A Mixed Bag

Swim:
I'm beginning to loathe the word "descend".
And in what world does 3x200, 2x200, 3x150, 4x100, and 4x50 add up to 1750?? I want to talk to the person who wrote these swim workouts. And his grade school math teacher!!

Bike:
We bailed 8 miles into the first of three bricks that were scheduled for Sunday. It was rainy and windy. We got soaked through and battered. Then the temperature dropped 15 degrees. Then Donna had a flat. The weather got worse all day and yesterday the low was near freezing. In May. A week after I nearly had heatstroke in a 10K. My mental state about missing those bricks swings about as much as the weather. I waffle between thinking it was a smart move and feeling like a wimp.

Run:
We have a 6 mile run tomorrow, a Team Sakina trail run Thursday night, a 10 mile run scheduled for Friday, a Team Sakina long run on Saturday morning, and 6 miles (spread over two bricks) on Sunday. Ever heard the phrase, "Something's gotta give?" Yeah. I'm thinking it'll be the 10 miler on Friday. And possibly the Thursday night trail run too. I have the chance to go see a documentary about Meinrad Craighead which is hard to pass up!

Other:
On the plus side, my writing has been ON FIRE! I used every minute of my recovery day yesterday to write and had to force myself away from the page today in order to go swim. I've launched a new project, finished the outline on the current project, and gotten the better part of two chapters completely drafted. My newfound courage to show up on the page consistently is a direct result of honoring my training commitment and following my nutrition plan. I feel more solidly aligned than ever before. I love my life. And? Today is our daughter's birthday.

TODAY I LOVE: my Ninja Princessa - 14, I can't believe she's fourteen!

Capital City Classic 10K - May 9, 2009

Saturday morning we were up bright and early for the Capital City Classic 10K in Raleigh. It was my first standalone 10K and I may have mentioned I was oddly stressy about it. I had a hard time getting myself out the door - in part because registration for Team Sakina was online, limited to 30 women, and starting at about the same time as the race! (John sent our registrations in for us. Thanks honey!) I felt discombobulated - did I have my inhaler? Water? Gels? Body glide? Was I missing something?

(There is something unnerving to me about running races because once you're dressed, there's just not that much more to do to be ready! No bike to check, no transitions to plan for, no wetsuit or goggles to keep up with, etc. Weird.)

This 10K takes place in the heart of downtown Raleigh. In spite of the lack of directions on the website (the link didn't link anywhere - fail!), it was easy to find and park (for free in a parking garage that wasn't charging for the day - yay!) Packet pick up was inside the Sheraton and smooooth. Also? While there were a couple of porta-potties outside near the race start, I was all about using the nice hotel facilities. It had been a little breezy and slightly overcast but was clearing up (and heating up, dammit) just as the race started (later than advertised). Oh well. I had expected a much bigger crowd (possibly because the race had billed itself as friendly for beginning runners and walkers.) It looked like there were only about two hundred people. And almost all of them looked fast. Oh well.

For us this race was an extra training run (on top of an extra trail run we'd already thrown in on Thursday night) and we still had a big swim ahead of us that afternoon and a brick on Sunday. My goals were to enjoy the experience, see Raleigh in a new way, and to run the whole thing. Not to leave you in suspense, I accomplished a measley one out of three of my goals. Sadness.

The beginning of the course was interesting - winding past big, downtown churches and into great neighborhoods with jungley sidewalk gardens and huge, wraparound porches on display. The volunteers were fantastic and there were cops at every single intersection holding traffic and pointing the way. That was great. Our first couple of miles were fast (for us) - but they always are in races. The tightness and worry I feel starting out gave way in short order to a smooth pace and good rhythm. At mile 2 I snagged a cup from the water station. Donna was smart enough to grab two and pour one on her head. It was getting hot! I was wishing I'd gotten more than the dinky little two swallows but knew there'd be at least one more stop along the way. Mile 3 was a bit slower and mile 4 seemed to be entirely in the sun. There was one fantastic view of the city skyline as we ran over a highway overpass. Part of me wished I had my camera with me and part of me didn't give a flying ratfuck. That's a bad sign.

The heat was getting to me. I felt melty inside and my skin felt weird. I had to slow to a walk a couple of times to try to bring my heart rate down and feel better. I didn't feel better. I was looking forward to the water stop which we guessed would be at the 4 mile mark. It was! But when we got there - no water. WTF?! It was in the upper 80's or low 90's in a not-crowded race billed as beginner friendly - and they didn't bring out more than one cooler of water?? (Seriously - my son's lacrosse team of 20 boys always has three or four coolers of water. This race had one.) My bad attitude about the lack of water may have had something to do with me making a total newbie mistake to compound the issue. I took my gel when I saw the water station and all the cups. Calories and water get me through hot runs. Calories without water? NOT good. Feeling as bad as I already did from the heat, having ingested a gel with no water to chase it much less to rehydrate me, and knowing I was stuck for the rest of the race - sucked. Totally sucked. Note to self: no gel until the water is in hand!!!

I tried to re-set. I focused on smiling at the volunteers and thanking them. I sent D on ahead because even though it was hard for her, she was still running. I resigned myself to walking the rest of the way. I had chills on my skin but my insides were still boiling. My brain was hazy. I was mad at myself for not having my own water with me - though almost no one else in the race did either. I was disappointed and felt like a loser for not even being able to keep up a slow jog. But I was just too hot. And I was not about to get sick or fall and hurt myself by pushing hard in a race that essentially didn't matter! Still...loserdom. I finished in a terrible 1:19:something or other. I didn't care. It was minutes slower than my PacGrove Oly Tri 10K. I was not, however, DFL. There were at least 4 people behind me. The announcer called them the last finishers but later (like 5 minutes or more?) the announcer was talking about even more finishers coming in. I was too busy sucking down water and trying to adjust my attitude.

There were LOTS of people complaining about how challenging the course was and how hot it was. I did not add my voice. I'll admit though, it did make me feel a bit better when a local running star, Victor (who won the 10 miler last weekend) told me he'd gotten cramps and quit at mile 5. He said, "Some races are like that."**

I know this is long already so I'll say one last cranky thing. Since it's only the second year for this race, I was all set to cut the race directors slack (except for the water station fail). I thought "resourceful" instead of "tacky" when I noticed that they were using race numbers/timing chip holders with last year's date on them. I forgave the late start and lack of working links for important things like directions, parking and race photos. But I just saw that the "overall" race results end inexplicably at least 15 minutes before the last finishers crossed the line. I'm not in the results. Donna, who finished 5+ minutes ahead of me, isn't even in the results. Beginner and walker-friendly my ass!!

