I SO Got Hit On

You have no idea what a confidence boost that is.

Yes, I am married. But can't I enjoy a little attention now and then?

So, I was at the pool. Imagine 3 lanes, 2 of which are occupied by ladies wearing inflatable wings who are floating on their backs. (KILL ME) The other lane was occupied by a legitimate swimmer. So after sitting there for a minute waiting for someone to swim to the wall so I could ask to share, I gave up and yelled down to swimmer boy if I could split lanes with him. (I figure, I can't handle getting kicked in the stomach by psycho floating women) So in I go, and we split lanes for about 10 minutes until the middle lane vacates and I move on over. During one of my breaks, swimmer boy stops me and asks about my workout....where I got it from, what some of it means, what I'm training for. Not too shabby looking, either. Says his name is "Rex," and that he is going to see me around. Heh! Probably not, Rexie boy. I don't usually swim on Thursday nights. But it didn't take a rocket scientist to realize he's going to be back next week! Hehehe.... Seriously, girls....the only boy who's ever hit on me before was my husband. Swear to God. Let me have this moment. Ah.......

Back to real life. Last night we did a timed 1.3 mile loop in a park as sort of an end-of-the-season "how fast have you gotten" kind of measurement. Of course, I missed the first session 10 weeks ago, so I really didn't have a baseline. Coach lined us up by anticipated time, pulling me to the front of the pack despite my protestations....then off we went. Damn thing was HILLY!! I was cussing her out as I went up each hill and down the backside of them, thinking each time that my knees would give way and I'd be set back several weeks. I cruised in around 10 minutes for the loop, which was not as fast as I was hoping but probably not too bad for the terrain. (1/2 of it was off trail....the hilly part) My closest Diva was 2 minutes behind me. I took about 5 minutes to recover, walked the hilly part on the next loop, and then continued to run for 3 loops, a total of 3.9 miles. I felt pretty good by the end! So good, in fact, that I would have run more had I not had a party to get to....

Yes, it was our 10-week end-of-the-season party, where we were supposed to say goodbye to the people who were in the program for the Santa Barbara super sprint. But it turns out all the 10-weekers signed on for 2 more weeks until Pacific Coast, so it was mainly a potluck/birthday party. At the end, Coach got up and said a few words about each of us who competed in Santa Barbara for the first time with the program. She really took the piss out of me!!! I had to stand up in front of everyone (probably 30 of us) and she said that I'm type A, ulta-inquisitive, and wanted to go race distance from day 1. My impatience caused me to get injured, but I constantly pushed and pushed and pushed. She said that my Santa Barbara race was not only textbook, but fast, and that my transitions made her proud......she also went on to say that if I took the time to go slower, I'd easily become an endurance athlete. To which I said, "but I went slow today!" And she went to her clipboard and promptly called me out, announcing to everyone that my first loop was the fastest of everyone for the day.

Alas, fast is not everything. I'd LOVE to go long. Love to. But I am nicknamed "Sprinter," and it's the truth. I think the only sport I could actually do a longer distance in right now is the swim, and that's because I've somehow gotten comfortable in the water and can chug along without getting my heart in a tizzy. Who knows? Maybe she's the one to get me to chill out so I can go the distance one day??

So that was a blast. Really, it was nice to chat with everyone outside of practice and hear about peoples' races. We all had a different race, so it was fun to learn and laugh together.

One more intense workout this week and I'm on my taper for Pacific Coast. Wow, can't believe it's here already! Dare I say I'm almost sad? I'll be continuing on to do the Subaru All Women's Sprint down in San Diego in October, but Pacific Coast was the big daddy I was after all along. I hope I like it!

Hubby comes home tomorrow. He needs a break from studying, so I'm going to try to tidy up here and make the place a bit more presentable. With that, I just want everyone to know I'm reading....I'm just being lazy with the comments. Will make more of an effort soon!!! Have a great Labor Day Weekend.

Tri Pics

So, here are a few photos of the day.......This is me in the transition area before the race start. Frizzy, as usual.

Me and the other two Divas in my age group, at the swim start. We had the ugliest colored swim caps.

And then here I am coming out of the bike and into the 2nd transition, right before the run. You have no idea how happy I am that I was actually running here. It looks like I kind of tried! ;)
OK, that's it for now!

Anticlimactic Day

Wow, after the excitement of yesterday, today just paled in comparison. I flirted with the idea of working out after physical therapy tonight, but decided to enjoy my post-race break and to hang around the house. Plus, I got to see my race photos as they were released! I'd add it here, but they have a pretty nasty copyright infringement policy and I wouldn't want to get on their bad side....will add a photo from one of the other Divas later in the week.

So, the splits came in. Would you believe I was in the top 30 for the bike? Holy cow! I was impressed with that result. My swim took me a little longer to do than I was hoping....in the eleven minute range....but in retrospect I really didn't push myself too hard. It still placed me in the top 50 time-wise, so it really wasn't a bad swim compared to the rest of the racers. What stunk, though, was my mile. I did a sub 10-minute mile, but not sub many seconds!!! I guess now I know that my "limiter" is, and that means I can only improve. Time to put some miles on these legs and see if physical therapy really did make a difference.

I've been reading Ironman blogs lately. Tons of them. Mostly women who went from being overweight to being Ironman triathletes. Not only is it inspirational, but it's fun! I get lost for hours geeking out about it. I told myself on course yesterday that going longer distances was NOT fun and I should not do it, but a part of me is curious to see how far I can push myself. Next year, my goal is still to do an Olympic distance race.....but for now, I'm going to work on the sprints and see how my new hobby goes. I'm just happy I have such a cool hobby!

Well, that's about it from me for now. Will hopefully have more fun and excitement tomorrow to report, when I do 60 minutes of hill repeats on my bike followed by 20 minutes of running. Considering last week my run after 30 minutes of hills made me want to vomit, well, it should be exciting times. :)

I Tri'ed, and I Conquered

I am once again a triathlete.

