything is "go" for Redman 70.3. Whew!! Priorities, I know, right? Even if it turns out I need more recovery time, Coach says we'll manage the schedule to accommodate whatever I need.

That's all for now.

Run/Bike/Run

2011-06-07T09:47:00.001-05:00

My morning run/bike/run thing is working pretty good. This morning I actually woke before my alarm, so maybe my body is adjusting to this early morning stuff. I am on Week 3... so almost 21 days.

I got up so early that I took advantage, and got my longer of the 2 runs done first. Hubs had a meeting this morning and I figured if I got home earlier I could help with Cassie, if needed; both can be a little pokey in the morning. :)

I ran from home, through the 'hood and made it to Bauerschlag in 40:18 for 3.11 miles (12:57 pace). I saw the stats and hit STOP on the time. I took a slow jog the rest of the way to the Y and then I reset it when I started spin, so I guess I somehow wiped it out? Grrrr. I hate that because I like data! Especially when I feel like I had a pretty good run -- although my heart rate got away from me at about 2.5 miles in and I took a super-quick :10 walk to pull it together. Other than that, no walk breaks.

Later, my Daughter saw how ticked I was when I realized the data was gone and said, "Well Mommy, you have to do it again then." Haha!

Spin was good. I rode with lots of tension today to make the most of my run home. It was 1.55 miles in 20 minutes for a 13:17 pace, and it was hard going at first, but it got better. I kept my heart rate pretty steady and in control. Only stopped for the traffic, and no other walk breaks. The Run home was more controlled, and my HR was more flat, which is what I'm working towards right now on regular runs.

Food today:

Breakfast (Usually takes me about 45 minutes to eat this)
4 hard-boiled egg whites
1/2 C. Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 C. Peaches (in 100% Juice, no sugar added)
1 T. Chia Seeds

Lunch
4 oz. Skinless Chicken Breast
Romaine Lettuce
Cherry Tomatoes
1 slice 100% whole wheat bread

PM Snack
Fage Cherry Pomegranite 0% Yogurt

Dinner
Not sure... probably something quick, Subway, since I have a late doctor appt.

Today is the day I go back to the OBGYN for my ultrasound results and biopsy. Ugh. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I can still do Redman. :)

Race Report: Tejas Triathlon (Relay)

2011-06-06T15:19:00.004-05:00

I did a relay for Tejas Triathlon yesterday. I did the swim. It was a 600 yd open water swim in a man made lake in a subdivision. My time was 13:24 (or 2:14/100 yds) My goal should have been to maintain a 2:00-2:05 pace per 100 yards, but I thought the course was in meters so I had set my goal to do between 2:05-2:15 per 100m. Long story short, I met my goal in meters, which means I failed to reach my goal in yds. That's the bad news. The good news is, I'm now confident I can hit my goals for my next race's 300m pool swim... so long as I can be aggressive, pass people and not let people go ahead of me!

Side note: I took a look at some swim time and paces from previous years. My
worst recorded pace was 3:17/100m in 2009 -- so I'm pretty darn happy being
able to note a marked improvement. Where I couldn't break 2:00/per 100 yds
on intervals at the pool, I'm now doing 2:00/per 100m regularly, and had a
PR of 1:48/100m. So as long as the swimming is paying off, I'm happy!!!

The race course was confusing to most everyone. I heard in the years past, the swim was short, so to fix it, this year they added another buoy and another turn, which 99% of the field missed and kayakers really had no clue how to help the swimmers navigate. On of my tri friends got skunked from 1st place in his age group because the 1st place guy cut the swim course. I thought maybe I screwed up at first, but it turns out I was one of the few who did the whole course. While that made me happy, I was kinda bummed when some people I expected to beat had better swim times than me -- oh well. I'm confident I did right. :)

I started out near the front of my wave (I'm getting braver). I took off way too fast and by the time I was 400 in, I had to slow down a bit and take some active recovery. After about a minute I pulled it together and finished pretty strong -- not as strong as I started, but stronger than I was for that couple minutes in the middle. Everything just felt fatigued and burning... and there really wasn't any reason for it.

I came in and the chip exchange went smooth... we had just over a minute in transition time. Nice!

I had another run on my schedule, so I went to pirate a loop of the run course. The moment I started running though my calves were tight and cramped up. I tried to run it out, stopping and stretching, but they weren't hearing it! After a mile I called it quits and decided I'll live to run another day.

