Because I Can't Let Go

I have a hard time letting go of things. I am working on it, but it is a big challenge on so many levels. Recent examples:

• It shreds me to let my boys walk away from me and get on the plane. Inside I'm weeping and grasping. On the outside I'm playing all cool and giving them age appropriate hugs (bigger for the ten year old and only tight enough for the teenagers to be able to pretend to be embarassed, but not tight/big/long enough for them really to want to pull away first). I'm working on waving casually. I don't know how stealthy I am about it but I cannot keep myself from breathing in deeply in that last minute as if to pull some part of them back to hold onto even as they walk away from me.
• I have some clothes that need to go. Clothes that I don't wear and a few things that I have had for over 15 years. Mind you - I don't have a lot of clothes total. Shopping is not remotely my thing. It's not like my closet is bursting at the seams. But it has been bugging me recently to see these few things that are lingering. I don't know why I am holding on to them. I'm blaming this one on inertia.
• Football season is over - really over. Waaaannnnnhhhhh. I am jonesing for pigskin and I have months and months to wait. (While it is no substitute for the actual game, there is some off-the-gridiron drama percolating. With this past week's franchise tags going out and free agency starting next week and the draft in April, I can at least read about football. And talk about it. A teeny little bit. Like this rant - I am TRYING to like* Dallas but they are making it well nigh impossible. They let Pacman Jones go (which is key) but now there's rumbling that they might bid for Ray Ray? Bleck!!!!!! He's the player I despise most who doesn't already play for the Cowboys.)
  
• Water weight. I ate sushi yesterday for the first time in ages and ages**. And promptly gained two pounds. That is a pound per sushi roll! I promise you they do not weigh that much in and of themselves. I'm giving that bottle of "reduced sodium" soy sauce the evil eye but that's not getting rid of the poundage. Maybe the three gallons of water and peppermint tea I'm drinking today will flush the "reduced sodium" out of my system along with those opportunistic extra pounds!
  

In training news, I have some track workout questions for you. Next weekend I have a track workout that calls for doing ten of the following twelve drills (my choice) each for 100m:
1.Walk on Toes
2.Walk on Toes (Heels in, Heels Out)
3.Walk on Heels
4.Walk on Heels (Toes in, Toes Out)
5. Strides
6. Butt Kicks
7. High Knee running
8. Karaoke***
9. Skipping
10.High Knee Skips
11. Butt Kicks
12. Run Backwards – pushing off from your fore foot

The astute observer will note that the rat bastards who designed this plan said there were tweleve drills to choose from but then listed "butt kicks" twice thereby reducing the available choices to eleven. Which, in my way of thinking, means I only get to cross one off the list. I'm tempted to cross "butt kicks" off the list just on principle. Clearly I'm keeping the walking ones and the skipping one on the list because I know for a fact I can actually do those. (You see how hardcore I am about pushing my limits, right?) Cindy just mentioned a guy running backwards at the track and I was all "dude - I haven't even mastered the running forwards part" when ACK "running backwards" appears on the list. So I wanted to knock that one off the list, lest I do a skull plant and kill myself at the track. Then I saw the warning for the "Strides" drill that says, "Do not attempt this exercise if you’re not conditioned for high intensity activities." EEK. Now I want to strike that one off the list. But then Karaoke*** looks like a death trap of the tangled feet variety. I haven't even been brave enough to look up "High Knee Skips" but chances are that one is dangerous too! What is a klutzy girl to do?!! Do y'all do these? What exactly are these drills designed to help? Does it work?

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! Peace out.

*And by "like" what I mean is "not loathe and detest". (Gotta walk before you can run.) I wouldn't even do that much because it's a serious effort, but my no-longer-blogging-or-I'd-link-to-her pal Cindy is a Dallas fan who started rooting for the Titans because of me. How can I not reciprocate?
**Where "ages" is entirely subjective and feels like months and possibly years, but may in fact appear to outsiders to be about 10 days.
***This looks like the grapevine dance step to me and maybe most of you knew what "karaoke" was vis a vis running. I was mildly disappointed (though not surprised) to see that it did not involve alcohol, cheesy music and laughing my ass off with friends at people who can't sing. On the other hand - the boy in this video is niiiiicccce to look at (IMHO) and that helped somewhat. Though (natch) it leads me to questions about how to apply this drill. He says to work one leg, you go one direction. Does that mean I would do 50 m one way and 50 m back? Or two separate 100 m stints, one on each side? And if I did the latter, then could I get away with counting it as two of my ten, thereby crossing a whole other drill of the list for the day? What think you?