(insert heavy sigh and big smile here)

I'll start from the beginning, since I'm never short on words and wouldn't want to shaft the experience in any way. (Note to readers: this is obnoxiously long. Don't even start it if you get bored easily)

I think my triathlon story starts Saturday morning, as I'm just about ready to leave the house. Car is packed, cat is taken care of, and I'm doubled over the toilet feeling like I'm going to ralph all over the place. Was it the Peridium or the Cipro? Probably. Had I eaten or drank enough to take my meds? Probably not. Ugh. I intended to leave at 7am, but my nausea sidelined me until 7:20am. On the plus side, I learned a side effect from the pills and decided what not to do on race morning.

The drive up to Santa Barbara was almost pleasurable. Didn't hit any traffic at all, and it really was a beautiful ride once I got out of LA. When I got to Santa Barbara, I parked my car at the Pier and then rode my bike to the race (about a mile--- on the run route!) where I met my roommates and stored my gear. Our Coach was doing the long course that day, so we were trying to figure out when we'd see her again. She rocked her 1-mile swim and 34-mile bike, and had just gone off on her run when I arrived. I picked up my race packet, cheered on some elite athletes as they finished eons ahead of everybody else, and then met up with the other Divas and their signs. Coach KILLED the finish. She sprinted her little booty off coming down the "chute" and we screamed and clapped as loud as we could. I was just so proud of her....3 minutes under her goal time, and looking phenomenal in the process. She is such an inspiration to all of us, so it was fantastic to see her race and show her a little love in the process. ;)

After our coach photo ops, we all went our separate ways. I walked to the Santa Barbara Zoo and had a lovely afternoon seeing the animals, then hit up the local farmer's market for some race day fruit and water. We met back at the hotel pool and chatted for a few hours about racing in general and what we should do in different situations on course (I'm awfully concerned about getting a flat---- basically told Coach I was running it in because it'd be way faster than waiting for me to try to change the fricking tire) Then we all went to dinner at Palazzio, this cute Italian place in the main street area of town. Mmmmm.....garlicky, buttery warm buns and angel hair pasta with tomatoes, basil, and brie!!! I went to town and forgot about the diet. Coach made me do it. :) Actually, I wasn't that bad. My sauce was just light olive oil, I only ate 2 little buns, and we shared a main dish--- could've been worse.

***I must digress here and make a comment about a few of my heavier Divas. I had a chance to see what they eat behind closed doors this weekend, and now I know why they aren't shedding pounds in the program. My awesome, sweet roommate downed almost a pound of toffee-coated peanuts, several Oreos, a bag of potato chips.....and a few other ladies munched down an entire bag of taco chips and Chips Ahoy cookies at the pool. At dinner, they ordered appetizers and multiple main courses, and had a lot of everything. I wanted to stop them and tell them about Weight Watchers. About how they were sculpting nicely and turning into gorgeous ladies, but they could really take it to the next level if they'd just moderate a little bit. Ah!!! But it's not my place, and it's a personal decision we all must make.

When I get offered these things and decline, they look at me weird, like I'm trying to be holier than thou. When I try to explain that I was 30+ lbs heavier several years ago, they still roll their eyes. Okay, so I know I wasn't morbidly obese before, but my BMI was well above 25, I was wearing sizes 12 (tightly, I might add--- should've been 14's), and I was unhealthy in my eating habits. I'm over being told that I don't need to watch my weight. I do! I swear!

****Back to the triathlon.

So, we woke up at the ungodly hour of 5am and walked over to the transition area at 5:30am. We stood in line to get in, but we were pretty close to the front and that assured us all "end caps." (You want your bike at the end of the row so you don't have to worry about traffic getting to your stuff) I swear Ducky from Pretty In Pink was in the co-ed race and was in line in front of me, but it was early so I make no guarantees. After setting up transition, I realized I'd forgotten my swim cap at the hotel so had to run back across the street. And then I had to pee. Again, and again, and again. Clearly, the bladder infection has not disappeared yet.

After group photos, more trips to the bathroom, a quick dip in the water (we won't go into details about what went on there....but come on, we know everyone does it), and some last minute prepping, it was time to stand by our swim caps at the start and get ready to rumble. I was in the first wave, with all the teeny boppers and under 30's. We were a pretty fit group, to be honest. I was probably one of the biggest ones there, which was not the way the rest of the heats were. I was pretty quiet, and the only thing going through my head was that I had to flippin' pee again. Yes, the water was frigid. Yes, I had a whole race ahead of me. But pee was on my mind.

When it was time to go, the mass group of us sprinted to the surf. So much for going out first. I was three-deep in line going out and the fast girls were well on their way to the first buoy when I decided to stop running and just dive in. There was some wrangling for position on the way out, and I got groped by an awful lot of women. You're all headed in the same direction, so it's inevitable. I tried to just keep everything steady....not to get too fast or else I'd peter out in the water. You see, I only have one speed for swimming. In the pool, when I go "all out," I only shave a few seconds off of a 100-meter time. So the excess energy just isn't worth it for a race. At any rate, it felt like an eternity to the first buoy....and the 2nd buoy took a while to get to, too. I then felt like I was in a groove and trusted that I was swimming in the right direction next to a girl that swam at my pace. I kept with her the whole time, headed to shore, and then started dreading what was coming next!! I caught a HUGE wave to shore, sending me hurtling past everyone who'd worked so hard to swim past me on the way in. Hehehe.....I reached down, felt sand, and then jumped up and did my funky chicken run out of the water like Coach told us to.