There were 12 mixed relays, which is kind of unusual. There were a ton of HRTC members there racing. I think it's awesome when a club has a boatload of folks racing; it looks sooooo good for the club. Our team came in 4th of the 12. Really, we couldn't be any happier because we all did our best. Our biker averaged 21.5 and our runner (my Training Buddy) managed to hold a 7:50 pace for the 5K. Our overall finish time was :57 minutes and a few seconds. Not bad for a team of 40+ and 50+ age groupers.

I will probably choose to do this race solo in 2012. It's a nice one. Kudos to Out-loud productions.

Next up... FunFest Run by the Bay 10K and then Y-Freedom triathlon (In memory of Elysha)

Signs of Progress and PR's

2011-06-04T09:48:00.000-05:00

Well, it's going to be official tomorrow, my Husband is going to start training with my coaches as well. 3 triathletes in one household requires a lot of logistical planning. Laundry might not get done timely, the grass might not be perfectly manicured, and the kiddo might be tired and crabby, but the PR's and firsts will abount from this family! I see lots of fun this Summer. :)

So this morning called for an extra-early start because Hubs had decided to take the coaches up on their open invite "crazy brick." They were doing a 6 mile loop over and back on the Fred Hartman Bridge, riding 2 hours, then running the bridge again. The bridge doesn't look that steep in the picture, but trust me, it's pure insanity. LOL

I did not have the brick on my schedule since I'm relaying Tejas Triathlon tomorrow. I'm the swimmer on the team, but I have been directly to take a loop on the run course after my swim as well. I don't get off that easy. It's all good.

Anyway, this morning's run was a good one. Hubs had to leave by 5:15am, so I had to get my hour run in before! 3:50am I was up and out the door by 4:15. I didn't eat or drink anything before I left. Probbly not the smartest, but I've had some GI issues this week and didn't want to risk trouble. In fact, I kept to loops close to home for that reason. So, we're essentially starting over. I've always ran with walk intervals, but the one thing I want to do for my next 70.3 is run without a fuel belt. I just want to carry a water bottle... something small. To do that, I have to get from aid station to aid station more efficiently and I can't sacrifice dehydration. In the two 70.3 events I've done, I've ditched my fuel belt off at the 10k mark in the half marathon; by that point I'm just done with it. It's uncomfortable and I hate wearing it. So that's my goal -- run the half without a fuel belt AND improve my time. :)

So hit the road this morning for a 4.3 mile run. I walked for about 10 seconds at about 2.5 miles in just to make a hairpin turn and adjust my shorts. After than, my coach was driving down the road and he stopped me to chat.. probably less than a minute. In any case, outside of that I ran the entire time. My overall pace was 13:04, with two of the miles sub 13! That's a PR for me, for 4 miles. It leaves me feeling hopeful that even with the heat I might still be able to improve. :)

Don't get me wrong, I think scheduled walk breaks are important on long-distance runs and I believe in them wholly. Now if I was only doing Sprints or trying to place in every race I was doing, I might feel differently, but I'm not. I just want to improve upon my last performance. And really, starting to run at 40+ years old, dishes out a beating to my body. Those little walk breaks help my body from the constant pounding and stretch out my ability to run longer before I am overome with fatigue. It works for me. Everyone is different.

I love small victories. :)

Let's Try This Again for 2012

2011-06-01T08:21:00.001-05:00

So maybe 2012 will be a lucky year for me and I'll get selected? I really abhor this lottery system, but I know if I'm on the sidelines just cheering, I'll be even more bummed (like in 2011!). So I'm in. I registered this morning.

I've already registered for the Texas Marathon which is on New Year's Day. I actually signed up for the full, but with the intention of switching to the half if I got in to Houston. The thought of doing a full crosses my mind... but then I think, why? I just need to stay focused and work on my running. I don't want my first full to be a more miserable experience than it needs to be.

Anyway, if I get selected I'll be doing the Texas Half Marathon on New Year's day and then the Aramco Half on January 15th.

If I don't get selected for 2012, there is a rule in place that ensures I will get to participate the 3rd time I enter the lottery. So I will definitely have an entry for 2013, if I don't make 2012.

Maybe that's when I should go for my full? Hmmmm. :)

Because YOU Can

2011-05-31T14:23:00.001-05:00

One of my weight loss surgery community friends is taking on a challenge. Rob, of Former Fat Dudes, is going to be doing what he calls, "The Dash from Obesity", via the Warrior Challenge. This is no small feat. It will take not only physical agility, but mental strength. The same mental strength it takes to stay the course and consistently make the right choices to live in a healthy way every day.

I'm always happy to support my WLS friends who are leading by example making routine exercise as part of their new lifestyle. All too often I see post-ops who treat the surgical procedure as the total solution, and it's not. Post-op life requires exercise to be healthy and fit. Not just skinny. And it doesn't have to be grand-scale triathlons either -- just walking... anything that makes you move and challenges you is great!