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.

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!

Lamest Injury

I hurt myself taking off my sports bra. Isn't that about the most embarrassing way to pull a shoulder muscle? Note to (most) guys and my willowy sisters of modest boobage: you have no idea what we amply curvy gals go through in the ta-ta department for the sake of sport!**
<--For those of you not familiar with the complexity and range of support needs in the world of sporty ta-ta's, I present this helpful visual aid. These plastic orbs (courtesy of my running store) are used to demonstrate the comparative heft of differing cup sizes and their relation to properly fitting sports bras. The sizes and weights (yet, hopefully not the colors) are "realistic".
Who knew for those of us on the right side of the line up there, that our sports bras would be required to buttress six pounds per ta?! No wonder the sports bra is an inherently ornery garment. Here I thought putting on the industrial strength bazoom restrainer was a pain. Taking it off has proven to be more so. I wish I had known the potential dangers before shimmying (none too gracefully) out of the sweaty, tangled mess of spandex sheathing my prettiest twelve pounds! Please don't get me wrong. I am grateful (firstly) for my boobs and (secondly) for the many layers of foundational equipment I own (without which I would not be able to run at all) but... dang! A pulled shoulder - from a run?! Not fair! Someone should come up with a warning label.


**Side note: This is NOT to discount any challenges you y-chromosome folks and slender ladies face in other areas of our fair sport. I'm hoping one day to be a slender lady myself and then I'll figure out something to bitch about I'm sure. And I already count myself lucky not to be a guy pretty much every time I get on my bike. How on earth you boys function after the inevitable package mashing cycling entails is beyond me!

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!

If I Were A Fish, I'd Be A Flounder

I cannot seem to convince my Garmin that I'm not Kenyan! It says it's having trouble acquiring me and persists in putting up a map of Africa. I feel like waving up to the satellite and yelling, "Dude, a little to the left and up some!" My poor Garmin. If it's expecting a Kenyan then it might not be able to find me because I run too slowly! I wonder how to go about lowering my Garmin's expectations.

On the up side, at least my Garmin knows I have a pulse. Here is my heart rate graph for my ride on the trainer with spin ups. I have no idea what this graph is supposed to teach me. I don't know how to use this information to help me with my training (yet). You're supposed to have a max heart rate to base your zones on so you can start training with your HRM, but you can't get that number without some recorded rides/races. I am not very comfortable with "which came first, the chicken or the egg" situations! I am much more of a "beginning, middle, end" kind of girl. I want to understand the process and have a framework before I start doing something. Historically this has sometimes meant that I put off (or entirely skip) doing things I'm interested in because I am too overwhelmed to start. (Note: I have been able to figure out things that intimidate me if it's for my children's sake but not for myself. I'm changing that! I'm worth the effort too.) I'm practicing jumping right on in and floundering around. "See me flail!" That's my new motto.

In other news: the long bike this morning went well! GORGEOUS weather: a little cool though sunny, green, not humid, and breezy enough to be challenging but not enough to be demoralizing. We encountered zero jerky drivers, had no breakdowns, added a half an hour to our cycling time while speeding up the pace average by .3 mph over mostly the same course from last week. That, my friends, is a well-nigh perfect biking day for yours truly. What are the odds the trend can continue with a kickin' long run tomorrow?

Ciao!

Well No Effing Wonder!

I pulled my bike/trainer contraption into the living room in front of the big screen TV and watched almost all of Grosse Point Blank during my ride. I was starving and felt like my 45 minute ride was taking forever. I kept looking at my watch and the time was crawling by. I did spin up's and thought I would die. When my ride was finally over, I realized something was terribly amiss. That's right. I watched almost an entire movie during a 45 minute ride and only afterwards wondered what the heck was going on! Hel-lo! Do you see that for each SECOND of my ride my watch was counting up to (at least!) 88?!!! Now I'm beginning to wonder if I had as good of a swim this morning as I thought I did!! DANG! (Although, Donna said I looked strong and my time seemed to match how I felt - UNLIKE the never-ending bike ride.) Has anyone ever had their trusty Timex Ironman watch freak the fuck out like this before?! (Must be a sign from the gods of Garmin to figure out my Forerunner already!)

