cherylswimbikerun

giving thanks for sport

2010-11-22T05:12:00.000-08:00

Sport is special to me. It was a big part of my life as a child. As an adolescent. As a young adult, and even today. Over 40 years, I have loved it and hated it. I have been inspired by it. I have been disappointed by it. But its always been there. And it always will be here.

I am thankful for the life lessons sport taught me. Talent may get you so far, but hard work and discipline will take you farther. Sport can lead you to dream big. It can bring you great success and reward. It can also bring you great failures. But learning from the failures is even more reward than the success. Because if you learn from failure, is it really failure?

Sport is a selfish endeavor. To have people in your life who support that selfish endeavor is special. And I am thankful for the people along the way who have supported me. They supported me when I did well. When I did poorly. When I was frustrated and tired. When I was happy. Even when my dreams seem a little outrageous to them, the support is still there.

Sport inspires me. I am inspired by the best in the world, excelling beyond our wildest imagination. I am inspired by the everyday person. The people who live everyday busy lives, but still manage to excel amongst their peers. And of course, I am inspired by the athlete who has overcome great physical or emotional adversity to excel in their endeavors.

Sport has given me a life of health and fitness. Granted there are many more important things in the world than sport, but a healthy life can help give back more to the world.

Sport has given me so many amazing friends. I have so many amazing memories of the years with my friends from my swimming years. And now great friends who I train with today, and those who I only see occasionally at a race or through facebook and email. I love you all and the fun times we have had together!

Even at 44 years of age, I still have athletic dreams and goals. I don’t know if I will reach them, but I will have fun trying.

I hope you all have a wonderful thankful week!

Overcoming Fear

2010-11-09T05:38:00.000-08:00

On September 2, I crashed on my mountain bike. Now, I’ve crashed a lot of times on my mountain bike. Plenty of bruises, blood, lumps and bumps. But this one was different. Going down a hill, around a right hand corner (that I’ve ridden hundreds of times), the sun and the moon lined up, and the bike slid and flipped me onto my head and shoulder, and I ended up with a grade 2 AC separation (tore the ligament connecting the clavicle and scapula). A few weeks of no exercise to let it heal up a little just left me with even less fitness than I had this summer (which was very little). It has put another undetermined delay to my return to swimming (so far I have not been able to swim since April because of a different shoulder injury – to the same shoulder!). Most of all though, it left me with fear. Not shock and horror fear. But the kind of fear that sits in the back of your mind and keeps you from putting yourself out there. Keeps you from taking risks. Keeps you from having fun. Keeps you from doing what you had grown to love.

Five weeks after the crash I got back on the mountain bike. It was a slow ride. Cautious, tentative, filled with anxiety. Then I went out again. And again. And again. The improvement in my fear was not noticeable to myself. I still felt anxious. I still rode slow and cautiously. This past Sunday I was out again on the trails. I keep forcing myself to go out. Hoping that one day it will click and I’ll feel like my old self. Part of the ride I was with Meredith, who is a superb technical rider. So my goal was to stick to her like glue. I followed her choice of lines. I shut off my brain and just hung with her. And what do you know, I did it! She did not drop me, even on the long semi-technical, off camber descent. Now I know she was not riding hard, but her skills are so good that she can still haul ass down hill and on the corners, and as we neared the bottom of the hill, me just a few feet behind her, I had a smile a mile wide. I am back! Well, I am coming back. And it feels good.

I have a dream

2010-10-28T07:04:00.000-07:00

I’ve been MIA from blogging for months. When you are injured for a very long time, and you aren’t really training or racing, doing the things that you really enjoy, its tough to think of something positive to write about. Not that one has to only write positive things, I’m sure if I looked back at what I’ve written, there is probably plenty that is not positive.

But I have had a few thoughts lately. Just a few. Related to triathlon, that is. And injury, of course.

I cannot tell you how many health care providers I’ve been to over the past year looking for the key to resolving my injuries. Several orthopedic doctors. Physical therapists. ART. Accupuncture. Massage. MAT. Countless hours reading books and crap on the internet, trying to sift through it all and come up with plans, try one for a while, try another for a while. Run much of it by Julia for her input. Out of pocket money spent. Hundreds. Insurance dollars spent. Thousands probably. Hours wasted (mostly by my fault, but also by not being able to get the right help). Months. Following up self-induced running injuries with a spectacular mountain bike crash resulting in a grade 2 AC separation. Priceless.

With all of this running to different health care providers, I had a vision. A vision of a sports injury clinic in every city. One staffed with an open-minded orthopedic doctor. And physical therapists educated in traditional PT, ART, MAT, acupuncture, massage. Nutritionists. A running coach who can do gait analysis (because, let’s face it, most injuries are running related, even if you are not strictly a runner, most sports require running). A one-stop shopping stop for injuries. Where all the doctors and PT’s help you or refer you to another specialist in their office who can help you. Why can’t we all just get along! And work together! I know the patients would be happier. Maybe not the health care providers.

OK. So, while I wish I had spent the summer training and racing. Life really wasn’t that bad (if I forget about the pain of the injuries). I enjoyed more free time. I cooked a lot more with my fresh locally grown CSA produce (I even made pumpkin pie two weeks ago from a pumpkin!). I have been training a little. Running frequently, very low mileage (I mean some days only 2 miles), and very slowly, and as often as possible on trails or grass (which is hard now on weekdays with the days getting shorter, and my daylight hours spent in the office). I’ve been riding my bike some. I cannot swim. The shoulder is very ANGRY at me. I’m working on it. Every day. I hope I can swim again. I am a swimmer. Always was. Always will be. I always dreamed of growing old, in a house on a lovely little lake, and getting up every morning and going for a lake swim, climbing out of the water, and sitting on the dock wrapped in a big blanker, sitting next to Todd, him drinking a cup of hot coffee, me and a cup of hot chocolate!, and my pooches at my feet.

So, I have been reading a bit. Books on training. Blogs on training. Blogs on racing. Interesting. Ones perspective changes when you can’t train and race. Even though I have no idea if I’ll ever be able to train again. I’ve been working on a training plan. I try to follow one now. Its pretty simple. But it’s a plan. Maybe in a few months it will have real workouts. Workouts where I push myself. Workouts where I do something perfectly. Workouts that in the end, make me smile. A race that leaves me with a smile would be great too. Heck, at this point, if I am able to do a race, it would leave me with a smile. So, for all of you folks out there who have disappointing races, smile! Its not the last race you will have (most likely). And no one else thinks any differently about you because of your race result. Your family, friends. Nope. My family and friends couldn’t give a shit that I’m slow and out of shape. Or that I haven’t done a race in a year. I have a friend who just did her last chemo treatment this past week. My father is living life again after major medical issues this spring. A young world class swimmer just perished in an open water swim race. My injuries are pathetically embarrassing in comparison.

So, life moves on. The sun goes down. The sun comes up. I keep hammering away at my health. I keep following all my friends exploits with enjoyment and inspiration. What a great summer of racing by you all! Friends who I know. Friends who I don’t know (I guess that doesn’t really make you a friend, but just someone I know). Pros. I was inspired again by the Hawaii Ironman. I still have a dream to do one again some day. I don’t know if my body will allow, but maybe. One day. And Xterra Worlds. I hope I can regain my mojo on my mountain bike and go back to that race. Next year would be nice :-)

The kids also want some face time, so here are the obligatory dog photos.

Not even as weird as the TDF podium girl black pantsuits or the polka dot upside umbrella dress

2010-07-12T04:53:00.001-07:00

what we see in rural Indiana on a bike ride is not even as weird as the TDF podium girl black pantsuits or the polka dot upside umbrella dresses.

ok, well, maybe:

um, a meal at the bait barn, I don't think so!

its kind of cool when they don't tear down the real old fashioned stuff:

and I always love the beauty of the farmed fields:

What's been going on?

2010-06-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of nothing going on the past few weeks. Work, family time, rehab, yoga, and a little bike riding.

Last weekend I went to a two hour yoga clinic called hips, hamstrings and heart. It was led by visiting yoga guru, Lisa Richards. She was 5 months pregnant, and gumbier than gumby! Very inspiring to see so many ways that yoga can help open up my hips and hamstrings, which are my two injury prone areas. I really enjoy going to yoga, and how good it makes me feel when I leave.