Saturday continued to be odd and disconcerting. It took me quite a few hours to feel like my body temperature was stable enough to attempt the swim workout. Then about three quarters of the way through our swim (just before my final descending 50's) it started getting really dark. I was still processing the fact that we must be swimming waaaaay slower than I thought for it to be getting dark already when the lifeguard pulled everyone out of the pool. Lightning flashed, thunder thundered, and the power flickered. Sweet. We did vindicate ourselves on Sunday, though. A Mother's Day Brick: we biked for 58 minutes (avg pace 13.3) and then ran for six miles - including warm up, cool down, and fartleks in the middle for speed work!! (mutter, mutter, stupid 10k, take that, mutter, no water mo-fos, muter, mutter)

And (last thing - I SWEAR!) we went to see Star Trek. It was fan-flippin-tastic! I loved every minute of it. It's a total must-see.

TODAY I LOVE: science fiction everything and fresh pineapple!

**I had the hardest time not responding to Victor with , "Even in Australia."

When The Word Brick Is Followed By An "S"

First, a little Linky Love because Blogland is so awesome right now:

• Have you seen Benson's Swine Flu post?? OMG - I've had this open on my desktop for days now and it cracks me the hell up every, single time I see it!!
• If you haven't already - head over to Brian's for the chance to win the Big B Swag Bag (including a piece of The Wall!) from his upcoming Great Wall Marathon on the 16th. He needs some songs for motivation and you can help. BTW, how freakin' cool is that for a marathon??
  
• Don't go to DCRainmaker's blog unless you want to see some gorgeous pictures of Seattle and the first ever picture of his elusive Girl. Jeanne once called him the enfant terrible and that name totally made me chuckle. I love his blog even though it puts mine to shame. He travels and trains and eats gorgeous food 10 times more often than I ever will and he blogs about it all practically in real time with amazing pics. Good thing he's so nice or I might have to hate him.
• I've found two more B2B peeps! Missy is doing the half and KrissyGo is doing the full. Yay!
  

Now about those brickS! Bricks - we all know and love bricks. What's not to love about jumping off the bike and trying to run when your ass feels like lead and your legs may or may not even be down there anymore - oh wait, you can see them and there's a vague thudding sensation nearby so your legs must be kinda sorta working? Some bricks are better than others. I don't really mind swim-bike bricks. (Those are still called bricks, right? I know the races like that are called aquabikes but the training plans I've read still call those workouts bricks.) See, all of this talk about bricks plural and it's no big thing. But then our training plan (that I may begin to hate Formulaic for) called for bricks plural on Sunday. Us - two bricks, one workout. As in "15 mile bike followed by 2 mile run, times two." (BTW - we're doing this 18 week plan twice through - once at the "beginner" level and then after a two week break, a second time at the "intermediate" level to end at our first half iron in good shape. The double brick is the beginner level. Next time through it will be a triple brick. Help me, Sweet Baby Jesus.) Do you get the idea that this thing scared the kee-rap out of me? We'd already had a big day on Saturday so I was not sure at all I could do this workout as prescribed.

Guess what? We KICKED it. As in a) we finished both bricks and b) the pace of our final two miles on the run was 30 seconds faster than pace of our first two mile run - which was already slightly faster than our "normal" pace to begin with!! Boo-yah! (So, Form, you are safe from my wrath - in fact, I may owe you a great big, sweaty hug!)

All through the first brick we kept looking for ways out of the second. It wasn't happening. The weather was great, there were no mechanical issues, and even me leaving my bike glasses at a bathroom stop couldn't be turned into more than an excuse to ride an exta mile out of the way. So Donna and I started talking about how we didn't have to do anything but finish the second one. It didn't have to be as good/fast/easy as the first one. It merely had to be done. We could do that - just finish it. Every wheel revolution and run step taken on that second brick was gravy. Every bit was pushing into new territory - doing something we'd not done before. Gravy, gravy, gravy we kept telling ourselves. We were more than a little punchy at the end. Can you tell? Guess those endorphins had finally kicked in. The second brick turned out to be smoother, stronger, and faster! Forget it being plain old gravy. It was transformational gravy! (Which we decided would be a great name for a folk group but would suck as a punk band name.)

I'm still not sure how we did it but I'm beginning to trust and love the training process. Of course, I might not feel that way for very long. I still have an hour worth of sprint, hill, and leg drills on the bike trainer this afternoon. Peace peeps!

TODAY I LOVE: transformational gravy and recovery days (like yesterday - still savoring it!)

And The Wait Goes On

Good luck to all racers this weekend! (I'd start naming names but I haven't been tracking too well this week and I'd leave someone out and ... good luck to everyone.) I may or may not be racing. We've been thinking about doing the Great Human Race 5k tomorrow. The training plan calls for 4 miles and track drills. Not a bad match up to throw the 5k in there for three of those four miles, eh? If we do it, it will be one of those "show up and sign up" affairs. Maybe I'll feel some race energy or enthusiasm for it in the morning. This afternoon? Not so much. In fact, nil, nada, and zip.

In spite of my "meh" feeling about the 5k, training has been going well this week. A super 23 mile outside bike ride with a new bike buddy. (Hi Daniella!) Of course I wanted to DIE about 6 minutes in. And hills! Outside = not nearly as flat as my tile floor! I'm sure there are ways to simulate hills on the bike trainer but I don't do that. I just pedal for as long as I can stand it. My record this winter 1:10. NOT enough preparation for Wednesday's ride. Still. It was a lovely day and my new bike friend was patient with my slow poke self. Can't wait to go again. Donna dragged me out for a 3 mile run last night which was just what I needed after a day of frustrating writing. I've got an upper body free weight session and a swim tonight. Woo hoo.

On the job front - there's good news. Sorta. They finally finished checking the four additional references on Wednesday. (One woman John gave as a reference is a hoot. They asked her about his strengths and weaknesses and she told us she said, "He's a genius and sexy and his weakness is he knows it." Um. Way to tell it like it is, sister! At this point I'm done with worrying about it.) The HR lady told the recruiter that it all went great and she was waiting on permission to hit the print button to get him an offer letter by ... yesterday. Turns out the CEO is out of town and they're now waiting for her to get back. (She can't give permission to hit "print" over the phone? She can't sign it by fax? Whatev!) Monday we expect an offer letter. If that part is good, guess what? THEN they start the background check. Ay yi yi. I'm sure the background check will be fine - it has been before. It's just that he wouldn't start until it's complete - meanwhile there's no income, decisions about COBRA have to be made, etc. I want to scream to the universe, "Hurry up already with my happy ending!" Do you think the universe will think I'm a pushy broad?

And finally, I'll leave y'all (but specifically Glaven) with an example of why you should get rid of the chalk board in the kitchen BEFORE your cute little boys turn into teenagers:

Angus (age 10) is the one who pointed it out to me and I hope he was giggling at the thought of his brothers (i.e. Sheumais 16, and Iain 14 - Bug at 18 is not on the list of usual suspects) getting in trouble for being rude - and crass - (and funny, dammit!) and not because he got the boob joke. But in my heart of hearts, I know they've corrupted him already.
Who looks guiltiest? Iain (left) or Sheumais (middle)? Clearly their sister hasn't seen the board yet or she would look outraged. Have I mentioned she's a black belt?