Sadly, the time warp on the bike means I'm out of computer time for the day! (So race report and Sunday report tomorrow, I guess. What a strange way to procrastinate I've discovered.)
Peace out, my friends!

**Edited to add: John informs me I am an IDIOT. (Not in so many words. Actually he explained to me in much nicer and smaller words that this is how milliseconds* are SUPPOSED to work - using tens (or hundreds or base ten or whatever the hell), not sixties like normal minutes and seconds. Who knew? Everyone except me, obviously. Who thought it was a good idea to switch systems in the middle, anyway?? Don't they know my math brain doesn't work well during training even if you keep things predictable?! So how to explain my 45 minute ride taking up the better part of two hours? John says I must have ridden for an hour and forty-five minutes without noticing. (Picture me rolling my eyes at the concept of me not noticing the extra hour when I was looking at my watch every few minutes!) I explained to him that his theory also didn't work because when my timer has looped before, the hour takes the minute place and everything moves to the right with milliseconds being bumped off the screen. He then said I must have either stopped and restarted or maybe watched the movie on fast forward. I think I would have noticed John Cusack talking like Alvin the Chipmunk, but hey, I didn't notice an hour missing somewhere even though I was looking for it, so what do I know? The only non-Bermuda-triangle theory I can come up with now is that I must have repeatedly bumped my watch off and on. Gah. I'm glad my watch timer is working normally, but a wee bit sad that my brain is apparently a mess. I should delete this post and hide my goofiness from the world, but warts and all, eh?**
*Milliseconds? Centiseconds? I should go look it up and make it make sense in my brain so I don't go on being ignorant about this whole "how do we measure time" thing, but honestly I'm not gonna.

The Universe's Delivery System

Remember back when I was waiting for the universe to fill my order for squillions of dollars so I could buy cool triathlon gear? I'm still waiting for the moola, but - and this is an exciting but - I got some cool new gear without even having any money!

The universe decided to use the Richard vector to deliver into my hot little hands a Garmin Forerunner 301. Richard is a long time friend of John's who became family, first by becoming our daughter's godfather and then by becoming an uncle when the rest of the kids laid claim to him. He didn't put up much fuss. I think he got a kick out of it when they used to jump around like fleas screaming "Uncle Richard is here! Uncle Richard is here!" (They're bigger and somewhat more lethargic fleas now, being teenagers and all, but they still love to climb and hang on Uncle Richard - as you can see from these pix of Richard's recent visit. I am posting two pictures of the crew because as usual with our "party sized" family, it was hard to capture a decent picture of everyone in one frame. My minimum standards of decency are not stringent! Is it too much to ask for a non-silly smile and no mug shot faces? Apparently, yes, it is too much to ask!! Anyway Richard is in the center, John is to the back right, the kids are clustered around, the dogs are out of view at everyone's feet wanting attention, and I think Donna must still have been at work.)
While he was here, Richard and I got to talking about triathlon. He lived in San Diego during the birth of triathlon and did several of the local ones there at the time (Carlsbad - or was that a ride? and maybe Coronado? - I'm a little iffy on those details). We did the ole "my how things have changed" routine and I ended up waxing poetic (or maybe just interminable) about all the nifty gear like tri-specific wetsuits, disc wheels, aero bars, and heart rate monitors with GPS that is around these days.

A few days later I got an email that said:

I tend to not give gifts for "special days". I prefer to give them when there is the "perfect storm". Usually that requires a casual conversation followed by an equally casual event that combine and result in a "that would be perfect for ...". In this case it was you.

Guess what, that just occurred.

In the pile of mail I got when I got back from Pittsburgh (I was home 1 day between visiting all of you in NC before leaving for 4 days in Pittsburgh) there was a flier from Costco. One of the specials was for a Garmin 301. Enjoy it. I am hoping it will ship on Monday.
-Richard

Wow! How much fun is that?!! I immediately sent him a thank you note (that was more like a thank you novel which will not surprise anyone who reads this blog or has me for a commenter on their blog.) I promised I would post one of those coolie-cool elevation chart/heart rate graphs from a workout as soon as possible. Of course that means that not only do I have to figure out the software, but I must first run or bike somewhere with some elevation changes and wear my new Garmin while doing so. Okaaaay.