The past three days Angela and I went to mountain bike camp. We took camping gear and planned to camp two nights between the three day camp. I needed something to make me feel positive about what I can do right now, since I can't do a whole lot. And when we saw that Betterride was doing a camp in Indiana, we signed up. The coach was pro downhiller Andy W. He was awesome! Super studly bike rider and amazingly great coach.

We learned a lot. Lots of drills, which I'm determined to work on regularly so I can master them and be a better rider. I cannot tell you the drills or the things we worked on, because then I'd give away all of my newly learned secrets! All I can say is the camp was great. The camping fun. The weather super hot, heat indexes over 100, buckets of sweat left in the forest, thunderstorms through the night, lots of blood donated to mosquitos, and a dairy queen blizzard three days in a row! SWEET!

Here's Andy, our superstar coach showing us how its done.

Born to Run (ha!)

2010-05-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

I just read 'Born to Run' over the weekend. I know, everyone else read it last year. I’m a little behind the times. I loved the analysis of how people have come to the conclusion that the human body was born to run, or maybe evolved to run. I got so jazzed about running I kept thinking, yeah, I can do an ultra, I can do more marathons! I can! I can! I can! Then Sunday morning I took Daisy to the trails for a hike. Not a run. A hike. Ok, I’ll call it what it was. A walk. A simple walk. That sounds so sad for someone who wants to run. Going up the hills nagged my hamstring, and my hip got irritable, and I got so pissed off at my body not healing. I’ve been consulting with my own personal online PT and she gives me tons of ideas, questions to ask, things to look into. I want to try it all! I’m so impatient for a fix.

So, in the meantime, I ride my bike a little. I go to the pool once a week and kick. Yep, just kick. I’m taking a page from Natalie Coughlin’s play book, where she kicked for almost a year exclusively when her shoulder healed, and she made herself into the best underwater swimmer, she kills everyone off the walls. I’m going to try to improve my walls so I can kill it (the walls, that is) next time I swim a masters meet. Which at this time, may be never! (Stupid shoulder)

So, in my other copious amounts of spare time, I have tried to expand my cooking repertoire. Starting May 28, I’m going to get a weekly delivery of fresh local produce from my local CSA. So excited about that. New veggies will become a part of my weekly menu. So I thought I better start looking for recipes and trying a few new things in the meantime. The website, 101cookbooks.com is awesome, lots of good veggie recipes, and easy ones too! Last night I fixed brussel sprouts. I hated bp’s when I was a kid. When mom made them, I’d have to hold my nose shut and force one down. They were the worst thing I could ever wish to show up on the dinner table. But I thought 20 years is enough time I should give them a try. And I found a simple recipe on that 101cookbooks.com, and I liked them! Holy guacamole! I was shocked. Now I’m all inspired to try more veggies. Can’t wait for my CSA produce to show up!!!

singletrack, two wheels and three friends

2010-05-10T05:17:00.001-07:00

April and May have been bad months (ha, who am I fooling, February and March too!), too many injuries, failed workouts, medical issues for the very best dad in the world. I’m not training right now. No running. No Swimming. But I can ride again.
Saturday was a cold, gray blustery March day, in May. And since I’m not training, I didn’t have to face the misery of the weather, I took a day off! Sunday brought sun, breeze, and 60 degrees. Time to rediscover my love of sports.

Where do I go for this? To the trails. On my mountain bike. With my friends. And you know what. It worked! I cannot run right now. I cannot swim right now. But I can ride. So, ride I wlll. And ride I did!

It was so great to be back on the dirt. I love my mountain bike. Hopping on the bike, I felt happy. The first mile is a long easy climb. You get warmed up, bounce over a few roots, fly down a short swoopy twisty section, sans brakes, and it feels good. And I'm smiling. We chat. Laugh. Bounce along. On occasion, I feel the flow of the trail, and on occasion, I nail a corner, and on occasion, I really flub one up. The skills are hiding somewhere in my brain, so I keep trying to talk them out of my brain and into my body and bike. Sometimes they are there, sometimes totally NOT. We climb up the long Aynes climb, I'm breathing loudly as it steepens past a mile. That was expected as I have done very little for the past month that would give me power up the long climb. I’m relieved when it mellows out a bit, and you get a little swoop downhill through the green fern covered hillside. I try not to be too cautious on the off camber rocky downhill, and have a little success, hit the brakes maybe a little too often, but I’m feeling happy, and enjoying myself like I have not done in months. I clear the three rock gardens at the top of HP and I haven’t done that in a longggggggggg time. More smiles. Even on the newer intermediate trail with lots of rocks, even though I flub up, A LOT, I still smile.
After almost three hours, we are back at the car. I’m tired. But happy. I’m coming back. I’ll be back!

Shit Sam

2010-04-30T05:07:00.000-07:00

When I was walk my dogs in the early morning darkness,I have a lot of time to think. Sometimes I talk out loud to the dogs, sometimes out loud to myself. Sometimes I just think silently.

I wonder if my neighbors heard me if they’d think my dogs names are ‘Shit Sam’,’Damnit Daisy’, and ‘Ahhh Max’, instead of Sam, Daisy and Max. Walking three big dogs is a challenge. They want to go everywhere, twisting their leashes around each other. I’m constantly swearing as I attempt to keep everything moving in a forward direction, and me not trip over any of the tangled mess. And I think dogs have a reserve tank (you know, of pee). They can go outside after a night of sleeping, take a big pee. Then take a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood and still have enough pee to stop and leave a few drops every 30 seconds or so for the whole walk.

I also wondered why do we vote for jobs like coroner. And county treasurer and clerk. Now, I’m not the most political of people, but I do understand voting for positions where political thought might impact decisions that are made for the people. But coroner? Come on! Isn’t the coroner just handling dead bodies? What could a coroner possibly do that needs the taxpayer money to be spent by holding an election for the position, as opposed to people just applying for it like any other job in this world.

Why can’t the lilacs bloom all spring and summer long? It’s such a beautiful smell to only have a for a few weeks a year.

Why do people not understand that it’s disgusting to get in a swimming pool with a ton of perfume on? And I wish my work would ban perfume from the office, just like they have banned smoking.

Why can the body do amazing things like heal an open wound in your skin in just a few days, but take weeks, even months, to heal some internal injuries?

I wonder how many days I can take off from training to heal up my injuries before I start to feel like a non-athlete. And once I feel like a non-athlete, will I think, hey, I kind of like this non-athlete thing!?

hmmm.... I wonder.

Book review: 'Making toast : a family story'

2010-04-28T05:10:00.000-07:00

Making toast : a family story
By Roger Rosenblatt
I heard an interview of Roger Rosenblatt on the PBS newshour a couple months ago. He is a write, and a regular contributor to the Newshour. He was talking about the sudden death of his 38 year old daughter. And how that day changed his life. He and his wife moved in with his son-in-law and three grand children. He wrote this book about the year since they moved in. Its touching. And funny. Stories of his interactions with young grandchildren who call him Boppo (in fact their whole school now calls him Boppo!). He had wanted to be called El Guappo by his grandchildren (he explains why in the book), but they couldn’t pronounce it, Boppo stuck. Interwoven with memories of his daughter. It makes you appreciate the fragility of life, and the need to embrace it.

any book recommendations out there? my stack is dwindling and the holds I have at the library aren't coming in very quickly.

Getting Back on Track

2010-04-27T06:06:00.000-07:00

I’ve got more physical problems right now than I’ve ever had at one time. And they are all self-induced. All results of stupidity. A bum right hip/hamstring/glute that I’ve ignored for years, tried like crazy to fix, while I continued to train (or tried to train), with no success. A bum shoulder, a result of a bike crash, and not being aware of what was going on around me. Allergies, asthma, sinus infection, that I’ve conveniently ignored for too long. And I’ve been feeling sorry for myself for these. But no more. Its not like I lost my home, or a limb or my life or a loved one in an earthquake. Or my home in the mortgage fiasco. I’m not struggling to support myself or my family. I’ve got it pretty darn good. Training related setbacks are not worthy of self-pity when I look at the big-picture.