Coach was there, bless her. At that point, I was feeling like, "I know I have a goal, but let's reassess and just finish the race and forget about time." But Coach was yelling, "Go Mtngirlincali! You can do it! RUN to the mat!" Oh, yeah. Forgot about that. The swim time includes a lovely run up the beach to the transition area. So rather than have a slow swim time because I walked like a granny, I ran and unzipped my wetsuit until I hit the mat. Walked through transition, got out of my suit, threw on my glasses and helmet, attempted to put on my shoes and socks, and then grabbed my bike and went. I was soaking wet, there was sand and water in my shoes, and the salt from the ocean was gagging me, but off I ran with my trusty orange bike. (It needs a name, btw.....I was thinking Flaming Orange Goose because it's all funky orange with black on the fork, but I could be persuaded to call it something else)

I had some trouble putting my foot in the left cage when we mounted, but since it was only a 6-mile course, I decided not to lose any more precious time by attempting to put my foot somewhere it didn't want to go. So off I went. Coach told me that to accomplish my goal of doing the bike in 20 minutes, I'd need to push 20+ mph on the straights. Seeing as how I'd never done that before, I thought I was done for. BUT on a whim, I geared up a little more than I'd normally be comfortable with and what do you know? 21 mph. Woohoo!! I was down to 8mph on two of the hills, but they were outshadowed by the downhills and straightaways. Not even the train, which stopped me in my tracks and took about :30 seconds to clear out, could slow me down! (That's a funny story--- these crazy women were swerving through the railroad crossing arms immediately after the train went by even though they were still down--- there was a cop watching, too!! I behaved)

Overall, the bike felt phenomenal. I was cheering on other Divas as they were starting their course, and I felt great. What a rush! But then the realization occurred to me--- the run was next.

I am not a runner. I do not pretend to be a runner. I even have trouble faking it 'til I make it. ( I suppose that's the same as not pretending, but whatever) T2 was fast. I dropped the bike, took off the helmet, grabbed my race belt and hat, and took off. I put it all on as I ran and crossed the mat, then set my sights on the run. By then, I had checked my watch and realized I was miraculously still on target to hit my goal time. No way! But I was breathing pretty heavily and knew my heart rate was probably up at the top of the range, so if I was going to hit the time, I'd need to bring it back down and settle a little bit. Usually I wait 5 minutes until my first 1-minute of walk, but today I had to walk after 2 minutes. I collected myself, breathed calmly, and tried to visualize feeling awesome and having no troubles at all. I wish I could say it worked perfectly, but at least it got me through the rough spot. I settled around 10-minutes, which seems typical for me. If I can work through the pain of the first 10-minutes, I can usually go indefinitely after that. I walked the water station and drank, then took off for home.

The one bummer about Santa Barbara is that you can see the finish line from the halfway point. It might be a motivator for some people, but to me, it was SO hard to get geared up for it because I'd been staring at it for so long. I skipped my last scheduled walk at 17 minutes (I realized I could possibly beat my goal time, so I decided to just go through the pain) and kept pushing. My bladder ached, of all things. Go figure! But I have antibiotics for that, so I convinced myself to keep going....that I should not only look forward to the finish line, but also the toilets! So away I went. At the end of the finish chute (we'll call it that....it's basically the part of the trail that starts at the transition areas and goes all the way to the finish line, and it's lined with cheering family members and friends), Coach was there with her Hawaiin leis. She handed me one and said, "Finish Diva-style.....sprint it in!" OMG, I had nothing left. But I picked it up as well as I could, gasping for air the entire time because I'm no better than a 10-minute mile and today I had to beat my pace.

And there it was. The finish. I kept on strong til the very end, and when the announcer said my name, I looked up and there was my time--- I beat my personal goal by :10 seconds! (I'd tell you my time, but I have to try to be somewhat anonymous here) Wohoo!!!! It didn't feel the same as my race in Colorado several years earlier, but it was still special. And I know it was just a super sprint, but I raced as hard as I possibly could, trusted in my training, and was really proud of myself. Today, I felt like I earned that Tridiva jersey.

Results were up just as I was leaving, and I had placed in the top 1/4 of my age group! There were over 30 of us, so I was really happy with that. Elated, actually. I was telling the hubby last night that I was wondering why I was doing triathlon, as it was a sport I'd never be able to be competitive in. Well, you know what? There may be hope after all!! I may not be an endurance athlete, but maybe I'll be a decent sprinter in the future?!

So, that's the race. And the best part? Standing on the sidelines and cheering on my teammates as they made their way to the finish line. Some of them were crying it was so emotional.....I mean, people have no idea what they can get their bodies and minds to do. And it is true that really everybody can complete a triathlon....it doesn't matter if you are short, fat, heavy, slow, or disabled....there is a way if you have the will. Moreso than a race against others, it's really a sport where you race against yourself. And isn't that the very best kind?

Kudos to the staff and volunteers at the Santa Barbara triathlon---- an awesome time, and they did a great job!

U-T-Oooowwww!!!

Damn. I knew things were coming together too well.

The triathlon gods decided that a botched self-tanning job and perpetually troublesome knee weren't enough to throw at me for my first tri weekend, so they handed me a bladder infection, too! Well, I think that's what's wrong. The mere thought of sitting on the bike in aero position gets me all freaked out right now.....seeing the doc in about an hour and am hoping a round of antiobiotics will clear me up. Good grief. Never a dull moment!

So here I sit, taking 1/2 a day off from work. Guess I could have driven up to Santa Barbara early! Kitty is happy--- he's being an attention whore and enjoying every second of his momma being around. I'm trying to kitty-proof the apartment so that in his boredom he can't eat something he regrets......it's our first > 24 hour separation, and I just couldn't legitimize sending him to a kennel for such a short amount of time. We've done 20 hours before, so we'll see how this goes. I'm keeping the radio on, doubling up his food and water, keeping the a/c on in case it gets above 80 in the house, and strategically placing catnip all over so that he can stay potted all day long in my absense. Any other suggestions?

I haven't started packing yet, but I'm taking good mental notes. Man, I'm lazy! Tonight, I'll be a whirling dervish....good thing I'm getting my posting out of the way now.

Well, I suppose that's all I have to say. Heading out early in the morning tomorrow to start my drive, and I guess I'll just try to find parking wherever I can. I'm hoping my roommate can grab my packet this afternoon so I can skip late packet pickup tomorrow and go straight to the running course so I can cheer my coach on. She's doing the long course tomorrow, which is just short of a half Ironman. She's seriously my hero. :)

Have a great weekend, ladies. I promise to report back with a full race report and pictures! Wish me luck getting there. Seems to get harder every hour!

T Minus 4 Days (or is it technically 3?)