Rob is on a fundraising drive for 3 very worthy organizations who's only focus is eradicate obesity: The Obesity Action Coalition, The Weight Loss Surgery Foundation of America and the Turn The Tide Foundation. Turn the Tide resonated with me most, as I firmly believe in teaching our children good lifestyle habits from the get-go is important to their fundamental understanding of how to live and eat healthy.

Here's how it works, in a nutshell: You make a donation to one of these organizations and forward the confirmation to Rob. See his website for complete details on how to help. For every $10 dollars you donate, you win an entry into a prize drawing. Rob's got quite an offering of prizes too -- his sponsors have really come through for him! So he wins, the organizations win and you (might) win -- so it's a win-win-chance-to-win for everyone involved!

I say, if this guy can push himself to the edge of his physical capabilities, the least we can do is spare a few bucks and make a donation to one these organizations he supports.

So quick, before you run out of time, visit Rob's blog, read up on the details, and make your donation today!

He's doing it because HE can.You can do this because YOU can. (and because I super-nicely asked)

:) Thanks!

Happenings

2011-05-31T13:55:00.000-05:00

Last week was a decent week of training. I'm growing more accustomed to the early-morning weekday workouts. Not sure my GI system is yet, but I'm working around that. :) It's also helping to balance things better with my family. With Hubs starting to train for triathlon as well, balance is important.

Just 2 more days of Kindergarten and day camp starts for Cass-a-frass. She's excited to start camp, if only for the chance to swim everyday. She still wants to be a swim coach when she grows up, but apparently now wants to also paint nails. LOL

My best friend came to visit this past holiday weekend and it was great! She's so stinkin' awesome and every time she leaves I just wish I could either convince her to leave her family behind and move here or talk my Husband into leaving his job and relocating. Cassie just adores her "Aunt Beth" and misses her just as much as Mommy does. *sniff*

My head still isn't quite in the Redman game yet. I go back to the doctor next week to get answers as to what procedure I'll need to have done. I'm training, but I feel like I'm in limbo and therefore lack some focus. I didn't do my long run or long bike on Saturday or Sunday. I know... shame on me. I did show signs of life on Monday morning and did my long run and swim. So I'm only down a 2 hour bike; that's okay with me. I can trade off 2 hours of biking for some desperately needed quality time with the BFF. :)

This morning I had a pretty good run/bike/run. Running with no walk breaks and a tough spin class sandwiched in the middle. My only goal is to stay as focused as possible between now and my next appointment.

/end redman_week1
/redman_week2

:)

That's What Happens...

2011-05-25T10:54:00.001-05:00

What happens when you watch the IMTX Awards video far too many times? You get a surge of desire to race; to sign up for something. Anything!

I'm not completely crazy assed -- I didn't sign up for IMTX 2012, but I did contact the volunteer guy and pimped myself out and blocked out that weekend on the calendar. I can't not be there!

Oh, and I did add another sprint to my schedule too. Hahaha!

This morning I received a link to the IMTX Volunteer recognition video. I didn't make an appearance in this one, but my friend, Courtney, appears at 1:14. She's a star!

Ironman Texas 2011 Awards Video

2011-05-24T18:19:00.001-05:00

May favorite answers to "Why do you do Ironman?"

"I'm probably a little crazy."
"I want to fulfill my potential."
"I do Ironman because I can and others can't."

This video is one hell of a motivating promo for the race! Makes me lose all sense and run out and sign up!

I can see the side of my head for a half second, and several other club members made the video. The guy who says, "I design space ships." was my triathlon club's President last year. :)

Fab Food Find: Athletes Honey Milk

2011-05-24T10:21:00.004-05:00

I'll preface this review by first sharing that I did not receive any free product in exchange for a favorable review. I really just like this product. Basically when I review something, if I don't like it, I just don't write about it. Keeps everything nice and friendly :)

The last several races I've been to have had Athletes Honey Milk available at the finish. What I like best about AHM is that it's lactose-free. Ever since my surgery some (only some) Dairy products, especially whey protein just kill my stomach and really cause, ummm, flatulence. *blush*

Embarrassing? Yes. But as we say in our house, "Everybody "toots". However, on whey protein, I couldn't stand myself!

I've had to be creative with meeting my protein guidelines being a post-op of gastric bypass. A high protein diet is critical to maintain muscle because of the mal-absorption properties the surgical procedure creates. I've been doing well finding foods high in protein and don't take up too much of my valuable pouch space. However I really need some improvement in post workout and post race recovery, especially if I'm going to keep doing 70.3 distance events, and ultimately the full 140.6.