So, I’ve had enough moping. I’ve wasted enough time whining over injuries, and trying to train without trying to heal first. And you can only do that for so long before you self-implode. If you don’t listen to the warning signs your body sends you, eventually it will force a shutdown. That’s where I am right now. And I have finally come to terms with this setback. Because that’s all it really is. And I will make the best of it.

I’ve actually got a plan!

I’m making myself take off 4 weeks from running, even if things begin to feel better before then. If at 4 weeks, I’m still having problems, then 4 more weeks off. I know eventually the injuries will heal.

I’m also taking 4 weeks off from swimming. Swimming comes back relatively quickly for me, so I’m not at all worried about losing too much swimming fitness in four weeks. I want the shoulder to be good as new , or as good as a shoulder with 40+years of swimming can be. I’ve got a new age group coming up and state records to shoot for!

I’m taking off at least one week from riding. After one week, I’ll evaluate the hip/glute/hamstring. I’ll try an easy spin, and if that yields no problems, I’ll stay on the bike with regularity, and the bike will be my fitness tool during the layoff from swimming and running. If the bike is problematic for the hip/glute/hamstring, then I’ll stay off it until it’s not a problem.

I’m also going to dive into some physical therapy, massages, and I’ll examine my TRX and core program, and figure out what will help, what might hurt(and avoid those), and, the hardest part, try to eat super healthy. For the past 5 days, I’ve already swapped out my morning diet coke with black tea and honey, good for the sinuses. I generally eat pretty healthy, well balanced throughout the day. I should probably cut out a few of the chocolates though, especially since I’m going to be cutting back the workload this week.

I’ve also got an appointment with a new doctor. I’ve always only ever gone to my nurse practitioner, who is great, but she is really just ob/gyn, plus a little extra. The new doc was recommended to me by a friend who is also a doctor, and she is in family practice, with a background in sports care. So, I’m going to get a physical, blood work, whatever they can do, just to see if there are any things that are a little (or a lot) off, that I need to take care of.

And then when I’m all healed up, I’m going to start back very slowly and carefully! I may not race again in 2010. Maybe I will. But I won’t rush things. Or I’ll be right back where I am today. And that’s a pretty ugly thought. I really do love to train and race. And I do miss it right now. But I don’t miss the frustration of trying to train when my body is not well. So, the thought that, in some time, I’ll get healthy, is enough to motivate me to stick to my plan. I want to run again. I want to run fast. Well, as fast as my short swimmer legs will run.

I’ll also spend time with my dad as he recovers from surgery next week. And I’ll try to keep their lawn under control during this spring weather. And I’m pretty sure my mom would appreciate it if I spent mother’s day with her instead of my bike. And Todd and the pups will get some extra attention (I bet they will get tired of me and my pent up energy). And I think I have a fall vacation to plan… (destination top secret)!

I'll miss my first race, Kansas 70.3. But I'm enjoying watching all my old and new friends race and seeing how awesome you are all doing! Keep it up! Keep inspiring me!

Happy Tiramisu to Me

2010-04-26T06:53:00.001-07:00

Tiramisu is my all time favorite dessert. Yesterday was our 18th anniversary, and I selected the dinner location for who makes my favorite version of tiramisu.

(I thought I should have a positive happy post for a change of pace)

How old do you have to be before you stop having dumbass attacks?

2010-04-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

Well, at least 43. I’ve been feeling pretty crummy for the past month. I’ve been writing it off to spring allergies, they have been particularly bad here in Btown. The early warm weather, very little rain (it keeps going around us), and lots of wind has kept the allergy practice here in town hopping. In 2001 I was diagnosed with allergies and asthma (exacerbated by exercise). I tried a few meds then, but nothing really seemed to help much, and I was not very motivated to train hard, and I was not racing then, so I kind of gave up on trying to manage my symptoms. Doesn't everyone have allergies and asthma, I thought?

Fast forward 5 years. I bought a mountain bike, and fell in love with it. I started to ride a lot, and then I raced an xterra, was hooked. Raced more xterra, and thought I should race on the road too since I couldn’t always ride the trails. After a couple of years of just training with little direction and not a huge amount of intensity (which meant I didn’t have to manage the asthma much) I hired a coach. And she started to have me run fast (gasp!). And ride fast (gasp!). And, shit, she even made me swim fast!(triple gasp). SO for a year I tried my best, I did what I could, had some decent results. Still managing my breathing (or lack of it) just by monitoring my effort.

Now, April 2010, and for a month I’ve been struggling with my workouts. I thought it was just me losing my mojo. I’d occasionally have an OK workout but no great workouts. Last Friday I was doing a run around the stadium, and I hit a new max HR – I haven’t seen that number since I was in my 20’s. But the bad thing was that with that HR, on a flat half mile course, my pace was slow. And my oxygen intake was barely existent. And I had this thick sticky mucus that I couldn’t even spit out of my mouth – I had to pull it out with my fingers. I pretty much just wanted to die. I felt like I was, and I said that when I passed a woman I know who was running there too. After the run, she asked me if I was ok , because she said I sounded awful when I went past her, and that I should see a doctor for the asthma. Hmm, I thought, yeah, she is right, what have I been waiting for.

SO, finally after a month of being a dumbass and feeling like crap, I saw a doctor!
I had an appointment this morning with an asthma/allergy doc. Turns out I have a sinus infection! Which I’m going to hopefully clear up with antibiotics. And I’m allergic to all the outdoor allergens (pollen, grass, mold), and dander (but I’m not getting rid of my pups!). I’m going to start taking an allergy med. (thankfully, I am NOT allergic to dairy! Oh that would be so sad to be allergic to dairy). I also have asthma, that is made worse when I exercise. So now I will try an inhaler. And As noted above, I have the most disgusting thick mucus/post nasal drip in my throat. So, new nasal spray to try to take care of that.

Oh yeah, I also have to carry an epi-pen now! We’ll see how that goes. Last fall I was running on a trail alone. I was stung by a small swarm of bees. My arms and legs swelled and itched and tingles, I couldn’t breathe. I was 20 minutes from my car. I ran scared for my life back to it. Somehow managed to get home, and took prednisone and benadryl that I had for one of the dogs. Now who knows what reaction I might have to my next sting, so as a precaution I’m supposed to carry that. It will take some getting used to.

So, now I feel better, not physically, yet. But mentally. I have a plan of action to get myself better. I hope it works. I have to be an ironman this August!

Speaking of ironman, for the past week I’ve been wondering what I’m going to wear for the swim at IM Louisville, because that new WTC rule is making swim skins illegal. And not that I want to wear a swim skin, but I am a swimmer. And as a swimmer, when coach wanted to make us really hurt, we’d wear a drag suit – that is, a suit with pockets to catch the water and drag your ass down. So, for IM, my favorite Desoto 400mile shorts have a pocket right in the center of the back, and as a swimmer, I will NOT race in a drag suit. SO, I thought I’d be buying an old school speedo knee length suit to just wear over to cover up the pocket (plus pockets in the top), but I re-read the rule, and it doesn’t take effect until Sept 1. Lou is on Aug 29! I’m safe.

Now, come on drugs, do your thing and make me better!

Mojo

2010-04-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

It’s easy to lose your mojo. Shit happens and before you know it, its gone. In Arizona (10 days ago) I had 3 really good solid days of training. I did have a bike crash (which was a bit detrimental to my shoulder, and I have been in denial about). Then I flew home in the big metal germ box and got sick. And then I didn’t give myself enough time to recover from the long AZ training, the bike crash and the sickness. Since I’ve been back I have had one fair workout, then 2 bad ones. Then repeat. Finally this morning I admitted I was in need of more recovery. I’m tired of being tired. Tired of coming up short in workouts. Tired of feeling like a complete slacker. Tired of dreading each workout because I feel like crap and am afraid it’s going to be another failure.

So, the shoulder thing. When I crashed I landed on my shoulder first. I was quite sure nothing was broken, but it wasn’t right. Its been uncomfortable, not painful, to lift it up (sideways, front, back). That’s a small problem for swimming. I could swim, I was favoring the shoulder, trying not to put a lot of pressure into it. Then this morning I got out of bed, sat down on the toilet, and snap, crackle, pop! The shoulder was back where it was supposed to be! Hallelujah! Its almost like I had a mild dislocation, if that’s possible, and now I can lift the arm like normal. I am sooooooooo happy. I think I got like 30% of my mojo back just by sitting down (on the toilet!). That’s pretty darn awesome.