I can't believe it. After only a few months, I'm now down to the wire and just a few short days away from my first CA triathlon. You'd think that having one under my belt many moons ago I'd be calm and collected, but I'm still as nervous as day one. Sometimes I think I'm crazy for doing this, and other times I get so excited I can't even sit still.

Physically, I'm feeling pretty good. I was tired early on in the week, so I'm taking the next few days and just doing some active rest.....easy bike ride, maybe an easy swim instead of the prescribed monster workouts. Santa Barbara is a really short race, too.....so short that I kind of feel like a chicken doing it! 500 yard swim, 6 mile bike, 2 mile run. I've been trying to estimate my times based on practice, but I'm coming up FAST if you can believe it compared to last years' results. So I'm thinking that perhaps the distances are just a tiny bit longer.....because 500 yards should not take me longer than 10 minutes to swim, but 10 minutes was the fastest swim time for the ladies last year. And 6 miles should not take longer than 20 minutes to bike, yet 20 minutes was fast for last year. My run time is slow, however, which totally makes me worry.Now, I know everyone is thinking "just enjoy the moment and be glad you are there." I know. I wish I could! But deep down I am competitive as all get out, and I desperately want to do better than average. But I am average. I just hope on Sunday, I can become better than I usually am. Maybe then I can be happy. (I want to come in around 55 minutes. If I'm there, I'll be jumping off the walls!)

Practice last night was rough. The seas were much choppier than I've ever experienced, and the swells were so bad that I couldn't see the buoys until I was right on top of them. Some of the less-experienced swimmers were getting seasick out there. Our superstar added 5-minutes to her mile time and was uber irked about it....so that made me feel better about my time. I did the 1/2 mile (more like .65 miles) loop in 21 minutes. It took me forever to swim out, but once there, I attempted to get into my groove. I questioned my sanity the entire time and kept saying over and over again, "just make it back alive." I was stuck on the outside coming back and this one girl was glued to my side....she kept forcing me over, but I couldn't swim past her because she was keeping pace with me. I could have screamed! Well, I did.....but anyway, we ended up way off course on the return and probably swam another 100 yards or so as we got swept away by the current. Good grief.

Had a slow transition because I didn't feel like running in sopping wet shoes....but it didn't help, because I still managed to drip into my socks and stain my shoes pink. I knew I needed to do laundry.My run was slow, but that was fine......I need to baby the knees, so I really treated them with kindness and even walked down some of the hillier terrain to prevent reinjury! (I'm pretty sure running downhill the day I got hurt was what damaged my knee) I did 2.5 miles in 25 minutes, so that was okay with me. Hopefully on Sunday I can kick it up a knotch and do some 9-minute miles. Gosh, anything is better than 10.

I'm eating a lot of cereal these days. I've been so lazy that I'm eating hubby's leftover 1% milk and raisin bran. It's all I eat. Not only do I feel bloated, but I'm spending a lot of time away from my desk......need to get away from the Raisin Bran.Coach wanted to know if I was still trying to lose weight and train for a triathlon last night. I had to laugh. It's not possible!!! You either stick to WW and feel light-headed halfway through a workout, or you just eat what your body tells you to, maintain, and get stronger muscles. In the off-season I'll definitely return to the point counting, but for now, I am just being moderate. (You never really get away from counting points....I keep a mental tally through the afternoon, and make sure dinner is sensible) I've felt guilty about this and haven't posted on Weightwatchen for a few days, but I suppose I can mozy on over as a "maintainer." That's not a bad thing, right?Anyways, that's what's going on in this messed up head of mine. Nerves. Bran. Faster.

Brick Defined

Just for those who asked, a brick is when we layer 2 different types of activities together....so last night was a brick with biking and running, and tonight is a brick with swimming and running. When we layer bricks, we get a triathlon!

Thanks for all your support the past few days. Hoping Bitch Barbie goes into hiding for the rest of the week. :)

A brick.....did one, felt like one

Man, oh man. I don't know if it was the lack of water, the heat, or general ickiness, but I was just not feeling my workout tonight. The knees came out a little weary, I had a slow song stuck in my head, and I still wasn't having any blood rushing to my female region......and it went downhill from there.

I suppose I could digress and start from the beginning. The CAT wakes me up at 5am out of a sound sleep, throwing himself against the window and growling really loudly. Mind you, my darling kitty is the sweetest thing around and I've never heard him growl or hiss. So I bolt to the window, grab him, slam it shut, lock it, and then proceed to flip out for 10-15 minutes while listening for noises. (And watching him stare out the window, hair all poofed out and growling/gasping.....darling kitty has a touch of asthma!) I think it was an animal up on our deck, but who knows? Anyway, it kind of ruined my sleep.

So I got to work, and it's boring again. New boss is still transitioning and our company's merger is still hot and heavy on our minds, so things have slowed down tremendously. I've never been so bored......here's hoping it improves soon.

Go to bike shop (the good one!) and ask about a bike seat. Really nice guy tells me that girlie numbness is probably because my seat is pointed upright, and tells me to bring it in and he will fix it for me, free of charge. So after work, I grab my bike and head down to the shop. He puts it on the trainer, and sure enough, seat is slanted upward. With me riding on the low bars up front, he said I was just crushing my poor hoo-ha! Anyways, he adjusts my seat and off I go on my merry way. The objective today was 30 minutes of hill repeats, with an optional 10-15 minutes of running. So, I did my 2 sets of hill repeats in 29 minutes, then placed my bike in the car and took off on a run. I really wanted to go 7 minutes out, but my heart rate was RACING. Seriously, I was in the 190's, and during my track workout, my max heart rate was somewhere in the 19o's. So, this wasn't such a good thing. I struggled for five minutes to get it down, to no avail, the whole time thinking that the stupid song I listened to on the way to the trail probably wasn't the best for pumping me up on my run!!! (Hey There Delilah) Did I mention I hate running? I freaking HATE RUNNING! It tears apart my knees, I derive no pleasure from it at all, and almost all the time I feel like I'm going to die when I do it. These aquathons are sounding like a lot of fun right about now.

Moving on......