Actually I've encountered a few, minor difficulties getting set up. I started to say that I haven't managed to get my resting heart rate much less my max heart rate, but my issues started even before that hurdle. The first step was to charge "the unit" (which, if said with waggling eyebrows, could mean something else entirely) and I could NOT figure out from the instructions how to do this. Being a good little girl, I tried RTFM first. The manual was written by monkeys. Robot monkeys. Martian robot monkeys. I finally stopped reading and employed John's method of randomly pushing buttons and plugging shit in until it worked. (There is a cord which plugs into the Garmin and also into an adapter which itself plugs into another adapter which finally plugs the whole mess into the wall!!)

After three days, I am still in the fixing to get ready to get started phase of training with my Garmin. I need some superhero chant to bring my mad geek skills to the fore. Didn't you used to love it when Isis would raise her arms and intone, "Oh, zephyr winds which blow on high, lift me now so I can fly!" I thought that was awesome*. But the only thing I can think of is "Oh Garmin new which came in the mail, synch yourself so I can ...flail?" That's not so helpful!! I'm close though. In a few more days I am sure I'll have some charty goodness for you. (And I'll say it again: Thank you Richard, thank you Universe - for my Garmin!)

Training wise - had a teeny, little 500 yard swim today and a slow-ass 30 minute run yesterday. Looking forward to tomorrow's bike to be better! I'm proud that I've done my workouts but I want some pep, man! This week I'm thinking of my buddies who are tapering and preparing for races - Willie (OKC Memorial Marathon), Southbay Girl and Maryland Girl (Country Music Half Marathon), and IM Able (NJ Devilman Half Iron next weekend). Go buddies go!

*A final note to RBR: I love it when you use the word 'awesome'!!

Peace out.

Absentee Blogger

I'm posting a hey-I'm-not-sure-but-maybe-probably-I-won't- be-posting-for-a-while- because-I'm-away message. I'm hoping to leave tomorrow before the crack of noon (but as teenagers are involved, we'll have to see!) I'm driving three of my five chickie pies to Nashvegas to see their dad over Easter/Spring Break. (Sidenote: We're in the middle of a protracted and miserable custody battle. I'll try not to say any more about it but if you've got any extra warm wishes or powerful prayers to spare - they'd be appreciated over this way long about 9 am on Monday morning at court-ordered mediation.) I'll be staying with my mom and her connectivity is questionable. I'll post and make my visiting rounds if I at all can because Lord have mercy, five days seems like a long time to be away from the friendly chatter! (How did I live without you?! she asks dramatically.) But if you don't see me or hear from me, know I'll be back as soon as I can. I am taking my bike, swim gear, and running stuff. I've really pre-planned to be able to train if I can kick this sinus thing!
Southbay - best of luck with those long hours. I know you keep mentioning the name of it (Murder Women or something - I assume it's a tv show?) I dunno but I hope it's great. Willie - hope you get into the groove, feel 100%, and get that long run in on Saturday. RBR - are you on Spring Break? Do you get some time away from you students?? Happy Training (Etc!!) to all who drop by while I'm away. Y'all come back now, y'hear? :D

The entire reason I ported over here to Blogger was to be able to post pictures. Now I've spent the afternoon fiddling with layout instead of posting pictures! No longer. Here is my lunch (of which I am inordinately proud):
It's not that it took so long to prepare: the chopped salad & tiny bit of creamed potatoes were left over from supper last night and grapes being oh-so-easy to plunk in a bowl. No, it's that food in general is often a challenge. More so when I am trying to lose weight. I was bulimic for 5 years - 20 years ago now - but like anyone in recovery, I have to make a daily choice to be healthy. I celebrate the days (like today) when that daily choice is made with joy and I easily find food nourishing to my body and my spirit.

New Start

I've been over at Stronger Than Before on wordpress but finally got fed up with trying to post pictures the way I want them. Thought I'd try Blogger and see if I'm happier. My older posts are there. I don't know if I'll go to the trouble to port them (few though they are) over here. I may just start here and not look back! I wish strongerthanbefore.blogspot.com hadn't been taken (by "princess" who has never posted - grrrr) but tak zhyzin v bolshom gorode (= such is life in the big city). I'll keep the blog name "Stronger Than Before" because it reflects my internal mantra but "a stronger Calyx" for the address shouldn't be too hard to remember!