Now, I just need some snap, crackle and pop to come back to my legs. And my energy levels.

A few lessons learned:
->try not to crash my bike
->when I am sick (that was the first time I've been sick in over a decade), make sure I'm recovered from it before I attempt workouts
->pay more attention to what your body is telling you than what you let your mind tell you (I can't let what other people post on facebook and blogs make me feel inadequate about how I'm training or not training)

Then I can say my mojo is back.

What I learned in Tucson…

2010-03-29T12:26:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I summarized what we did each day in Tucson. Today is what I learned from the experience. Here goes:

Climbing for 25 miles straight is amazing, and humbling, and I’m looking forward to trying it again someday. I learned that the next time I should start out a little more conservatively, and finish stronger. You have to ride your own ride. It’s good to push yourself with stronger riders, but you also have to learn your own limit. It’s inspiring to ride with other amazingly strong age group athletes, who have families and jobs and lives and still find time to train hard and have amazing results.

Descending for 25 miles is AWESOME! Mountain biking has really helped me to have less fear on descents. I just loved letting loose and bombing down the mountain as fast as I could.

Cacti don’t compare to evergreen and deciduous trees. The desert was a nice change of pace for a few days, but I could not live there. I need my trees, grass, flowers. Green is good!

Tucson is the most cycling friendly city I’ve ever been to. Bike lanes everywhere, and when the road narrows too much you immediately see ‘Share the Road with cyclists’ signs. Drivers are very tolerant of bike riders out there. Drivers elsewhere should take notice. Also, the range of cyclists out there is incredible. Pros and your average Joe. And I mean average. Nearing the bottom of the Mt Lemmon descent I passed a guy who was going up, he was on a hybrid, with a basket on front, wearing a button down shirt that was unbuttoned and flapping in the wind.

Good recovery habits can get you through more training than you thought you could do – compression, recovery drink (chocolate milk is my recovery drink choice), ice baths, stretching. I did a pretty good job on this front after each day.

Sunshine and bright blue skies do wonders for your attitude. You just feel positive and happy and energized.

What I learned from the other campers…
Mary… little Mary is a tiny powerhouse! Damn, that girl can swim and ride and run. She packs a wallop in her tiny frame, and can put the hurts to you. She is the epitome of the saying ‘big things can come in tiny packages’. She is completely motivated and committed to get the absolute most out of her body, and I think Kona is in her future this year. Mary, Coeur d’Alene is yours!

Ange… the other powerhouse from the Northeast. Mary and Ange grew up together in Maine. I guess Maine breeds tough chicks! When you look at Ange, you just see strength eeking out of every muscle, and that smile too. Ange showed me that even swimmers can be super runners and cyclists. Thanks Ange – I’ll be thinking of that whenever I run.

Melissa… the third tough Northeasterner. She is from Boston, loved her accent. She is 46 (I think) and runs like she is half her age. I know Mel will never forget her cycling shoes again ;-) And she proves that age is no limit!

Kari… is from the southeast. Another super runner. Kari facebooked me this morning and said she is going to think ‘swim like Cheryl’ in the future. And I am going to think ‘run like Kari’. Kari also faced her fear of descending. She was so nervous, but she went down Lemmon confidently, and I know she will be screaming down descents in the near future. Her training partners will be shocked when they see her new found skill. She made me realize that I should take my biggest fear and face it. And what is my biggest fear? Pain on the run. Pain in my legs, pain in my lungs, pain in my heart. These swimmer legs can run, I have to face the fear and the pain.

Kate… the kindest person ever. She brought gourmet cupcakes from an awesome bakery in Richmond all the way to camp! And hit the grocery for everyone since she arrived early. Always positive and supportive. She kicked her last years time up Mt Lemmon by a mile. What an improvement! It’s awesome to see how the hard work makes the athlete.

Other than me, everyone else was from Chicagoland area.

Well, except Julia... Julia is from Minnesota. Shit, when I think I have it rough training in the winter, I just look to Julia’s blog for a little motivation. She is a tall wisp of a girl, but don’t let that fool you. She is tough as nails. She rode Mt Lemmon like I should have. Conservatively at the start, and she crushed everyone by the top. She knows how to ride a bike. And she rides outside in Minnesota winters. She is a hard core, no excuses girl. Just like I want to be.

Tracy… picked me up at the airport. I was waiting for my bags and saw this attractive woman running around in work clothes, iphone hanging out of her ear, only to find out we were talking to each other on our phones, standing 10 feet apart. Her physical appearance is deceiving. She is strong, physically, and even more so mentally. She knows what she wants, and she dials in her effort and just keeps on hitting it. Tracy is a never-give-up kind of girl, and she helped me get to the top of Mt Lemmon. Consistency is the name of her game, and I will take that lesson home with me.

Jon… had not been outside on his bike for over a year, but he did the maximum length and number of rides the whole weekend. No matter how much he hurt, he pushed through it. And if anyone ever needed anything, Jon was the one to stop and help. A very upstanding guy! We should all be that way.

Sharon…ever smiling and positive. Sharon is a nurse, mother of 4 , and how she fits all that in, and trains like she does is amazing. She helped me through the run up Sabino Canyon, I am ever grateful. Hopefully someday I can return that kind of favor to a friend or training partner, being the strength to get someone through a rough patch. Thanks Sharon!

Rich… the other guy on the trip. Wow, he can run! Oh yeah, and swim and ride! I love seeing the speedy runners do their thing. So damn impressive.

Jen.. married to Rich, and Jen is one of the nicest gals around. Positive and hard working. She was nervous for the long ride, as we all were, but she put her head down, got it done, and was doing some amazing pulls the last hour. I’ll remember that. At the end of the long ride, just put the head down, and get it done! Jen and Rich spent their anniversary riding 120miles around Tucson. That is impressive! I’m sure I’d have knocked my hubby off his bike a few times after that many hours in the saddle with him nearby.

Last, but not least is my coach, Jen, and her hubby Jerome. They are like Yin and Yang. So opposite, but both so strong and confident, as athletes and people. Jen challenges me day in and day out to give my best, and she puts herself out there as the model of hard work, grit and determination. I hope I can bring the best out in myself this summer the way she does when she trains and races. This weekend was the first time I met Jerome. He was a bike racer at Valpo in college, so I was psyched to ride with a good roadie (even though now he is a triathlete), once a roadie, always a roadie. I learned a lot from him on that 120mile ride. A laid back attitude and sunny disposition , and some food, can keep you going for a long time. The pace was easy for him, but he totally dragged our asses around Tucson and helped us all get in our longest ride of 2010 – and its only March! He totally saved my ride when I crashed, and he fixed my bike (I learned some spoke/wheel truing maintenance out there on the road from him) and he got me going again.

So, Tucson was a challenging 4 days for me. I learned a lot. I’ll try to keep all these lessons in the back of my mind and pull them out when I need them. Someday I’ll go back there and tackle those challenges again!

Thanks Jen and Jerome for a great training camp! and thanks to my fellow campers for a fun 4 days. Hope to see you all again some day.

Opportunity in Tucson

2010-03-28T15:26:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting in the Phoenix airport, waiting to go home. The past 4 days I had an opportunity to train in Tucson. Jen was taking 12 of her athletes to Tucson for a mini-training camp. I was looking forward to a few days off work, a few days in 80 degree sunny skies, and climbing Mt Lemmon on my bike!

Day 1 - Mt Lemmon
Mt Lemmon is a long 25 mile climb. Its actually about 22 miles up, 2 miles down, a mile up and a mile down. From 2500feet to near 9000 feet. Then turn around and do the opposite. In hindsight I started too fast. I never bonked, but about mile 12, I knew the group I was riding with was going faster than I could handle for another 12 miles. My heart rate was z4, and I could not sustain that for another 12 miles. I backed off a bit, and eventually made it to the top. Its pretty exhilerrating to ride uphill for 20+ miles, when you live in Indiana, where the longest climb is just over a mile. But the downhill was even better. Its funny, on the way up, there were times I thought , oh, can't you just slacken up a bit (talking to the slope of the road). But on the way down, it felt too gentle. I only touched the brakes a couple of times, most of the time I was pedaling, even around curves. I bombed it as fast as I could. Near mile 8, a group of 3 went by me, I tried to hop on, but the three of them went by at a faster pace than I was going, and I could not latch on. SO, I soldiered on alone, really enjoying the descent. A little steeper with less pedaling would have been nice, but then the uphill would have been too steep (at least for me and the gearing I had). I believe I did a short run after the bike. It was completely forgettable, very hot , no shade, very miserable.