Suffice it to say my brick sucked. I did 1.17 miles in 11 minutes and 15 seconds, which is on course with my regular pace.....sadly, since it's all I could muster today. I keep asking myself how I can possibly entertain the idea of training for an Olympic distance triathlon next summer when a) I can barely run 3 miles as is, and b) I'm practically falling apart. What gives?

I'm sick of being husbandless, too. I never thought I'd be one of those codependent girls, but I am. He really helped out around the house, cleaning, taking out the trash, doing dishes, laundry, etc.... I'm having some trouble on my own here. Ugh!!!

Can it be that I've been Bitch Barbie 2 whole days in a row? When will it end? I'm out of chocolate. Ah!!!!!

Can I Get Some Time?

I am having one of those panicky weeks where I feel like I don't have enough hours in the day. I never thought my workaholic self would say this, but between PT, work, and training, WORK is getting in my way!!! Today, I had to come home and pack for PT/play with kitty, then had PT at 5, and then visited my friend's puppy at 7. I have a huge page of workouts that need to get done this week, but I decided to be a good friend and see the little Cavalier pup before she gets too big. :)

Tomorrow, I need to find myself a women's specific bike saddle. My saddle doesn't hurt- it just puts so much pressure on my female unmentionables that I cannot feel a thing! Not even the horrible blisters that formed. UGH! I'm a mutant. I have lots of bike workouts to do this week, but they can't happen without a new saddle on there.....I don't think the girl parts can handle another second.

Sorry, but that was on my mind. Had to get it out there.

Hubby is kvetching away about training. Is it horrid of me that I don't feel bad for him? Oh, and a load of 50 flight attendants arrived this morning for training. GREAT! They all eat together in the cafeteria. Thank God he's chosen the married ones with zillions of kids to become friends with. At least they are safe. :)

I suppose that's it. Now that I've vented, I can rest.

Bitch Barbie, over and out.

Dodging Rays

Am back from the mock triathlon this morning, and I'm all tired out. It was a 5am wake up for the hubby and I, and even with all my preparation the night before, we were still late out the door and I left my electrolyte replacement drink in the fridge! Oops.

Anyways, we arrived at the site and racked our bikes, laying out blankets underneath them for our "transition area" items. I layed out my sneakers, socks, helmet, gloves, sunglasses, visor, and heart rate monitor all on top of each other, then took out my extra water bottle and towel in case I had sandy feet. We suited up, then headed out to the water. Imagine a herd of 50-wetsuited, pink-capped women making their way to the ocean-- it was quite a sight for sore eyes. The tricky part about this particular locale is that a river that opens right to the north of the beach spills warm water from power plants further upstream into the ocean. (The river water cools the generators) This makes a very hospitable environment for STING RAYS! Yes, thoughts a la Steve Irwin were definitely in my brain, but I was brave. We sting ray shuffled out into the water, but I strategically allowed 10 people in front of me so that they could clear the way for my tootsies. Once out, we did 7 minutes out and 7 minutes back....so probably a 16-minute swim overall. I mapped my swim and it appears I went roughly a 1/2 mile, so that was encouraging. Anyways, out I came, had an easy time getting out of the wetsuit, and then came the hellatiously long run to the transition area.

Surprisingly enough, I was in shape enough to make it down the beach and then up to the bikes--- a good 1/4 mile at least! My transition was only a few minutes, and I was off on the bike. I was slow maneuvering through the neighborhood and finding the trail, but once there, found my rhythm and went for it. I went on an 18.5 mph pace the entire time, and actually went over the turnaround time by a little more than a minute because I was feeling so good I forgot to check my watch! (And my stupid Cateye cyclocomputer strategically refuses to reset) My pace coming back was a mph slower, but I still felt pretty strong. In 33 minutes, I covered a little over 10 miles. This is an improvement for me!

Back to transition. Took off my helmet and gloves, grabbed my visor, and took off. 10 minutes out, 10 minutes back. I found a girl from the northern tri club and followed her the whole time. She was totally ripped and in awesome shape, so I had no idea I'd be able to keep pace with her like I did! I'm a run/walker, and I was still able to come in with her at the end. Knees felt pretty good. Lots of cheering from the girls. What fun! Looks like we did 2 miles in 19 minutes-- our return trip was faster than our 1st leg, so we didn't get the 20 minutes exactly. I drank a ton of water after than and then demolished a 3-egg breakfast with pancakes at IHOP, but I deserved it....my exercise tracker says I burned 900 calories, so I ate them all.

So here I sit. Hubby is gone again. Sirens going off everywhere, so I'm hoping there is no fire and I don't have to worry. Now I'm hesitant to do my grocery shop because I don't want to leave my kitty here! But that's the scoop. Wanted to get on here and write about this mock tri before I forget. Next Sunday at this time, I'll be writing about my first CA tri in Santa Barbara. Woohoo!

Here's a pic from our day. And yes, I have man arms now:

Feeling Good

What a day yesterday was! I am proud to report that I ran for the first time in 3 weeks, and not only did it not hurt (that much) during my run, but I also felt like I had plenty of gas in the tank! Woohoo!!!

So, let's go back to the beginning. It's a beautiful late evening at the beach. The smell of charcoal wafting through the air at the fire pits, Divas squeezing into their wetsuits, and a bevy of different colored-swim caps representing a multitude of triathlon training groups entering the water. The children playing in the surf are in awe: "Are you really swimming out to the buoy? That is SO cool!" (It's crazy, little girl, not cool, so don't even think about it in your cute little pink tankini) Coach tells us to partner up, so I choose ??? (can't believe I can't remember her name!), who I've never formally met before and have no idea how fast she can swim. We're supposed to do our 1/2 mile loop without stopping, sprinting back to shore after reaching the final buoy, then run to our transition area, walk up the hill, and run 30 minutes. So, out we go, my mysterious swim partner and I. She kept up well, and at times she was even inching past me, although she never quite got away! She got smart at the 1/4 mile marker and proceeded to draft off of me for the rest of the swim. We managed to get in and out of the water in 20 minutes, so that was okay.Transitioning at the beach just isn't fun. It helps that I was wearing my tri suit, but sand, water, and socks are just a deadly combination. My poor, poor little shoes now smell like sea water!Anyway, let's just say that my transition was slow and I just gave up on being clean, dry, and sandless. Off I went on the run, and the first 5 minutes were tough. I was sucking wind, hating life, and thinking it would never end. But then my 1 minutes of walk started, and I decided to slow it down a bit since this was my first time back. So I rambled along, running down the PCH and taking in the sites and sounds as the sun went down. I ended up running 2.7 miles in 27 minutes, so I was quite comfortable at my 10-minute mile pace. It tells me that I can turn and burn a little faster, too, which is encouraging! But baby steps....Coach stressed the importance of taking it slow and steady NOW so that I actually have the opportunity to do it later. Reinjury at this stage would be horrible, with the race next weekend and the big one in site.