TODAY I LOVE: my kids even when they're rude little gits

In Which I Am Hardcore And Eat Bee Pollen

Did you get that? I am hardcore and I ate bee pollen this weekend. (Not I am hardcore because I ate bee pollen. The bee pollen is totally a side gig.) I am hardcore because yesterday I rode my bike on the trainer for 45 minutes then went OUTSIDE in the RAIN and FORTY-FOUR degree weather to do track drills* and run three miles and then went to the pool for my swim workout. That is the hardcorest (hardest core?) I've ever been.

[Insert your own segue here because I can't come up with one] on Saturday, Donna and I went to Whole Foods with the following list:
(<--)Bee pollen, wheat germ, kale, edamame, wine**, eucalyptus soap, barley malt, flaxseeds, and almond butter. The barley malt is for John's bread making endeavors and the soap is Donna's favorite. The rest of the bizarro things on the list? All for eating. I put them on the list. Me! Eating shit like kale and flaxseeds!! How did this happen?

As little girls in the 70's, my sister and I got dragged to the Good Life Health Food Store. It smelled weird. The walls were harvest gold, the letters on the sign were chocolate brown. (Those letters were the chocolatiest things in the whole place. Who on earth came up with the idea that "carob" is an adequate substitute for chocolate? Can we shoot that person?) Anyway, my mom wasn't uber crunchy but she loved that health food store. At seven, I tried to like it too, for her sake. The flowery herbal hair conditioner was nice. The vanilla protein snack sticks were ok. The carrot candy and oily peaunut butter? Not ok at all. They squicked me out. Did I mention the place smelled weird?

Then along came the 80's - woo hoo! High school meant my mother (whom I no longer wanted to please) was working as a news producer (i.e. never home). My friends & I were hanging out at McDonald's, the arcade, and the food court in the mall. Coca cola! French fries! And also bulimia! The 80's - not so healthy for me.

Then I was in the Navy and it was back to someone else being in charge of what I ate. I assume the food at the chow hall was moderately healthy. To be honest, I don't remember thinking about it one way or the other. What I do remember is lots of black coffee on watch, lots of exercise at 5 am and lots of alcohol on the weekends I didn't have watch.

Then I was in college - and ridiculously poor. I ate the most substantial food I could given my $15 a week (yes, a week) budget. There was a "Co-op" on campus that my friends dragged me to once in a while. (I was never entirely clear on exactly what the cooperative aspect of it was.) It was in a corner of the basement of the student union. It was part health food store, part weirdo cafeteria and was staffed by people with dreads and berets crocheted out of hemp. You know the kind of people who rub lava rocks on their pits and try to tell you that it works just as well as the toxic and environmentally irresponsible deodorant you use - when you know for a fact it doesn't work at all, much less as well - because boy, do those people smell bad? Yeah - the co-op. It was enough to put me off health food again for another decade or two.

Then came mommyhood and moderation in all things. I was now only moderately poor but also moderately obsessed with walking the right line between health food and junk food to feed my family. Of course I wanted my kids to be healthy but I also did not want them to be picked on. No way was I going to be that mommy who uses applesauce instead of sugar to sweeten brownies or the one who puts rice cakes soaked in carrot juice into the Spiderman lunch box. I was the kind of mommy who had family dinners by candlelight (because kids who can't see that it's green eat it without rebelling) and also the kind of mommy who would mix peanut butter and gummy bears into oatmeal. I think I must have found the right balance somewhere along the way because even though my kids live to be allowed energy drinks and pop tarts - they also eat their veggies. Saturday night the dinner menu was roasted chicken and veggies (broccolini, carrots, potatoes, garlic and kale) with Bakerella's Cake Bites (by way of Pioneer Woman's blog) for dessert. At the end of the night - there were some leftover cakebites but the kale and broccolini were gone! Three of the five kids had gone back for seconds on the kale. Woo hoo!

Somewhere along the way - I've found the right balance for me too. I no longer see the world divided into two camps: the smelly, lentil- loving, breathing-through-one-nostril, yoga folks on one side and the mostly manic, chardonnay sipping, tiny, overly perfumed and estee laudered, aerobics ladies on the other. I can be a little of both and neither, all at the same time. I can have my Zone and Eat Clean too! I am excited about my training for the half ironman and love learning more about nutrition so I can fuel properly. I'm braver in all ways. I don't mind trying a supplement or two. Bee pollen (for energy), wheat germ (for fiber)***, flaxseeds (for a healthy heart, hair, and skin) - sure I'll try that!
<---Tosca Reno is pretty damn hot - and she puts all that muck in her oatmeal*** every morning. You BET I'll try it! Did you know she's ten years older than I am?! Yeah, she doesn't look like she smells weird either. So now I'm off to eat a bowl of crunchy fiber twigs ****while I read race reports from the weekend! Ciao.

TODAY I LOVE: trying new things (even if some of them turn out to be yucky)!


*Didn't fall down once thankyouverymuch. And? That karaoke one? I ROCK at that! Those long ago tapdance lessons and aerobics classes (where we did the same thing but called it the grapevine) paid off more than I thought. Woo hoo!
**See? We may be turning into crunchy weirdos but we still like our White Burgundy every once in a while. Only, RATS! We forgot to buy wine even though it was on the list!! I think we got too distracted trying to figure out where barley malt would be.
***Do not believe anyone who tells you wheat germ tastes good sprinkled on popcorn. It doesn't. It tastes vile. And weird. And since I'm throwing out advice on this hippie food - let me also tell you that bee pollen is not sweet and delicious like all those bee pollen pushers say it is. It is dry and a little rank in a citrus-y kind of way. It tastes the way the froth from an Orange Julius smells. If you mix it in your oatmeal, you are condemned to a whole bowl of that taste. Next time just pop a teaspoon of it into your mouth and wash it down with a glass of water. Same burst of energy. Way less suffering. (Oh - and skip it entirely if you're allergic to bees or honey.)
****Crunchy fiber twigs?!! Who the hell thought the idea of eating twigs of any description, much less crunchy and fibery ones, was a marketing bonus? If that is the best that can be said about this cereal then I'm giving the rest of the box to my hound dog who eats deer poop. I'll let you know how it goes.

Please Don't Take My Sunshine Away

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine":
I'm trying not to be grumpy about going back to dark mornings. I'm trying to be happy for all the people (like my love) who now have an extra hour of afternoon daylight in which to squeeze their training.

'T' is for TRAINING and TONSILECTOMY (neither of which had a thing to do with my week):
My training hit a rough patch last week. I had a run that could have been great if I could have gotten some oxygen to my lungs. Sadly, nary an oxygen mote showed any inclination to make that arduous journey. My legs felt super, my energy was fine, my back and arms were relaxed - nothing was tense. I felt really strong. But I could NOT breathe. I did the miles at an okay pace. I was simply frustrated to be *this* close to a fantastic run. Then the morning of my "key" swim, I woke up with a crick in my neck. No breathing on the right side for me. And if that weren't enough, I got a serious case of hiccups in the locker room right before I hit the water. What a mess!! What a lurchy, splashy mess. Again, I did manage to get in the yardage at an ok pace. We'll label the inadvertently inhaled water a bonus chlorine nasal rinse and move on, eh? But we can't move far because I totally bailed on my ride yesterday. The weather was great. I had plenty of time. The issue is that I am a chicken. Riding alone is terrifying for me, even in the middle of the season when I've been on my bike and have everything lined up. As it stands, I don't have things clustered, much less lined up. I need to do some adjustments on Vivian to make sure she's road worthy; I have to remember routes (and find some that avoid UNC/Duke basketball game traffic!); I have to find my contacts (which I only wear for cycling); and then I have to face the fear of being on my bike outside for the first time and alone on the road. I couldn't make all (any) of that happen yesterday.