Day 2 swim and run and maybe ride
The morning started with a swim. In an outdoor pool, the water was a little warm, but just swimming outside in the sunshine made it ok. Then we went to Sabino Canyon for a trail run. This trail basically climbed up a mountain. The plan was for everyone to run up for 60-75minutes, then turn around and go back down. The bottom was steep, I had to resort to some walk/run on the steeps, then as it gradually leveled out a bit (still going up), it was more running. The trail was pretty technical, as far as the footing lots of rocks to screw you up, up high, on the edge of some steep dropoffs. The other girls were like mountain goats, and I did my best to keep my legs moving. At least my hip is doing well, and I never once felt a peep out of it. At the bottom, a mountain stream crosses the road, so we stopped for an ice bath. That felt sooooo good. My calves were really tight from the uphill running. The frigid water was welcome, although my legs still hurt for the rest of the day. The optional bike ride turned into a ride where only Jerome and the 2 guys rode, and all the girls stayed home and relaxed. Day 3 was looming, and those of us with an ironman on the schedule for this summer were anxious about the ride on day 3.

Day 3

Day 3 was a ride for everyone. 6 of us were supposed to do a century, taking in many of the routes locals ride. The route actually mapped out to 107 miles, we made a wrong turn somewhere, and even taking 10 miles off at the end of the ride, we were just shy of 120miles. Just about double my longest ride of 2010! The ride started out for about an hour through Tucson city traffic. Not great, but its a very cycling friendly city, with bike lanes everywhere, and when the bike lanes end, the 'share the road (with cyclists)' signs are everywhere. The topography of the ride was lots of flat, rollers, and one climb of 3 miles. The climb is Gates Pass, and midway up, I was leading, and pulled left to drop back and let Mary and Tracy lead, and Tracy got caught in a rut in the road, and started to go down just as I was next to her. I tried to move left more, but I was too slow. I went down on my left side, then spun a little and smacked the back of my head (in a helmet of course!) on the pavement, crossed the yellow line. Thankfully no cars were coming. I was stunned for a minute but was able to do a quick inventory and I was pretty sure everything was ok. Jerome was off his bike and everyone got me and my bike out of the road, and they got me up and to the side too. I figured I was ok, (although I have to buy a new helmet now since I have a chunk out of it).The helmet probably saved my life, I will never think its ok for anyone to ride without one. Anyways, I stood there again assessing if I was ok, and decided I was ok enough to try to ride. Jerome was truing my rear wheel that wasn't spinning. I learned how to do more bike maintenance by watching him. Tracy was ok from her crash too. I felt bad everyone seemed so worried about me, I guess my fall was a bit more dramatic. Finally time to get back on the bike, and I struggled up the next mile or two, thinking I was just feeling anxious and slow from the crash, but after the descent, I noticed my front brake had been rubbing slightly on one side since the crash. Got that straightened up, and things felt smoother. The ride went on and on and on. We had some really rough stretches of pavement that just beat the crap out of us. We missed one turn, that ultimately added on over 10 miles to the planned route, we weren't aware of the additional miles at the time. Nearing mile 90, Jerome realized we needed to cut out some miles, which we did, and after this ridiculously long gradual climb of many miles (but with a tailwind),we finally turned and headed toward home. Somehow I think we all thought maybe 20 more minutes, but it was more like 20 more miles! And, the terrain was rollers, some steep, and seemed like mountains by this time, even though they were just small hills. The girls were getting pretty cranky, poor Jerome had to put up with us, but he was a great sport, and kept smiling, and got us home. except for one more small hurdle, which was relaly just a funny thing for us all to burst out laughing about since we were so close to home. A few miles before home, a stream had flooded the road, and it was blocked, but there was no way we were taking a detour, it looked shallow, we rode through, and I bogged down in deep sand. No worries, walked the bike out, back in the saddle, and a few miles later were finally back at our little house. What a ride. Almost 120miles. Quite a day for me!

Day4
Energy was low this morning for the swim, and my body was feeling pretty beaten up from my crash. Shoulder very sore and stiff. And my neck was in a lot of pain every time I turned it or lifted it to breathe. Jen was kind, and it was a very mellow swim for me. I think it will take a few days for my body to recover and heal itself, both from the crash, and the miles of training.

So, I'm looking forward to getting home to Todd and my puppies, and I see the weather is supposed to be in the 70's at home in a couple days! That makes me very happy.

Murphy's Law

2010-03-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

I always try to laugh when Murphy decides to show up in my life.

Last night I was at the pool for a nice long set of 100's where I was hoping for a good set. Its spring break here in Btown so not many people around. I typically have a lane to myself, and on very rare occasions I have to split a lane with someone. I got started with the set and made it about halfway when I'm at the wall, breathing hard, goggles on, watching the clock waiting for my now about 10 seconds to rest before I shoved off for the next repeat when I see a lifeguard sort of in my vision and hear this 'bla bla bla bla' but I'm not listening because I'm in the middle of my workout and I don't stop for chit chat in the middle of a set. Five seconds to go and she leans right in my face and says 'well?'. I yell back, I mean, say back to her, 'well what?' impatiently. She points to the guy standing next to her and says he needs somewhere to swim and will I split my lane. I yell, I mean, say, of course, I'm on this side, isn't that how it works. You don't have to ask me, I don't own the lane. She says she is just being polite. I push off mumbling if she was polite she wouldn't have interrupted my workout and made me take an extra 15 seconds rest. Pool etiquette! Jeez, its bad when even the lifeguard violates my rules. I mean the pool rules. ok, so I flip at the 25 and half way down the pool I'm hit by a tidal wave as I swim by this guy, gagging on all the water I unexpectedly ingested, I regroup and pass him again, but not until the wall at the 75 where he is apparently hanging on for dear life. I finish the 100, and glance back his direction and see him just off the wall, arms flailing, swimming vertically, with a sever off camber tilt, another crazy wash of water all around him. Shit. I have all the luck! Somewhere in the next 100 he drifted all the way over to the lane line on my side of the lane and I ran over him. He must not know its ok to open your eyes when you wear goggles! Hello, open your eyes! stay on your side of the lane! stay out of my way! ANd if you can't, find someone your own speed to share a lane with! The only saving grace here was that he swam one 25 for about every 200 yards I swam, spending much time hanging on the wall, or even a lane line. Its just funny, because I'm surely the biggest pool snob, PITA (pain in the ass) swimmer in this town. And nothing bugs me more than people who don't know even simple pool etiquette! I've asked if I could rent a lane for an hour 3 days a week, they say I could, but its a little more than I'm willing to spend. I'm thinking about laminating a sign and putting it at the end of my lane wherever I swim. It would say:
Do not stop me.
Do not talk to me.
Stay on your side of the lane.
If you cannot follow these simple rules, I am going to swim fly down the middle of the lane lap after lap until you move to another lane.

ok, maybe that last sentence won't make it onto the sign, but damn people, just use a little common sense!