This morning, I'm a little sore, but my right knee (troublemaker #1) is silent. Yes! Left knee is slightly annoyed, but not so much that I feel it constantly or when I'm walking. Just a little tender when touched, but 100% managable. I've got a session with McTherapist tonight, so I'm looking forward to reporting on my progress.

I had a small scale victory today!!! 149.5. Wham! I've been stuck at 152 for so long that I just had to report this. This past week I've been at 150, but today I finally inched down even more. I hope it continues. :)

DH is coming home this evening for 2 days, so it'll be nice to catch up with him and hang out while we can. The next few weeks of his training will be intense and he won't be coming home, so I'll take what I can. I think at this point my poor cat misses him the most. I came home last night to a federal disaster area. He'd decided to ransack the house and play with ALL of his toys because I had been gone for 14 hours. My poor, poor furbaby.

Sunday is the mock tri, so I'm a little nervous. We're doing 20 minutes of swimming, 45 minutes of biking, and 30 minutes of running. Since I can finish the full sprint distance in this time, I'm thinking it'll be a fun day!

So, that's my scoop! Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

Cleared for takeoff.....

Well, okay, perhaps not takeoff. But I'm all clear for running tomorrow night in practice!!! Woohoo! McTherapist declared that 20 minutes of running should be a good test to see how far we've come, so fingers crossed that this is a good thing.

What a long day today was. I ended up touring sites with a general contractor most of the day, and it was painstakingly long. I'm not a construction person, so I nearly gnawed my arm off talking about the recessed lighting and special glass walls at the department store. Ugh! We had a nice lunch--- I ordered tilapia with rice pilaf and sauteed spinach, the lemon butter caper sauce on the side. I DID dip my fork in the sauce a few times and the spinach was swimming in olive oil, but I considered it a good fat and went to town. Yum! I was lazy for dinner and nuked a Trader Joe's frozen brown rice, added a few little chunks of sharp cheddar, and doused it in barbecue sauce. In retrospect it was disgusting, but at the time it satisfied a bizarre craving.

Hit the gym tonight after all this eating. The "aqua fit" class was from 6-7, so I had to wait until 7pm to hop in the pool and do my workout. We had a nice 1500 meter workout with 8 different swim sets tonight, so I felt purposeful. I'm getting pretty comfortable in the water and feel like the larger distances are infinitely more attainable when they are broken down into these smaller chunks. I also stay interested longer when I have a list of things to do in the pool! Arms feel okay, but I'm sure I'll be crippled in two days. (My lovely rotator cuffs feel great the day after a swim, but by day 2 I can't pull doors shut!) I must say, swimmer's arms ROCK! Way better than lifting weights.

So, tomorrow we are meeting up at the beach for yet another 1/2 mile swim and 20 minute run. I'm sort of dreading the swim (as I always am beforehand, but afterwards it's such a great high.....like I've cheated death yet another day), but looking forward to testing myself. We'll see how it goes?

That's the scoop. I'm off to forage. Darn swimming made me hungry!

The Countdown Begins.....

So, I want to start by thanking everyone for the reunion pic compliments. What a boost after eating all that crap this weekend! I may not be a size zero, but at least I showed up several sizes smaller than I was in high school. That was the goal.



Back to the countdown!



I will do my first California triathlon next Sunday! That's 12 days away. Mind you, I haven't ran in 3 weeks, but I'm going to do this one if it kills me. It's a Super Sprint and a women's race, so these are all positive things. I believe it's only 500 yard swim, 6 mile bike, and 2 mile run......the distance we'll be doing for our mock triathlon this coming Sunday. I'd ideally like to peak in time for my September race, but I trust Coach knows how to get us there. Based on my "average" times, it's looking like without transitions, my swim will be at 10 minutes, the bike will be 24 minutes, and the run 18 - 20 minutes. The transitions will unfortunately put me over the 1 hour mark, but at least it'll be flat.



Went on a ride today by my house. I almost didn't make it, as my cheap Target bike pump wouldn't inflate my tire! Hubby claims it's all user error, but what does he know being so far away? (I make him sound horrible, but he really is a great guy--- I have a big head--- I like it when he challenges me, even if it's annoying) Anyways, I decided to ride on somewhat inflated tires and headed out. Hill repeats--- 2 miles up, 2 miles down--- 3 times. I did fine the first time, hated life on the 2nd, and then did pretty well on the third before feeling nauseous and wanting to lay down in the middle of the trail. I don't know if I was dying because of the heat or because I overdid it (shaved 6 minutes off my time a month ago....but that could be attributable to the road bike), but I pushed it a bit much today.



I said this on my other blog, but no knee pain today! Woohoo!!! This is just fantastic news....and it couldn't come soon enough. I have one session tomorrow morning, and then hopefully I'll be up and running-- literally!



So, that's the scoop. Have tried to catch up on everyones' blogs tonight, but I may still be behind. I'm working on it. Good night.

And they were ALL still beautiful.....

So, somewhere deep in my heart I was hoping that those popular girls would be all old, fat, and ugly after 10 long years. That they'd pop out babies, eat bon bons, and get wrinkles all over while giving up on themselves. That somehow, I'd be a little more impressive in comparison....

How cruel is it that they are even thinner and look even BETTER than they did in high school? I hate them!!!