All Quiet On The Stresstern Front:
My other love, John, is waiting to hear back from the company he had his fourth interview with last week. Did I mention that his "fourth" interview consisted of a two hour phone interview on Wednesday, a six hour interview on Thursday where he gave a presentation, and a two hour follow up interview with the CEO alone on Friday?? He is the only one in the running and it was a wonderful experience. He is excited about the company and what they do in the world. This job would be a great fit in that he has experience in an area this company desperately needs. It all seemed to go well and now we are waiting. I am not good at the waiting part. Look at him! So handsome! So corporate with his newly clean shaven face, lack of earring and tattoos all covered up!
And wearing the lucky tie in honor of IMNZ! Can you see it? Here's a close up. How can he not get the job, right? We are hoping to hear in the next couple of days. We are well past the point of even pretending not to have hopes up. So if there is no offer on the table this week - then my beloved interweb buddies - you are going to have to take us out and shoot us get us drunk to get us over the disappointment.

Now that I have been cheery and peppy and kind and positive, I will take my charming self to the towering stack of mail I haven't wanted to deal with to find the last two bits the accountant needs to file our taxes. Happy Monday all!


TODAY I LOVE: sunshine, even if it is an hour late

A Little Whine, A Bit Of Cheese, And A Spot of Yay Me!

Once again with moving the training schedule around! The plan called for a run today. Three inches of snow yesterday and today being a high of 20-something - uh, no. I don't own or have access to a treadmill - so another uh, no. Bike trainer it is! On the upside, Thursday (the day that was supposed to be a bike trainer day) is supposed to be beautiful and warm. Total win-win situation to flip those two workouts, I think.
On the downside is the fact that the trainer ride called for ILT. Have you done that?! Jeez oh Pete it's hard!! (The instructions say to put your resting leg on a chair but I thought it was easier to put my foot on the piece of the trainer that sticks out in the back. That kept my leg out of the way of the pedal and didn't seem to change the angle of my hips/leg as much as when I put it out to the front/side on a chair. Any reason anyone can see not to do it this way?)

But back to how surprisingly hard ILT was for me. It took me a few attempts to even get my right leg all the way around in one circle. It was nothing approaching the smooth action of those pistons on locomotives! I had to seriously gear down to be able to make one circuit and then I concentrated so hard on making smooth circles that I thought I was going to burst something. I assumed my left leg would be even worse (because I am right handed) but it wasn't! It was MUCH easier, much more balanced on my left side. On the right side I have a strong push and almost zero pull up to get back around. On the left side I have about the same amount of both. I have no idea if that's because my left leg is weaker all the way around but more in synch with itself or if the muscles responsible for lifting up on the right leg are the weak spot in the whole picture. (I have a marked difference between the two sides doing pigeon pose in yoga. I need a bolster when my right leg is forward and I'm perfectly positioned and able to stretch out when my left leg is forward. Does anyone else have that big of a difference between their two sides - or am I a total freak?)

I've been a little up and down with food recently. I love the Zone. It completely works for me. I feel nourished and usually not hungry. So after losing almost nine pounds, it freaked me out to gain three of them back in two days (with no hormonal or food explanation) and have them stick around with no sign of budging for a week. I got a little discouraged which led to some emotional eating. And then I had some (more) grief in the contentious co-parenting realm with my ex. And that led to some (more) emotional eating. The out of zone eating happened several times and was more limited/healthier than any "bingeing" I've ever done in my life. And I was very aware that that was what was going on. (Which may sound weird but paying attention is a big, healthy, and relatively recent step for me.) I was aware that the bowl of mac n' cheese I was savoring was not in the Zone. I could not bring myself to care for a few days. Strangely, the minute I started saying my affirmations about releasing the struggle, about letting go of my grief, about being my goal weight, about being strong and faithful - the scale started skooching it's way down again. THAT gave me energy to get completely back in the Zone.

I am progressing towards my goals - physical, emotional, and spiritual - still by fits and starts, but also in noticeably smoother cycles. It's like ILT for my whole entire being. I may whine about how haaaaarrrrd it is sometimes, but I'm so grateful for the chance and ability to do it - and so lucky to have the love and support that I do. Yay!

TODAY I LOVE: (in addition to all that stuff I just said up above!) the tiny little plate shaped like a carrot my mother gave me a few years ago. (I've just gotten it out again and it's made me smile at least three times today!)

Pains, Planes, And Push Ups

Pains - as much as going to the doctor stresses me out, some things just have to be checked on even when you're not sick. Note to self: next time please don't bring a book about a girl who has to have her leg amputated. NOT soothing!

Planes - I'm getting on a plane tonight to go spend a long weekend with my boys and meet their new teachers. I had no problems with either the elementary school or the high school, but I am still trying to get over my blood pressure spike from being told by the middle school that I am not "allowed" to meet Iain's teachers because we've switched custody. (Mind you - this is the school where Sheumais went for two years and Iain went for one year before we moved. I KNOW these people. I KNOW the policies. My ex was always welcome to be a part of school things. I worked my way up through the chain hearing along the way various explanations about how teachers don't like to do "double conferences" and how I can get my "questions" answered by an intermediary like my ex or the guidance counselor. I reminded the guidance counselor of how involved in the school I was when I lived there, explained how I still want to be involved in my son's education even if I live in a different state, offered my opinion as to the value of my interacting directly with the teachers, asked how I could be expected to make the regularly scheduled conferences from 500 miles away, wondered aloud how schools could justify turning interested parents away and what the school board would make of it if I complained investigated this "policy" further etc. Finally I either made enough sense or exhausted the administration and got a conference (of sorts) scheduled. What an infuriating PAIN IN THE ASS! I live with a middle school teacher! I understand how precious their time is but I'm not going to be shut out dammit!!) Anyhoo, the rest of the weekend should be great. Lots of plans to take the boys around to see grandparents, cousins etc.

Push Ups - I am still stuck in Week 3 of the Push Up Challenge! I'm trying not to get discouraged that it doesn't feel any easier the sixth time than it did the first. I don't feel like I'm getting stronger at all, much less getting strong enough to bump it up a level!

Other Training News - Thanks for all the comments and Spinerval confessions!! I'm going to get my first Spinerval training in today before I leave - thanks to Kathy! I'm not sure what kind of training I can do (other than push ups/sit ups) while I'm in Nashville. It's going to be cold (actual arctic air!) and I'm going to be focused on my kids. I am trying to remind myself that it really is still off season. Stretching and bodyweight exercises are fine for the five days I'm gone. There is time to build my aerobic base before our "official" training plan starts. Is it weird to be this anxious this far out?? I'm worried I'm already too far behind when we haven't even started yet. Gah.