I slack in this area mainly because of convenience. Classic chocolate milk is too sugary and the lactose makes me head "swooshy" -- some post-ops call it "dumping." So that leaves me with protein drinks that in general reek havoc on my stomach, and therefore my friends! I could "eat" protein, but it's not always convenient and requires planning, cooler, ice, utensils. When I'm getting up extra early for an early morning workout, gathering a cooler full of stuff to eat 6 hours later, is not going to happen. Plus, no matter what, it's not as easily absorbed as liquid is. Period.

I've been drinking the "light" flavors as a mid-morning snack. Just 150 calories and 60% of my daily calcium requirement. In the afternoon, if I have a workout, I've been drinking the fully leaded version with 240 calories and 80% of my calcium requirements. I still take my Calcium with Vitamin D Supplements (another important vitamin to post-op life), but it's nice to know I'm getting enough with my food.

Of the "Light" flavors, the Strawberry Banana and Coffee are my favorites. Of the fully leaded flavors, I like the Vanilla and Honey flavors. To me, the chocolate is good -- just not one of my faves. I need to have Hubs, our resident choc-o-holic, taste it and give me his expert opinion.

The Honey Milk works for me. For someone who might be extremely sensitive to sugar in the form of honey, their experience might be different. So be careful. The product does contain honey, but also uses sucralose for sweetening.

Try to snag a free sample bottle if you see them at a race! I've found the product at local HEB stores and Honey Milk's Facebook page is offering a 15% off coupon when you "Like" them.

What's Shakin'???

2011-05-23T14:25:00.001-05:00

I've been MIA from the blog for a couple weeks. I've been enjoying my "lighter" training load, although it's still been around 12 hours a week. Hmmm.

In any case, I'm trying to work it all so that I get the majority of my training in the early morning. It's been working for the most part and I'm kind of liking being home after work. The change came when on Mother's Day Cassie left me a note telling me how great a Mom I am, but that she misses me (when I'm training). I miss Cassie and Darren too when things get crazy, so my schedule needed some balancing.

So I went back to my Endo and the Armour is doing well for me. I'm down a few pounds, but still at the low-end of the TSH range. We're upping my dosage by about 30% and hopefully that will help alleviate some of the classic symptoms I started to experience again going from Levoxyl to Armour. The Armour just makes me NOT feel like I'm taking meds. It's wonderful!

At the Hematologist's office, the news wasn't as good. My iron, in spite of the infusion, is not where he expected it would be for the dose I was given. He said he couldn't cut me loose yet; I need to go back in 3 months and be rechecked. It's quite possible I'll need another infusion. Ugh! I also have to deal with the possible Fibroid issue.

Hopefully the cause for the ongoing Anemia is the Fibroids. Last week I saw my OBGYN and discussed the problem. I have to have a biopsy (to rule out Uterine Cancer) and then either an Ablation or Hysterectomy, depending on what they find in the ultrasound. Either way, having another child isn't an option. That was kind of a tough pill to swallow.

In category of good news though, Ironman Texas and my Daughter's recital were this weekend. Each of them equally fun :) It was a crazy weekend of back and forth but it was so worth it to see my little girl in Peter Pan and my friends race Ironman Texas. Courtney, one of the original "Tri Divas" who I ~~blame~~ credit for getting me into this "thing" with organized sporting events and ultimately triathlon, came to Houston and volunteered with me. She got a dose of my Tri Club peeps and one of my coaches, who was riding her a$$ about swimming and why it was such a challenge for her. True to his form, he was relentless and left her thinking. Thinking what, I'm not sure. LOL Anyway, it was great to spend time with Coco... almost 6 years is far too long!

As for training, last week was a little sketchy. This week begins Day 1/Week 1 of Redman 703. training, so I have to start taking things a little more serious and not shifting and snowballing workouts. My training buddy is doing awesome and is a very good state of fitness right now. I'm so glad he decided to go for the 140.6. I know he's going to be awesome and just kill it!

Hump Day Training Progress

2011-05-05T15:01:00.001-05:00

I just didn't have my run in me last night, so I promised myself I'd wake up extra early, and run through the neighborhood to my spin class down the road at the Y. I left the house at 4am and got to the Y by 4:45. Stretched a little and hopped on a spin bike. I missed a transition run on Tuesday, so I decided after spin I'd do that today as well and ran home after Spin. This worked out pretty well! I'll probably run there and back from now on.