OK, done with my rant. Am back from the reunion, but still in Colorado. All in all, I guess I'm glad I went to say that I did it, but it was forgettable. We were at a nightclub in downtown Denver, and when it got dark, you couldn't see peoples' faces anymore! (It was hard enough to identify them as is) Within 1/2 hour of the reunion starting, the cliques reformed and what I'd hoped would be a fun night of mingling turned into the "jocks," the "stoners," the "popular girls," the "cheerleaders," and the "band geeks." I was with the band geeks by default, as most were also smart kids, too! It was good to catch up, but I missed my hubby and realized that I don't have friends from high school....I did much better at college and in the real world.

Have only managed one workout in the two days I've been here-- did my swim workout yesterday at the rec center. I think the altitude and regular pool slowed me down. I'm about 10 seconds faster in California in a saltwater pool! (For my 500......I did 3 of them and they got slower as I went--- it was pathetic) I need to do a cycling/walk brick, but my parents have mountain bikes and don't even have water cages or cyclocomputers on them! I just feel woefully unprepared. Today, the Divas hit the bike trail for hill repeats followed by a half hour run--- I'm so bummed I missed it!

Edit: Here's the photo of my outfit!

I promise to catch up on posts on Tuesday!

Brick House

I'm a brick......house. Literally! I didn't find a dress for my reunion, so I was planning on wearing the dress I wore to a friend's wedding last year and to my company's annual meeting in June. Really nice, timeless black and white strapless dress with a cute belt. Anyway, I wore it June 13th of this year and it fit perfectly. Last night? COULDN'T ZIP IT UP! Mind you, no change in weight over the past 2 months, but I have been training like crazy. I'm going to be wearing a size 40B bra before you know it if I keep going on at this rate. I was totally distraught last night. Hubby was like, "you can't build muscle this fast, though!' Thanks, babe. But my boobs have shrunk-- how could it be fat?

At this point, I'm thinking the culprit is the swimming. I did think Coach was joking when she said welcome to the world of bra sizes that make absolutely no sense at all. It just means I'm going to be a size 12 on top and a size 6 on bottom--- how weird is that? The waist zips up great, but the boob area-- that is totally tight. Why can't I be long and lean and small?? Why can't I be perfect? Ugh. I swear, this was just a disappointing finding. Now I need to find a dress in 3 days, but it'll probably look like garbage because I can't find anything for my mutated body shape.

Well, I should get back to work. Was feeling cranky and decided to post about the dress, as I'm kind of traumatized. I thought I was out of size 12's! Good grief......

Tonight is Diva practice at the beach, so I'm looking forward to getting a nice swim and walk out of the way. McTherapist started in on the left knee today, so it's taped up with the right one and getting the royal treatment. I'm making good progress in rebuilding my inner thigh strength, and I'm getting to the point where my right knee is working like it ought to! Only the left knee causes pain, but it's just the nagging, constant ache as opposed to the "holy crap, this is killing me!" shooting pain I'd get from the right one when I was going up and down stairs. Woohoo! No idea on a timeline for my recovery, but I think he may let me run next week. Hope so...that'd be 3 weeks of no running, and my race is in 2 weeks. It scares me to think that my 9 min 52 second miles will get any slower! (Seriously, they are slow as molasses in the sprint world)

Argh.

Inspiration-less

Today was just one of those days. Not extraordinary. Not memorable. Just there. I hate days like this! I couldn't even think of a catchy title to write for this entry....heck, it's amazing I'm even writing at this point.

I ate 4 little tacos tonight for dinner. Who KNOWS how many points they were, but DH heated up a tub of Chi-Chi's (I know, how terrible) and I went to town after spin class. I now feel like a cow. No wonder the stomach fat is just hanging there. Oh, haven't mentioned this yet.....but the stomach pudge looks even worse when you get a stronger core! Instead of just melting away in general squishiness, it sits atop a layer of rock hard muscle and just jiggles there. It's so embarassing. I know I should eat less to get rid of it, but I just can't!

Speaking of ground beef, DH and I watched this movie two nights ago, Fast Food Nation. I thought it was supposed to be a comedy, but it turned out to be a mockumentary of sorts that deeply disturbed me. I guess I liked to just think my beef was born in a styrofoam package. These poor cows get stunned in the head, hung by their feet, and then they are bled to death and butchered on the spot. It's so.......savage. I am not sure what I think about it all......well, I wish I had the strength to not eat meat at all. No creature deserves to go through something like that. I cried all night long. Ugh. Anyway, I guess that made it a good movie? But it was still just a character-development type of movie that left you thinking, "how can I possibly do anything that will help?" I think that was the point of it, to be honest.....to present the issue and the reasons for why nobody is doing anything to deal with them. (Just so you know, I'm an animal lover, but not an animal rights activist....but when you see the kill room on film, it's enough to make you question all of your beliefs)

So, that was heavier than I was expecting for my inspiration-less post. I have PT tomorrow morning, another boring day of work, a swim/walk practice tomorrow night, and then my last day with DH before he leaves for training and I leave for my high school reunion. I don't really have any emotions right now surrounding DH leaving, but I know they will be overwhelming when they come. It's so hard to be sad when I am so darn proud of him. I'm a strong girl, and I've been alone without him for lots of time before. At least I'm in a better place than DC now so I don't have to worry too much in his absence.

OK, time for bed. I'm going to apologize to the cow I ate in mass quanitities tonight and start to focus my attention on plants. Yes, they do feel and react to their environment....but plants can't moo, and that's a good thing.

Stinky

Apparently this is my new nickname, thanks to all this exercise. I suppose I should prefer it over "fatty" or "lard arse," but it's not something I can do much about after an hour and a half workout, ya know? Hubby deserves a swift kick in the rear for all these smell references he's sending my way. "You really should shower before you make breakfast." I particularly liked that one this morning. Um, excuse me, dear, but I just biked 13 miles and walked 2....and you just rolled out of bed? Well, I kind of need to eat NOW. So suck it up and take a big deep breath, 'cause you're gonna have to get used to it.