Good Luck Racers - In case I don't get the chance to post again before this weekend, best of luck to all the racers but especially to my buddies running the PF Chang's Rock N Roll Half marathon - Running Knitter, Pokey, and JavaMom!

The Way I Roll

I am no expert on human behavior, but I'm fairly certain that most people do not excitedly rip open their first Spinervals DVD and immediately pop it in the player to watch while eating a plate of nachos*. And yet, I'm not most people, am I?

It makes total sense to me that most people in general - and certainly all gung ho triathlon type folks - would pop their fabulous new DVD in the player and hop on their bike trainer to try it out. So. Not. Me.

I may have mentioned before that I'm a little anxious about mechanical matters. I'm definitely a follow-the-instruction-manual type. (Unlike John who doesn't even LOOK at the instructions when he puts things together. He ends up with extra parts - which stresses me out - but what he puts together always works. Even more irritating is that he can intuit how to use every feature while I'm still trying to decipher how to plug the darn thing in!) To say that I'm not much of a technical gal would gravely understate the situation.

I may also have mentioned that I get a little anxious about new workouts. I have issues about doing things the "right" way. I get flustered trying to learn too many things at once. I'm definitely not a jump-in-and-try-it kind of athlete. (Unlike Donna who has about a nanosecond delay between deciding she wants to try something and being in the middle of testing it out regardless of what equipment she may need. She just starts with what she has and makes it work. No drama. No hesitation.) I am not a fan of surprises in my workouts. To say that I'm all about some reconnaissance (recce) and consideration first would gravely understate the situation.

Which brings us to the situation (i.e. me sitting on my couch, stuffing my face, watching 45 minutes of other people riding bikes on trainers while Coach Troy sporadically tells them when to pedal faster.) I've never been to a spin class. I've never even seen one. I didn't know what to expect from a Spinervals DVD (despite reading the back cover of 47 different ones at the bike store before somewhat randomly deciding to buy one of them). I do know myself though. New workout+complicated machine**=sit down and take notes before attempting. I was not surprised to be about 3 minutes into the thing before I had a list of questions that were not answered on the DVD. (Nor were they answered on the website later despite my searching the FAQ's and perusing articles with names like "Getting Started With Spinervals".)

I have, however, made progress of sorts. I'm not only fueled and rested, but also confident that there are no more surprising or confusing instructions left uncatalogued. I still have no idea what Coach Troy's directions mean about what gear my bike is supposed to be in. I don't have a cadence measuring thingy (yet) and if I had a power meter I'm sure I wouldn't be able to figure it out either. The old me would have been overwhelmed by my technical/mechanical inability to do this workout "right". The new me has taken these obstacles in stride and is going to do it anyway. I've learned that light years away from "right" can still be in the ball park of "good enough". And "good enough" is the way I roll these days. But on the off chance one of you bike smart tri-peeps knows how to explain bike gearing/sprocket nomenclature in a manner that will not make my brain melt and in such a way as I can subsequently use that knowledge to get in the gear that is called for - I'm all ears!! Just a sec while I grab my nachos.


*They were at least healthy(-ish) nachos! Baked chips, nutrient rich beans and veggies, and low(-ish) fat cheese. I get points for that, right? 'Cause I didn't even have a beer or oreos for dessert or anything!
**The complicated machine in question being the bike/trainer combo - not the DVD player. I've got the DVD thing down cold. Finally.

Lingering Issues

Thing One: I biked on the trainer today. For an hour. That is the first real training I've done other than push ups since Thanksgiving morning. The first twenty minutes were ok, the middle twenty sucked big time, and the last twenty were only ok because the end was in sight. I've been trying to time it right getting back into training. I'm never quite sure how to figure out if I'm at the point where a good workout will burn out the last lingering chest/throat ickiness or if it will bring on a relapse. I feel great so I'm hoping I guessed correctly this time!

Thing Two: "Savor the good bites; choke down the necessary bad ones. Don't confuse the two." This is another life lesson I've realized I need to work on! I've caught myself gulping when I should be savoring and holding on when I should be letting go as quickly as possible. Biking helps me take the time to sort out which is which. Yay for training.

Have Bike (Packed!), Will Travel

I feel RIDICULOUSLY accomplished to have partially disassembled my bike and packed her into a traveling case! We went from this:


To this:

With only a leetle help from our friends and a couple of weblinks. The hardest part was the first step. After much cursing and swearing and waving about of the pedal wrench, I sweet talked John into using his manly brute force to bully my pedals off. (We removed Donna's without a hitch so we knew we were doing it right, but mine were STUCK.) This site was VERY helpful - especially the advice to shift gears so that the chain was covering the largest ring. That little bit of wisdom kept me from gouging myself on the chain ring. Twice. Kevin sent this video link which would have helped a lot if I had seen it in time. (Thanks Kev!) Of course Donna was done with her bike in like 30 minutes, while I took almost two hours. She is much more willing to jump in and do. I have to waffle, re-check the instructions, stare at all the oily thingies, and THEN accomplish the step. (Lather, rinse, repeat.)

I am a tiny bit concerned about the re-assembly. Sure, sure, sure - all I have to do is follow the same directions in reverse. Do you want to know how not great I am at doing that with driving directions?! I think RBR said it well when she said, "I honestly do not think I would be willing to ride anything I had any part in assembling." That is how I have always felt about myself. Six weeks ago I would have more than happily forked over the $$ to have someone else (preferably someone who knew about bikes) do all this mechanical breaking apart/putting back together stuff. Now? I am embracing my 2008 Motto "Behold, I am doing a new thing." I am stronger (and hopefully more mechanically ept) than before. (Besides I have no more $$. My attorney has it all!)

If, on Saturday, you see a headline on the internet about some freaky race accident where not the rider, but the BIKE collapsed - you'll know who to blame and where to send flowers. (I like lilies, by the way.)

Hello Hanna

Looks like there will be no brickitude for us today. It's raining and raining and raining. We knew Hanna was on her way. I was hoping she'd wait long enough for us to get in an early run. No such luck. Looks like it's the bike trainer for an hour. Blah. But it's not very windy or thundery (yet?) so maybe we'll be allowed to swim at the community center. (Crossing fingers.) I've not been sure about what to expect this far inland from a hurricane (or tropical storm). People here have seemed more worried than I would have expected. Donna told me that's because a while back one of the hurricanes (Fran? Bonnie?) came up the river and chewed up everything in sight. People have been stocking up their pantries, the schools have been reviewing their emergency weather procedures, and all social plans are being made contingent on what the storm does. I'd be ok not to find out first hand why all the commotion. Here's hoping Hanna turns out to be an over-hyped rainstorm. (Running out of fingers to cross.) Peace!