So, this past weekend the weather was total shit. cold, rainy, windy. Perfect for riding outside. NOT! The forecast for today-Friday sunny and 60. Saturday and SUnday, rain and mid 40's. Shit again. I checked my work schedule and planned to take this afternoon off so I could do a long ride. And I'd just work from home in the morning. Well, I woke up to find my ATT Uverse service was in the toilet. No tv, no phone, no internet. My job is IT, so internet is a necessity to work from home. Thank you Murphy! I call ATT and we troubleshoot over the phone for 30minutes and they decide an onsite repairmen is required so I schedule for the 8-12 timeblock today. Seriously, I love it that they can only pin it down to a 4 hour time block! As if my time is no more valuable than theirs. Now I have to just use a whole day off. ok, no major deal, I get a lot of time off at my work. I'm expecting a call shortly after 8 with a more specific time when they might arrive, and I'm plowing through work email on my iphone, when I realize its 9am and no call yet. I see an email from ATT and look at it, and it says the service call is for March 17. Today is the 16th! NO! I'm sitting here waiting! I call and they say they can schedule someone from noon-4 now. Knowing I have a long ride planned, I say I need a closer ETA. They can't provide one, so I ask them to ask the repair guy to come late, after 3. They say they can't guarantee that. I tell them I can't guarantee I'll be there before then since they already wasted 2 hours of my time. So, I head out on my bike in glorious sunshine, a little cool, but just wearing knickers a short sleeve jersey and light shirt underneath. I'm riding alone, kind of boring, but I'm happy anyways. 72minutes into the ride my phone rings, its work. I take the call. 5 minutes yapping trying to help someone solve a problem that would normally be my problem to solve, so I can't complain about helping, and I'm back on my way. At 2hrs , ring ring. This time ATT. They are at my house. I tell them I won't be there for 2 more hours. He says he'll try to come back, no guarantee. ok, thanks Murphy! You had 4 hour block, and you came at 5 minutes into the 4 hours! Damnit. What can you do. Ride on I say! 20minutes later, ring ring. WHAT. Not another call. Its my neighbor. My dogs are sitting in my front yard. Apparently Mr ATT decided to open the gate to my fenced in back yard where my dogs were sunning and they got out and he didn't let put them back in, or call me to tell me he let them out. Nice. I'm freaking out, riding my bike, trying to sprint home, I'm 30 minutes from home shortest route. I ask my neighbor if he'd try to just open the side door and see if they will go in the house. He calls me back 5 minutes later and they are inside. ok, I breathe easier, slow down, and think I'll be filing a complaint with ATT! At 3:15 I call Mr ATT and ask him if he thinks he will be able to come, or do I have to call and reschedule. He says he just left my house. HUH? I've been here for more than 30 minutes. Did you just tap lightly on my door? Come on! I have 3 dogs who go crazy when someone comes to the door! ok, he agrees to come back. I wait in the driveway. I put on my friendly face, and am nice, and he fixes my internet, tv and phone, and I bit emy tongue about my dogs since he came back and fixed everything.

why am I such a pushover!?!?

in other important questions of my life... I just cut up a pineapple, and there must be a trick to cutting a pineapple well, and not wasting so much...

Me and the girls MTB'ing???

2010-03-11T16:03:00.000-08:00

I wish we rode like the guys in this video!

Ange, Heather, we've got work to do :-)

All Kinds of Fun

2010-02-28T13:13:00.000-08:00

It was a really good weekend. On Saturday I was heading over to Oxford for a reunion of Miami University womens swimming. I knew 6 of my teammates from the years I swam would be there, so I was looking forward to catching up with these girls from my life 20 years ago. When I swam at Miami in 1985, we swam in a 6 lane 25 yard pool, diving boards in the deep end. It was SMALL! Now the girls get to swim in this fabulous facility:

The MAC conference championship meet was going on, and the reunion was on the last day of the meet. Its so fun that you can get together with the girls you spent so many hours with so many years ago, and despite all the years that go by still have so much to talk about and so much to laugh about. The hours flew by. And I was sad to say goodbye. Here are a few of my now grown up teammates.

Me and the 'older' girls':

Me and the 'younger' girls:

Then a quick visit with my parents who live close to Oxford. I got to have some Graeters double chocolate chip ice cream! I can get this now here in Btown, but I don't get it often. It feels like it should be more of a treat from my childhood home.

Back to Btown, and I eventually had to give in to the inevitable bike ride. I don't know why I procrastinate so when its cold outside. Much of our snow is gone, but the cold lingers, and the lake is still frozen:

To be completely honest, riding in mid 30's is not cold. Here are my dress for cold ride tips:
1) My feet always stay warm with this combination: wool socks, normal cycling shoes, toe covers, then goretex booties. Never a cold toe with that set of layers. 2) The legs and torso are easy, windblock is key. Usually all I need is one base layer and and outer windblocking layer.
3) And thanks to my friend Randi who recommended Manzella gloves, my hands don't get cold anymore. I have a pair on Manzella fleece windblocker gloves that are good to upper 20's. Today (mid 30's, no sum, 5-10mph wind), my hands even sweated occasionally. These gloves are amazing. I wore them on a run test at 5degrees, and had to take them off my hands were too warm. I have a thin pair of Manzella windblocker gloves too, they look thin and useless, but they are good for 40 degree bike rides, honestly I don't know how they work. But they do!
4) A light hat is needed below 40. Balaclava or neck warmer not required until its below 30 degrees.
ok, I have to be honest, I'm usually the last person to get cold.I'm wearing bike short longer into the fall than most people, so your mileage may vary with those tips above. But I swear by them. I NEVER used to ride outside in the winter. Why would anyone want to ride in the cold? Well, Randi has a rule, she will ride if its above 23 and she has converted me. I have ridden on the mtb in the upper teens (more wind blockage from the trees on the trails). I'll ride on the road in the upper 20's or warmer. The key is just learning what your body needs to avoid getting chilled. Once a body part , especially hands or feet, get cold, your ride will be miserable.

Back to the ride, I was riding alone so I planned several out and backs. My hip has been a little wonky lately, so I wanted to stay close enough to home if I had any problems. Plus I was alone and didn't want to be out in east bufu alone for all the crazies to harass me. On my home this morning, I drank 12oz of diet coke. I know its bad for you, but I needed caffeine to assure I'd stay alert for the 3 hr drive. When I got on the bike I spent the entire ride burping all the gas out of me. I could not stop. Burp, drink efs drink, ride, burp again, drink, feel like I have to pee, drink anyways, burp again, fluff too. Oh the joy! With 45 minutes left in the ride, I started to feel like I was bouncing along, like I was riding my suspension mtb. Of course a few more seconds and I realized it was a flat. But it was more of a slow flat, so I tried to put some co2 in it, but that didn't work. ok, change the flat. But first maybe I'll call Todd and have him just come and get me because I'm close enough to the length of the ride I had planned. He didn't answer , which was good, I need to htfu and change the flat and do the ride! Wheel off. Tube and lever and co2 out of saddle bag. Tube out of tire. New tube in, tire back on rim. Co2 in. done! sweet! I even had an audience and moral support from the farm dog where I had stopped:

I was probably stopped for 5 minutes, and now a little cold, especially the hands since I couldn't get the tire changed with gloves on. I was thinking I'm too cold, I'm taking the shortest route home. But 10 minutes later, my hands were warm again - you see, those gloves rock! And so I planned to finish the planned ride. again. 10 minutes later, I hear this thump thump thump. wtf! I slow down, still thumping, speed up, still thumping. I think its the road, I pull into a driveway and spin the front wheel slowly and watch as a golf ball size tumor on the side of the wheel appears. hmm. Must have had made a small error and overinflated the tube! oops! I let out some air, the tumor went down a little, but I know the ire is in a bad way. so, for the third time I decide I'll go straight home and will be 10 minutes short of the planned ride time. I was too anxious of having the tire blow out. I did make it home. The tire did not blow out. I was still blowing gas out of my belly when I got home. But I was home. and I had no frostbite. Survived another winter ride! And another flat tire. by myself! so proud of myself for fixing the flat myself and making it home.

A few notes about changing flats from the perspective of someone who does pretty well changing them. I used to only carry co2 in races, I thought it was just environmentally pathetic to use co2 and toss the used canister in the trash instead of using a frame pump. But the bottom line is frame pumps take way too long, and often don't work well anyways. In the cold, time is warmth, so co2 is a must for tire changing in the cold I used to have a co2 inflator that I sort of struggled with. I recently bought a new innovations inflator, Proflate 16 Bike Tire Inflator. It is a guarantee fill. You cannot screw up with this inflator (ok, yes, I did overinflate today, so I guess you can if you are a little careless, but I actually think I may have had a little issue with my tire because I've had a few flats on this tire in the past month so I think its time for a new one, and I'm going to blame the tire, not the inflation). I highly recommend this inflator.

ok, I have no more tips to share! now, who will win Olympic hockey gold???