So I had myself a mini duathlon this morning... competing with just me, myself and I.

Of course this is like the 3 weeks out of the year where the weather is perfect here in Houston. This morning I left for my run and could see my breath in the headlamp -- that was kind of wild.

What was wilder, is my legs felt pretty darned good. In fact I felt good all the way around. I felt good. Running. What? :)

Okay, maybe I'm jogging to real runners. I see it as not having reached my full potential yet, but I will.

In short, my first run was at a 12:17 pace for 3.5 miles. I've been dying to break 13 -- I've been knocking on the door but I hadn't really seen it consistently. I'm starting to see 12 something on every workout now! Yay!

My transition run after spin was 1.6 miles at a 12:25 pace. Expected it to be slower, BUT I ran the whole thing without my :30 intervals and built my intensity to the end. I was so surprised my legs didn't feel like crap-ola!

Coach called this morning to say, "Good run this morning!" He is thinking I need more taper/recovery before a big race. We're three weeks out from Galveston 70.3 and my legs are feeling good. :)

Have to celebrate the small stuff.

Also, I would guess that Iron Infusion is helping tremendously. I went to Dr. M on Monday and he said that my Iron did come up, but not as high as he expected, given the dose I received. He said he can't cut me loose yet. I have to go back in 3 months.

The other thing that is complicating matters, I believe, are Fibroids. :( My OBGYN toldme I had them when I delivered my Daughter, but they weren't a problem. Now I loose sooooo much blood during my period that it doesn't help my Anemia. Ugh. Like I tell my Daughter, "Mommy is broken." LOL

You Need to Train How You Want to Race

2011-05-04T09:25:00.000-05:00

Kona Eastside Tri - Race Report

2011-04-30T20:26:00.002-05:00

Race breakfast wouldn't quite go down. Had my 16 oz. G'ade, power bar, Ezekiel english muffin/almond butter 2 hours before race start, but had to pass on the banana.

No Heart Rate or Garmin data today. Accidentally left it at home (Boo!) when I was diligently double-checking it to make sure everything worked. Ugh! Hate when good intentions go bad! Today I raced completely blind. No Heart Rate. No cadence. No speed. No pace.

On the way to the race site it was misting rain -- was kind of worried about the streets, but they were dry by the time we rolled.

The Swim was okay. My arms and shoulders grew tired fairly quickly today, which is not the norm. Seemed like I was better the first 400 and got noticeably tired on that last stretch. The last leg of the swim, I really had to think about kicking... my legs were sinking if I didn't -- they were just tired. I know I swim better than this, so I'm trying not to be bummed. I did a lot this week (including adding strength training to my schedule) and this was just was supposed to be just for fun. Right? Right.

The bike was tough going out; horrible headwind (I think worse than G'ston). To top it off, I must have knocked something out of whack with the derailleur on my bike. I couldn't get into the big ring for quite a while; had to keep futzing with it and trying over and over. finally after about 15 minutes I got it to switch and I just stayed there. Coming back was a lot more fun; nice tailwind and a top speed of 29 mph (going by the girl I was leap frogging and met post race). I drank 20 oz of EFS on the ride.

As per my usual after a bike, the first 1.5 miles of the run pretty well sucked. My calves just would not loosen up, so that was pretty annoying. I was a not-so-happy-cramper. I decided, reluctantly, to run 4:1 intervals so my calves could relax a little. The first 3 miles were on the pavement, the last mile was in the grass around the lake. I could tell I slowed even more here. The ground was cracked and dry and I almost "ate it" twice tripping in the holes in the ground. Grrrrr!

Here's how it washed out:

Swim 600m
14:47 (2:27/100m) <--- suckage -- should be 2:05

T1: 1:06
Bike 16 miles
56:03 (17.1 mph) <---- happy because this was tough.

T2: 1:26
Run 4 miles:
54:13 (13:33 pace) <---- Not a "race day pace" but surprised it wasn't worse, because it felt worse.

Total 2:07

Good enough for 2nd Place, Athena! I actually had to beat someone in 3rd place to earn it!

FYI: Took 1st place after the bike, then dropped to 2nd after the run! One day my run will improve!

Go Mommy Go!

Going Paleo

Get the Party Started!

"If chasing performance is costing you your health, your performance better be paying the bills."

Yeah, this helps me keep my goals in perspective, for sure!

Here's to a healthy training and racing season!

Are you racing? What's your first race?

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"If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse; however if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I will help you become that." ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

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Signs of Progress and PR's

"If I accept you as you are, I will make you worse;
however if I treat you as though you are what you are
capable of becoming, I will help you become that."
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.