**Literally just as I was posting this morning, our power and cable went out. The storm wasn't that bad, but once again our street was blocked with trees and lines down. I got my trainer ride in, but wouldn't you know - now it's sunny and I probably could have gotten in the brick. Well, except for the fact we've been invited out for Indian food. Yummy! (Waaaay better than a brick any day.)

She's All That AND A Bucket Of Grease

I did know you were supposed to clean your bike. I just wasn't sure (even after reading this post) exactly how to go about it. So I did what I always do when confounded by obstacles of the mechanical or technical kind - I kinda sorta forgot about it. That worked reasonably well for a while. (By "reasonably well" I mean "having trouble shifting but it's only really bad in the middle ring" and by "a while" I mean "a long while" - erk, true confession time, the words "two years" apply here. I know! What a bad bike mom I am.)

I don't know what the deciding factor was. Maybe it was the baked on bug guts from the 7,100 mile ride on top of the car? (I only have a picture of the car, but my bike (Vivian) was every bit as bad.)

Maybe I got inspired seeing this post? (Shiny!) Or maybe it was just a way to distract myself from the sturm und drang that is this week. Whatever the final catalyst - Vivian got a "bath" on Sunday!

I got the supplies listed here and then had to get an interpreter to explain the instructions to me, but eventually I got to work. I am still not sure what the teflon spray is for or why you need that and chain lube. Hope I didn't screw something up!









Degreaser is amazing stuff. I bought one bottle thinking that would be plenty - ha! I should have ordered a VAT! Who knew my chain and gears weren't supposed to be black and crusty? (Oh, everyone but me knew that? Damn.)










<--Believe it or not, this is a picture AFTER I'd been working on this part (do NOT ask me what it's called) for a while. Other highlights? I picked a wasp carcass out of one pedal and the mummified remains of a peanut m&m out of the other. Yummy!









Not as shiny as Steve's but not bad for a first timer, eh? Now my question to you good folks is this - do you do this EVERY WEEK?! It says every week! Hoolies! That is a lot of work - even factoring in a cleaner bike to start with and a somewhat more knowledgeable bike mama. Clearly two years was too long between washings and yet, weekly bike slave I cannot be. What's the middle ground peeps?

I doubt I'll be posting again until the other mess is over. Thank you for the comments, offers of support, and protective wishes. Y'all are the best. Hope everyone kicks butt in training (or, for those newly iron, in recovering) this week! Peace!

Suckage Too Shall Pass

Y'all are the absolute best ever. Grazie, grazie, mille grazie for the hugs, thoughts, and perspective. I think sometimes I have to fully explore the pit before I can start climbing out! We did decide to continue the trip but only after I went through a bazillion scenarios in my mind. Ultimately I realized that everything logistically I can/need to do for my children from home I can do from the road for these two weeks. And I want to be my best self, my truest self through the whole process. That self needs to know my kids are ok first, but that self has also gotten stronger and stronger through triathlon. I'm not going to undercut my training now. Not when I need balance and strength the most! So. We're on the road! We're in Springfield, MO tonight - having crossed the Mississippi and driven through the Mark Twain Nat'l forest. Tomorrow it's on to Albuquerque where Cindy has hooked us up with some ride info.

Quick recap on the weekend and then it's off to have steaks hot off the grill with some friends:
10 miler was more like a 4 miler+a 3 miler+another 3 miler. I had to take walk/water breaks and it just wasn't smooth. BUT it was done. In 94% humidity, I might add. (And humidity + longest run = new and unexpected chafing! What do I have to do - glide up every inch of skin??) On Sunday we had a three hour ride scheduled but we only got 31 miles in. The cue sheet was wrong, there was no turn where it should have been partway up a hill climbing up the plateau, and it was just too hot to be that lost that far out in the boonies. Still. 31 miles. The day after a 10 mile run. Yay us!

I'll post more - with pictures - and catch up on my visiting as soon as I can. Thanks again for the comment love!

Happy Fourth!

We look progressively happier from left to right because Donna rode 30 miles, I rode 15, and John rode about 7 or 8 (on a mountain bike). Sorry for the clash between our kitchen tiles and the patriotic bike jerseys. I would have pushed to have a new picture taken, but Donna was over it. She was ready for a cool shower! Hope all my bloggy peeps are enjoying themselves and being safe. Happy Fourth of July (for all who celebrate it)!

Organized Randomness

Hope all the dad's out there had a fantastic Father's Day! We had an early celebration last weekend (as I believe I mentioned) and then another, smaller celebration yesterday. John is one celebrated Dad! The picture is from the first celebration with everyone here. I'd post a picture of the second go 'round (Mexican food! Margaritas! Lots of laughter!) but my camera battery died before the fun could be memorialized. I got a chance to talk to my dad on the phone. He's not much of a chatter box, so if you call for no reason he totally doesn't understand it. Thanks Hallmark for making up a holiday so I can talk to my dad!! (I have a post started about my dad. Hope you get to see it someday. My dad rocks. Even though he doesn't like to talk on the phone.)

We are practically kid-less. Only two left at home for now. On July 1st we'll be down to one. The quiet one, at that! You would think that would mean I had more time to blog, wouldn't you? Not so much. John is working from home and Donna (hallelujah) is done teaching and home for the summer. Turns out they are fun people out with whom I like to hang.

Independence Weight Loss Challenge: woo hoo! I lost just enough to be back down to my starting weight. Two weeks (half of the one month challenge!) and I'm breaking even. :-S I truly had to force myself to email that I'd gained weight the first week. I was hoping to lose enough to be down - even if it was only two-tenths of a pound! - below my starting weight, but nope. I had to force myself to email that in too. But I realized something positive. The person I used to be would be so embarrassed that she wouldn't have emailed "bad" results. The person I used to be wouldn't continue with the second half of the challenge if she'd messed up the first bit. That horrid streak of perfectionism would have made her wait until she could start "fresh" on some other challenge. I decided that the challenge was a good start but I needed to get some tools in place to get me going - even two weeks late! I had been thinking about joining Weight Watchers. I know lots of people have had success with the online WW. I kept putting it off waiting for things to settle down with the kids, waiting to have the "extra" money - and it just wasn't happening. I decided that I needed to do something free. Food is an issue for me (5 years of anorexia/bulimia and 20 years recovering from it will do that to you) so I haven't counted calories in a looooooonnnnng time. I used to be so punitive with myself that it was an emotionally dangerous thing to do to focus on restrictive numbers. I thought about how changed I am now (e.g. being able to send the "Hey did you say weight "loss" 'cause I think my body heard weight "gain" email).

So guess what I did? I went and signed up for The Daily Plate. For anyone who doesn't know - it's a free (love that word so I'll say it again - free!) calorie counter/tracker/networking online gizmo (<--the highly technical term). It is EASY PEASY to input the foods you ate. You can create your own "meals" of foods that you eat often so it's even easier. You can get calorie "credit" for your workouts by logging them too. I LOVE it. It's exactly the right mix of clear tracking, good information, and fun (like the slider to fill the glass as you track your water or the reward sticker "badges" you earn)! It is sooo working for me. It feels like it suits me for food the way Workout Log suits me for training. I did flounder around looking at lots of online programs like Extra Pounds and PeerTrainer. I think TDP is for me, but I'd welcome any feedback or ideas! I'm looking forward to next Sunday's weigh in!