You can't fake a 200fly

2010-02-14T02:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I swam in a swim meet. Now, I don't go into swim meets anymore expecting PR's, I just know its not reasonable with my age and my training. But I do go expecting to work hard, hope for a good race with someone, and to have a little fun. If Nadine (national champ and record holder and world champ and record holder, and best in any stroke, any distance, any event) is swimming my events, I expect a lesson in how to swim the event. She is heads and shoulders better than me. And there are a few other woman in the area whose specialties are much faster than I am in those events. But in my events, I expect to be contesting for the overall win, and I like to race.

So, first up was the 200IM. Hands down, my favorite event. Last year at this meet, my goggles taught me a lesson, and at the 200 I threw them off. And I NEVER get to practice diving in at the pools, O this Wednesday I was able to do a few dives in the diving well at HPER. I took 3 pair of goggles and 2 caps, was going to try combinations of goggles, and one and 2 caps (one on top, one under). But the first one, I tightened the goggles to the point where I thought my eyeballs might pop out of their sockets, and they stayed on! YAY! So, in wamrup I hit the blocks, and did a few 25's and the goggles held tight. One less thing to worry about in the races. SO, the 200IM had no cpmpetition, the nearest girl was 25 seconds behind, so I tried to push myself. I hit breaststroke, which is by far my worst stroke, and well, let's just say that running, cycling, lifting for running and cycling, and swim training for tris does nothing for the leg strength on the breaststroke kick. ANd breaststroke is all about a strong kick. SO I floated through that 50 and tried to sprint home with whatever was left in my spastic arms and legs. time 2:26.

Out of the competition pool, into the warm down pool and I swam easy through the 50fly and 100 breast, and then I was up again in the 200back. Backstroke was my event as an age group swimmer, so I don't like to dog this event, even if I was a little tired, and there was again no competition. The lactic acid was burning midway, and in my mind I had to get myself back to this race because I immediately started thinking if you feel tired at this point in the 200back, how do you think you will feel in the 200fly! So, I soldiered on and had a decent time, another overall win, and now I had a good hour break before the dreaded 200 fly. time 2:23.

I cooled down/warmed up for a good 20 minutes until my legs felt decent. And put on layers of clothes and socks and shoes to stay warm until the 200fly. Now, you can't fake a 200fly. And honestly, swimming 3 hours a week is not really anyway to prepare for a 200fly. 100fly, no problem, but 200fly is painful, and when you hear people say the piano dropped, when its on a 200fly, you literally cannot get your arms out of the water. I'm not really sure what possessed me to enter this since I'm not really ready for it, but I guess I felt like I needed to push myself in something that made me really uncomfortable and anxious. One other woman was swimming the 200fly, and she actually swims at IU too, but I don't train with her. She swims on the masters team, I think she swims 7 days a week, 365 days a year. She is a good flyer and distance freestyler. She walks out to the blocks and she is wearing one of the high tech lazers! WTF!! I was cracking up (for one I thought they were not legal anymore) and secondly, this is just a rinky dink little masters meet. ANyways, my goal was to try to go out easy and just try to stay even with her. If I went out liek my normal sprinter self, I'd pay big time. Every turn we looked at each other, and at the 100 I thought ok, this is not too terrible, you're doing ok, pace is ok, stroke is holding up ok. But at the 125 turn I only kicked 4 kicks and started to feel some weakness in the arms. Try not to think about it, auto pilot. At the 150 turn we were still even, and mid way down that lap the piano was starting to fall, and all I thought was 'oh shit, this is really going to hurt'. Off the wall, I tried to kick but4 kicks again was all I had and every stroke got shorter and shorter and she just pulled away. I honestly thought I was either going to be dq'ed because I'd have to swim freestyle, or I'd just sink to the bottom because I was too embarassed to cheat to save my life. My normal stroke count is 9-10 on fly, that last 25 I took 19! yes 19! oh my, it was excruciating! Somehow I made it, the gal next to me put 5 seconds on me in one 25! I flopped out of the pool, flopped over into the diving well and flopped some more until I could swim again and pondered what the last even was going to feel like. time 2:28 (ouch)

The 100IM was next, I LOVE this event, but warming down I thought maybe I'd just bag it. But I like it, and its just a 100, and its just so darn fun. Suck it up princess and just do it. I was next to a couple of 20 year olds and I didn't know them but thought they might be good spinters. For some reason I couldn't see a thing the whole race, and I just put my head down and turned the arms over and kicked as hard as I could. It was a decent swim, and I hit the wall first. Not bad.

So, no PR's this meet, unless I want to start tracking PR's per age! I like that idea. Its a good idea. That way you get a PR every year.

I don't know if there will be any more swim meets this year, schedules just aren't really falling into place. But who knows. I still would like to swim my 100's. Heck maybe I should swim a distance free event too. You know, a 200free or something ;-)

canine face time

2010-02-09T16:48:00.000-08:00

superbowl time

a friendly kiss

looking cute

a hidden smile

she hates to have her photo taken

play time! (yes, that's our Christmas tree on the deck, root ball and all - waiting for ground thaw to be planted)

these two hated each other when Max joined the family

Top 10 Reasons to Train in the WInter

2010-02-02T16:47:00.000-08:00

David Letterman does his top 10 list, I thought I'd do one too.

Here are my top 10 reasons for training in the winter:

10) keep the winter blubber gain to a minimum

9) going to the pool is like a mini-tropical vacation several times a week - its 80 degrees in there!

8) get to wear all that winter gear that I've sunk so much money into over the years

7) get to test the not so successful fueling strategy of go long with nothing but a few sips of water, because your water bottles and camelbacks freeze and you can't manhandle the food out of your pockets with heavily gloved hands, and you can't stop to eat because you start to freeze when you stop

6) don't have to beg your coach to do sprinting and IM in the pool, since tri season is a long way off yet

5) taking on the winter potholes and road conditions is a good test of your reflexes, and certain to give you opportunity to change a flat or two, and you can never have enough practice at that

4) when the roads are slippery, its a valid excuse to slow down on the run, and no, I don't own a dreadmill, so its a valid excuse for me!

3) I love TRX ,and I get to do that in the warmth of my house. And when it warms up I can even take it outside in my backyard and fling it over a tree branch and enjoy the outdoors while I torture myself.

2) SHORT COURSE YARDS!

1) you can truly consider yourself a badass if you ride outside when the temperatures are below 25 degrees! And maybe a dumbass too ;-)

Haiti Relief... read this if you live in Bloomington

2010-02-01T05:13:00.000-08:00

IU is collecting material for a container to be shipped to Haiti. Specifics are below:

What: "Cram the Container!" Hoosier Haiti Relief
When: Now through Feb. 13
Special collections dates: Feb. 10, 2-7 p.m. (focus on IU community) and Feb. 13, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. (focus on larger community), South Concourse of Memorial Football Stadium. Collected items can be delivered to the container. The Feb. 10 men's basketball game also will focus on collecting for the relief effort.

Organizers of an Indiana University Haiti relief effort say the response from the IU and Bloomington communities already has been strong. As fundraising efforts continue , the focus has shifted to a material aid drive, encouraging donors to help "Cram the Container!" a 1,280-cubic-foot container provided by the university.

The cargo container, once full, will be shipped to the Dominican Republic, where the contents will be distributed to relief efforts on the ground in Haiti. The shipping logistics will be facilitated by Charles Beeker, director of the Office of Underwater Science in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation and an affiliated researcher of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS).

Beeker's experience and contacts with the Dominican Republic government and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will assure effective distribution of the items. The container will be trucked to Miami, and shipped to Haiti. The Dominican Republic will expedite entry of the items through customs, and USAID will coordinate delivery of items by truck and helicopter, in collaboration with other relief agencies.

CLACS, which has been serving as a collections site for relief materials since news of the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake, will now help coordinate the collection for the cargo container, said Bradley A.U. Levinson, director of the center.

The following items sought for donation are listed in order of priority and groups are "strongly encouraged" to focus collections and fundraising on these. Levinson said donated boxes of goods should be carefully inventoried, with the inventory clearly marked on the outside of each box. Different categories of supplies should be packaged separately.

"We urge the community to make donations count," Levinson said. "Please don't send unwanted, damaged or badly worn items."