New bike stayed together today, although Coach was on me towards the end of the ride urging me to "gear up" because I was bouncing in the saddle. I am not sure if I was stuck in gear because I was afraid of slipping the chain, or avoiding more knee pain? Regardless, Coach won out and I instantly increased my speed by 2.5 mph. I love the big chain. LOVE IT! Knee hates it, but screw the knee.

I ended up heading out first and being the first in our group to hit the turnaround point. Can I just say THANK YOU to the genius who put the porta-potty there? Oh my gosh, TMI, but too much water before the ride. I was off the bike and in the porta-potty in no time....by the time I turned around, the next person behind me was just making it to the turnaround. Phew! I love being in the lead....must take advantage of it, since they all blow by me in the run. At any rate, the ride back was nice and cool. My only complaint is my poor hoo-ha. How do women cycle for long periods of time? I'm still numb and it's 2 hours later! (And that's wearing my tri short, which is an improvement over my non-bike shorts I usually ride in)

After the bike, we had to do a 20-minute run. Unfortunately, I wasn't cleared to run so I had to watch everyone who was behind me catch up and pass while I power-walked. They were all like, "you can do it, girl!" And I just stopped trying to explain.....seriously, do you think I need to walk for 20 minutes when last week I went zooming past you in the run? Um, no. I'm just honoring my body like we said we would. I did manage to do close to 2 miles in 20 minutes, so that was pretty shocking. I wonder if I got the distance right? Because that seems fast for a walk.

So, the girls are talking about signing up for the Long Beach Triathlon 2 weeks after Pacific Coast. I am intrigued, but I've heard that Long Beach Harbor is uber dirty and I'm not so into that. My buddy the nurse is entertaining the idea, though, so maybe I'll give in to peer pressure if I'm feeling good?

My eating has not been so stellar lately. Yesterday we went to Olive Garden, which is a train wreck no matter how you look at it. I ordered the linguine marinara with wheat noodles, then had them bring out the salad with their light dressing. Of course, I ate 1.5 breadsticks, and that was on top of a hearty lunch (tuna melt-- homemade) and breakfast. I really need to rein in a little bit here....but then this morning, I've just had 2 breakfasts....pre-workout and post-workout. And I still intend to eat lunch and dinner! Argh. There's got to be an easier way of figuring this all out.

I guess I should get my stinky rear in the shower now. Even the cat won't sit with me. Sorry to ramble on for so long! Stream-of-consciousness here.....

Swizzlepop ROCKS!

She made my Triathlon Barbie. Awww..... :) I aspire to look like her!

Dontcha Wish Your PT was HOT Like Mine

Just kidding! Seriously girls, I must have been smoking something yesterday, because after session #2 today he may as well be the DEVIL!!! Yeah, you guessed it. I'm sitting here with my kneecap all taped to the side again and now my left knee hurts. Geesh, when does it end?! This is torture, and I have 3 more sessions on the book for next week. I better be good as new after all of this.

So, McTherapist actually isn't as cute as the one I had back in DC. Now, HE was hot stuff. I think hubby has this McTherapist beat, but he can retain the McTherapist title for now because he's certainly okay to look at. As for photos, I need to protect his identity, so you're going to just have to wait on that one. ;)

Today is day #3 this week with no exercise, and I feel like crud. I didn't really have time, though, and now that I'm all taped up I can't really do much of anything except cry. I'm going to try to go to a spin class tomorrow morning and just do an easy hour with light resistance.....will have to explain to the teacher beforehand so she doesn't scream at me the whole time and think I'm a pansy. Really, I'd love to crank it out with you guys, but I'm seriously under orders to take it easy.

I feel my lovely stamina slipping away with all this rest, though. I mean, it's not like my run is going to get much worse-- it's about as stinky as it can get at this point. I absolutely cannot sustain a pace under 9 minutes and 30 seconds a mile for 3 miles, so I'm officially not competitive at the sprint triathlon level. I'm going to have to hit Olympic distance in order to become competitive, and even then, I'm pretty flippin' slow! Ugh.

Alrighty, done feeling sorry for myself. Going to have fat free frozen yogurt with the hubby tonight. I heart Golden Spoon!

McTherapist

And you wonder why I love physical therapy so much? Just get a 'scrip and head on down and you will know exactly why. I heart PTs. Why must they be so cute?

Yeah, I'm married, but I can have a McDreamy, too.

So, I'm sitting here with my patella taped to the inside of my leg. It aches, but we're trying to loosen up the stuff that's holding it to the outside of my leg. I had more electrodes hooked up to me today than I've ever had, and boy, I felt like Suzanne Sommers with all the inner thigh strength-building we did....but you know what? McTherapist said that when I finish my race in a few weeks, I'll have to send him a race photo that he can hang on his wall! YES!!!! No, not the photo part, but the implication that I'd be finishing the race. He says I'm going to be running soon and good as new. I hope he's right. I did catch it early, so we're doing 3 sessions a week to get the inflammation down and work on strengthening my inner quad muscles.

Woohoo! I'm taking the day off, as 3 days in a row of swimming will give me sore shoulders and I'm not cleared for anything else....but I get to partake in the bike ride on Sunday, so I'm psyched.

At any rate, must go take the hubby grocery shopping now. We need fruits and veggies BAD....we've been too lazy to do a real shop for almost 2 weeks now--- I feel like we're back in college!

Thoughts on the Southwest Chicken Salad.....

Colette, I hate to disappoint, but I only made it halfway through my McDonald's grilled chicken Southwestern Salad before I threw it out! Bleh. :) Although the dressing was tasty, I absolutely hate cilantro, and there was too much of it in the corn and beans to make the salad palatable. Add that to the reconstituted chicken breast, and I was nauseous within a few bites. Hey, at least I tried! I ended up with a fruit and yogurt parfait to go. Part of me wanted to go ask for extra dressing and send it to the Colette recipe-creating fund, but I decided that perhaps we are not on those terms quite yet. Ha!

It's T minus 3.5 hours before I leave for my open ocean swim. Stomach is in knots, even though I did it on Saturday, so who knows--- it's so tempting to just take my sick hours and catch up on some z's. Might still do it? Anyway, thought I'd crank out a post here since I might be a little busy the next few days.....