Slipping in the training info at the very end (so as not to have to put the NTR warning in the title - slick!) I swam Saturday, ran (HILLS) yesterday, did a BRICK today. In the heat. Good., yes. Strong, yes. Fun, no. For fun, you'll have to check out two of my bloggy peeps. If you haven't already seen - both RBR and Stef have amazing posts up about their race weekends. Before this becomes a nominee in the "Epic Length Post" category, I'll end on that note with the promise (or threat) to tell you more of my run stuff tomorrow. Peace my friends!

Moving Right Along

Weekly Totals:
Last week? 18 minutes
This week (so far)? 6 hours, 30 min
I still have an hour run tomorrow. Yeah, this is a better training week than last.

Bike Ramblings:
Shot bloks and Gatorade Endurance continue to work for me. I felt evenly and well fueled. Thinking about trying some gels in the upcoming weeks. 36 miles today in 2:40 - with a headwind and the uphills all on the first half. Ugh. But nice on the way home. Also, no flat tires for two weeks running. Woo hoo! I love Vivian again.

Swim Notes:
Yesterday the lifeguard told me the pool was 25 meters, not yards. Fun! I've been swimming a (teeny) bit more each workout than I thought. I did 1200 meters steady in 25:44 which put me on a 2:08/100m pace. I was going for under 2:10 - so yay!

Run Worries:
I'm a little nervous about jumping up to an hour tomorrow. And excited. My plan is to run for 30 minutes straight (which I've been doing a lot of) and then following a pattern of 2 minutes walking and 8 running. I know I can do that comfortably pretty much 'til the cows come home. I'm working the half marathon run plan into the oly tri training plan. I'm already where I want to be for both the swim and the bike - so it's really a matter of maintaining that and working on my limiter: the run. We've done a lot of (half dozen or so) bricks recently and I'll continue to do one a week but I'm going to do them mid-week: medium length bike + easy run. I want to have my long runs just for running. I need that focus on building my run base.

Good luck to the racers this weekend: RBR (San Diego RNR Marathon) and Cindy (Tour de Cure)! Go pals go!! Everyone else hang loose and enjoy the weekend.

Loose Ends

The Good: Turns out that it was Garmin that was dying, not me! Yay!! I replaced the battery in the strap on my HRM (the Garmin brain part being rechargeable in the wall) and VOILA! Instantly (over the course of 2+ hours) I was able to stay in my target heart rate zones.
Last week on the same route I was (supposedly) camping in Zone 4 with only short forays into Zone 3 territory. This week? Right where I was supposed to be Zones 1-3 (which is interesting to me because if anything this weeks ride felt harder to me.) Also in the Good category this week...sunscreen! Worked like a charm. And #3 in the Good category? MY RUN!! Now, my pace was slow but I ran the whole way except a tiny little bit when my ITB clenched at about mile 2. I stopped and stretched for a second, walked 10 yards and then ran on with my bad self! Yay me! The weather was GORGEOUS after a rainy Friday morning and afternoon. It was sixty something, cool, and breezy. (I'm sorry to rub it in West Coast buddies!! I know you're dying in the heat out there.) The Good outweighed all else this Saturday.

The Bad: there was still some bad but maybe it was only sorta bad. I did finish those Luna Moons on the bike. They were ... ok. Not as yucky tasting as at first but I won't be buying more. I had looked for the margarita flavored Shot Bloks Cindy recommended (margaritas being right up there in my book with Lemonheads!) but sadly they were not to be found. Also, my night before nutrition is still a struggle. Maybe it's where I am in my cycle, maybe I ate too late (again), maybe it's just that Friday nights are sort of crazy in general - but I still didn't hit it quite right. My nutrition plan is a work in progress.

The Ugly: Vivian (my bike) is pissing me off!! I've been having trouble shifting through my middle ring on hills for a while. She hates it! I can either ride in the largest ring or the smallest. If I try to shift down to the middle ring as I'm going up hill, Vivian dumps me down into granny gear. It is aggravating and I've done all I know how to do. (I'll take her in to a bike mechanic when I can - but you know that winning lottery ticket of mine? Hasn't shown up yet.) Also? My brakes are not releasing or staying centered. I kept checking my back tire because I felt like I was dragging something. We stopped at the halfway point and saw that my brakes were rubbing. They stopped the tire after one spin. Donna and I messed around with them a bit until my wheel would spin freely, but I had to stop TWICE more on the way back. Grrrr. And THEN! On the last half mile I wasn't going to stop again. I felt like I'd spent more of my time looking behind me than facing front on that ride and if the brakes were clenching again - oh well. Turns out, my brakes were fine, but I had a flat tire. That's three in three rides on the same wheel. I will do what I know to do until the pennies in the bike mechanic fund accumulate. Here's what I know how to do: clean my chain, take off my tire - check it out to make sure there's nothing inside that's killing my tubes, fiddle with my brakes some more to get them to stay adjusted, look to see if my wheel is out of true (although I can't do much about it if it is!) Does anyone know anything else I could learn (from a book or the internet) how to check out/fix? I finally feel like I'm building some confidence in myself on the bike and I'm losing it in my machine.

The rest of the weekend? Enjoyed being a vegetable and watching the Preakness. (Still laugh at hearing "Maryland, My Maryland". My first day of class at the U of Md was for summer school and when I heard the Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree song ringing out from the bell tower I thought they were having some big Christmas in July party or something. Who knew it was the state song?) Had fun with my kids. Had considerably way less fun grocery shopping for four plus hours over two days (but triple coupon days cannot be missed when you have a family of 8!) My daughter's 13th birthday is today and we celebrated last night. She cried when her four brothers gave her the sterling silver, engraved bracelet they picked out which says, "A sister is a forever friend." Good times all around.

Monday Mashup

Thang One: HRM Saga (part one too many)
Here is my HR chart for today's 45 minute cycle on the trainer. Warm up, 6 X 20 second spin-ups with 1:40 min rest intervals, easy cadence (Zones 1-2) for the rest of the ride.
Warmed up, felt fine, did a spin up or two which felt ok - looked at my Garmin and HOLY HANNAH it said my HR was 224 bpm!!!! That can't be good. It can't even be right, can it? I did finish out the spin-ups - but I did the last three slower than the first three. When I look at this chart I know my Garmin is smoking crack because I didn't do anything for the last 20 minutes but spin easy. Yet there are five almost perfect stalagmites right there. And look at the one below. It shows my heart rate (red) in comparison to my elevation (gray).
Hel-lo, my bike was on the trainer on the tile floor in my bathroom. Very flat, I assure you. Not a single hill. That gray line should have been straight across! I'm not sure what to do about all this. I suppose I could just forget about the HRM, but (like RBR), I enjoy all that geeky number crunching. I like just running or riding and listening to my body talking to me, too. Shouldn't I have the option? Is it greedy to want as many training tools as possible? Am I total diva to expect my training tools to work?

Thang Two: Thanks for all the input about shoes and the sympathy for the sunburn. (<--I so don't deserve the sympathy though. I have great sunscreen - Mary Kay for my face and special long lasting sport stuff for my body. It works great when I remember to put it on!) The shoes though, I do think I'm going to try the Brooks. Now that I've heard so many good things and read some more about not only pronation/foot anatomy but levels of support available - it looks like it could be a good match for my needs. (Here's hoping!)

Thang Three: Sometimes this sport is a total crapshoot. (A nicer way of phrasing that is that triathlon is as much art as science.) There are myriad factors both controllable and wildly unpredictable: gear, weather (temp, humidity, chop, surf, surge, wind...), training, mental status, nutrition, terrain, hormone cycles, other racers, alignment of the planets, etc. I think about the range of emotional maturity staying in this sport requires. I am inspired by posts like Stef's where she comes to terms with a swim DNF due to dangerous conditions and like Shirley's where she overcomes (and possibly overcompensates for) cutting her foot in the race. (Digression of the saddest sort: I try not to freak out about people dying in races. I've read nothing that explains what has happened to these three athletes! The fact that this happens makes it that much more difficult for me to know when to push and when to regroup and try again later!) I'm trying to learn balance and flexibility. I want to be stronger and yet more patient. Connection to the world around me and being present in the moment are important. I want to expand my limits but I don't want to break myself! There is so much to triathlon.

Thang Four: Hydration and Nutrition. We were much more intentional about our night before and breakfast nutrition this weekend and it showed. For Donna particularly. She had a strong transition (=hard but good) from the 2 hour bike to the 3 mile run. She seemed to get better with each stride on the run. Granted - she is solar powered. (She grew up in Miami and completely thrives on sunlight and heat!) Still - she hit her calories and hydration just right for her and for that day. For me, I could feel everything working for the first 3/4's of the bike. (I found a great new breakfast of Nature Valley Granola bars sandwiched with PB in between. Just enough and not too much for me!) But by the end of the bike I needed more. I am getting more confident but it is hard sometimes for me to find the right time to eat/drink on the bike. I feel like a klutz fumbling around trying to get the bike bottle out or back into its cage!! I can't do it if I'm chugging uphill, zooming downhill, or worried about traffic - and I control none of those factors! I have read about taping the top of gel packets to your bike frame so you can rip the gel off and suck it down, but I know you HAVE to follow that up with water so I haven't tried this yet. (The pressure!) I love the structure of a nutrition plan like IMAble's but eeeep! I can't imagine being able to stick to something like that. Are there any tricks or is it just one of those things that only time and practice will help? Question 4B: What about these little dudes? Is this what people mean when they say "electrolyte tabs" or do they mean something else? I had some G2 on the run with me. I know I was already in deficit because of my sunburn and inability to ingest enough on the bike - BUT I wondered if something with a little more ooomph in the electrolyte department might have helped. Thoughts? I'd love to hear what works for others. (I'm supposed to work all this out in training but man, even a couple of months doesn't seem like enough time to try all the combinations out there! Any starting points or way to narrow the field would be helpful!)

Thang Five:

This picture cracks me up. My poor ITB if this is how I'm supposed to stretch it out. I do realize they have taken out the desk support in front so you can see the stretch better, but still! I have fallen and hurt myself in far less Twister-ish positions! On the other hand, I LOVE speed skating. If I can channel my inner Anton Apollo Ohno, maybe I'll be ok!

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Good (New Pace, New Hills, New Friend):
We rode almost the race distance in less than our goal time over a course with rolling hills and wind. We upped the pace, went longer, in moderately challenging circumstances - and I felt great! I was tired by the end but it was a good morning on the bike. I found out afterwards that our peak speed was 32 mph which tops my previous record of 27 mph. I feel more confident on Vivian than ever before.

We also stopped and helped a fellow cyclist who'd blown a tube on his first ride on his new bike. His name was Charlie. We shook hands and I asked him if people drove him crazy saying, "Wake Up Charlie. We're going to Candy Mountain Charlie." He laughed and said, "It's a land of joy and light...and joyness."
After waving goodbye to our new pal Charlie, Donna and I spent the rest of the ride saying things like "Shunnnnnnnnnnn" and "It's a magical leopluridon" to each other and cracking up. Ahhh, it takes so little to amuse us.

The Bad (Blowout > Wipeout?):
The ride had actually started off craptastically. On the first hill in the first quarter mile, I heard, "SSSSHHHK. SSSSSHHHHK." Then I heard (and felt), "BOOM!" My back tube exploded. That was unnerving. Have I mentioned my PTSD and sudden, loud noises? I'm impressed that I didn't eat concrete. I had to wait a minute for my hands to stop shaking before I could get my wheel off. If you look at the charts above you can see my heart rate spike from being startled before it drops while I change my tire. Not fun - but good practice (again) changing tires. Better now than race day, I tell myself in the vain hope that it might somehow magically prevent raceday mishaps! (Don't you think this picture of the three inch split in my tube looks like it's laughing at me??)

The Ugly (Sunscreen Works Better When Applied!):
Stupid, stupid, stupid head!! I have sunscreen. In my bike bag. I just forgot to put it on my body. Have I mentioned I come from a Scottish/Irish family of redheads and fair skin? Grrrrrrrrrrr. I was in pretty bad shape by noon when we started our run.

Speaking of the run... I so very much wanted to be able to put the run in the "Good" category today but I can't. The sun was zapping me, the transition was rough, I had to take walk breaks, and the negative voices surfaced to say all kinds of horrible things. I was struggling on all levels - physical, mental, emotional to get through it. Now, I do give myself credit for fighting against and purging some of the critical voices, for moving forward when I wanted to stop, and for choosing the world's best partner. Donna talked me through the roughest part, was encouraging and empathetic, and somehow knew exactly when to run on and let me keep slogging. Where I gained new confidence on the bike, I lost confidence on my run. The run seems to be getting harder. I don't know if that's because I'm making progress in the other two sports or what. I'm trying to "Re-rax" as John tells me in his best Scooby-Doo voice. Intellectually I know that I have time, that the training plan from Runner's World will get me ready for the half-marathon in SF, that it dovetails nicely with the Tri-TP for the Oly in Pacific Grove, and that it takes going through some ugly workouts in training to get to good race days. But still I worry. Gah.

The Bonus Brag:
We found the 2007 Blue Seventy Reaction wetsuits on sale for $161 (down from $275)!! This wetsuit got good write ups for an entry level suit (at full price!) and having tried it on, we know it fits well (enough) through the hips and boobs. You should have seen us in the tiny room with plastic baggies on our feet, wiggling and squiggling, trying to get these suckers on. Donna took one look at herself and flat out declared she would never wear hers in public. (I waggled my eyebrows at her and asked her if that meant she'd be wearing it in private around the house - which made her laugh and also hit me.) They are ridiculous. But hopefully less so in 60 degree water on the morning of the race! Did I mention we saved $114 each?