Disaster relief and recovery:

* Power (solar, generators)
* Temporary shelter, including tents, cots, stakes, mosquito nets, duffle bags
* Solar powered flashlights
* Ropes, bungee cords, zip ties
* Large water containers for storing, transporting, dispensing
* Plastic sheeting/tarps
* Batteries, flashlights
* Folding and camping chairs and tables
* Sleeping bags, sleeping pads/ air mattresses, foot pumps for air mattresses, blankets
* Sunshades and hats
* Cooking items, such as pots, pans, utensils, propane stoves (no gas), can openers, fire starters, paper plates/bowls/cups, plastic utensils
* Small fishing kits
* Extension cords and worklights/spotlights
* Hygienic and toiletry kit items
* Pocket knives, hand saws, multi-purpose tools, hammers, wrenches, pliers, miscellaneous tools, shovels, trowels, scissors, tweezers, duct tape
* Compasses, work gloves, clothes lines, clothes pins
* Sewing kits, first aid kits, bug spray, sunscreen, soaps, light sticks, matches, lighters, ziploc bags, aluminum foil, garbage bags
* Water purification supplies or equipment
* High-nutrition non-perishable food, including canned food
* Please note: No clothing. No cookies, candies or other low-nutrition foods. Please pack food items separately from all other items. Canned items will also be lowest priority for now.
* Medical supplies: Antibiotics, antibacterial liquid soaps, pediatric formulations, analgesics, wound care, bandages, needles and surgery threads, IVs, asthma medicine and tents, orthopedic.
* Please note: No small quantities of medical supplies, unused personal medications or expired products.

If organizers successfully fill the container and receive too many items, priority will be established and the overflow will be stored for shipment to Haiti in late spring or early summer.

The final loading of the container will occur on Feb. 10 and Feb. 13 at the South Concourse of Memorial Stadium, accessible from 17th Street, Gate 5. Organizations that are collecting items are encouraged to bring their supplies here on the two special loading dates.

If organizations would like to help staff the special drop off sites, the relief effort is looking for volunteers to help from 2-4 p.m. and from 4-7 p.m. on Feb. 10. On Feb. 13, volunteers are needed to help from 9-11 a.m., 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 1-4 p.m. Organizations or individuals interested in staffing these shifts should write to clacs@indiana.edu.

Disaster stats, according to media reports:

* 9 million: Population of Haiti
* 3 million: Estimated number of people affected by the quake
* 1 million: Estimated number of displaced people
* 800,000 to 1 million: People who need temporary shelter
* 235,000: People who have left Port-au-Prince using free transportation provided by the government. The number who left by private means is undetermined.
* At least 50: Aftershocks of magnitude 4.5 or higher that have hit Haiti since the Jan. 12 quake

For more information, contact CLACS at 812-855-9097 or clacs@indiana.edu. More information about IU relief efforts can be found at http://www.indiana.edu/~haiti/.

For information about IUPUI's response to the disaster, see http://international.iupui.edu/haiti/.

A little walk down memory lane

2010-01-29T05:30:00.001-08:00

My parents are in the process of buying a house here in Btown. Last night my dad came over to go to the house inspection this morning. He brought a few things from their current house, one was a little book that recorded my school days. And one was a scrapbook from my days as a young swimmer.

The school days book was so funny. Each year from kindergarten through high school had a page where you recorded things like my teacher, my friends names, my favorite things, and a pocket to store report cards, photos and other miscellaneous items. I was cracking up looking at the grade school photos. In the first grade class photo, I was sitting there with a very pouty look on my face. It looks just like my niece Emi when she does the pouty face! I LOVED seeing my awesome hairstyles change as I grew up. Talk about scary! Once I hit 5th grade and cut off the long hair and tried to do the flip from the 70’s, I just looked like such a dork. Todd was laughing at me in one of my soccer pictures. He found it hard to believe I was a soccer player, and my dad chimed in that I was a great player, super fast. Ok, he may be a LITTLE biased, but somehow back then I did run fast. Much easier to run fast as a kid playing games than as an adult who spent the majority of her formative years in a pool instead of on terra firma. We got lots of chuckles out of the grade reports, and I even came across my acceptance letter for Indiana University, which I did not end up going to, but have now worked at for the past 18 years. Small world.

The swimming scrapbook was even better. I had actually been wondering where these two books were, and was hoping to find them as my parents packed up for the move. My favorite article I’ve ever had written about me was by my grandpa. He worked for Procter&Gamble, and they had a monthly magazine that went to all the employees. One month he brought it home and there was a picture of me and my mom and dad and brother, with me holding a little board that held all the ribbons I had won – all 10 of them! Ha. The title of the article was ‘Swimming’s a cinch for 7 year old Cheryl Lubeck’. I remembered the title even before I saw it last night, and I had not seen it for 20 years. It talks about my swimming prowess as a towering 4ft tall, maybe 50 pound, 7 year old (hee hee), and finishes with a quote of my dad saying ‘my favorite mode of transportation is handstands and cartwheels’. I love that article. Everything that was so great about my childhood. Friends, swimming and gymnastics. I could spend all my days with my friends at the pool and flipping back and forth around the back yard. There were lots of other newspaper clippings from almost every meet I ever swam in, funny to look back and see the times, and see photos from the meets. Everyone looked so young. Well, we were young! And boy, I got to swim with some fast girls (and boys). One photo of myself that caught my attention was of me in a swimsuit walking on the pool deck my sophomore year of high school at the state meet. And I cannot believe how small and scrawny I was! Ok, I had not even hit puberty even then, but still. I had these skinny legs that are a far cry from my now post puberty weight lifting, bike riding legs. Seeing that photo, I can’t believe I could swim like I did with that pathetic little body.

I’m happy my parents saved these things from my childhood. I’ll keep these forever and look back when I need some good laughs and memories.

TRX!!!!!

2010-01-19T05:43:00.000-08:00

TRX Suspension Training

For Christmas, I bought myself the TRX home system to add more variety to my strength/core/balance routine that I do a couple times a week. And I have to say, I absolutely LOVE TRX! It is so challenging. You can do hundreds of different exercises. You can build strength. Felxibility. Balance. It does anything and everything you can ask of it. And you can make it easy or hard just by adjusting your angle or distance from the anchor, or by increasing or descreasing the size of your base for an exercise.

When I watched the dvd that came with the bundle, one of the trainers they had demoing exercises is a woman named Bianca. And Bianca is fit! And strong! And the things should could do put me to shame! And I recently purchased Jessi Stensland’s 30 minute multisport video, and it has awesome exercises in it. And She is also super fit, and strong, and I can’t believe some of the things these women can do! I am so inspired to become a better, stronger, more balanced athlete!

Atomic crunches watch out!

Here is one version of the atomic crunch - you can see how difficult it is:

Jessi does an even harder version!

Getting Older

2010-01-18T14:16:00.000-08:00

This year is my last year in 40-44 age group. In general, I don't feel old. I feel pretty good for my age. And the 40's have been pretty good to me.

This weekend, since I had today off work, I had 3 longer days of training, and, WOW, am I feeling old right now. I came back from a longer bike ride today, that started out in 'freezing fog' (whatever that is), and when I got home I was just cold and tired. I got off the bike and my neck and shoulders were so sore and tight from the hours on the bike, in the cold, I felt like the hunchback. I downed a large glass of chocolate milk, stretched, and hopped in the hot tub, then compression tights. Then some ibuprofen (I said I was sore!), and a 30minute nap. I stood up, and my quads and calves cramped up, and OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! I grabbed the nearest bag of chips (salt) and hobbled around trying to get rid of the awful feeling in my muscles.

I think I'll get off this computer and stretch some more. And remind myself everything I'll have to do this spring and summer to keep this body ready to kick some ironman training ass for a few more months.

Tragedy in Haiti

2010-01-14T08:28:00.000-08:00

Of course, everyone has seen and heard the news about the horrific earthquake in Haiti.

Why aren’t things like this happening?

1) Drop a few C130’s full of military parajumpers with backpacks of medical supplies, especially Medics, and let them wander around the effected areas and give out care as they can.

2) Why doesn’t the UN have an aircraft sized ship with a water desalination plant on board. They could travel to all the hotspots and deliver water from the ocean as drinkable water. The ship could be equipped with some distribution methods. I’m sure there are some bright minds out there that could come up with some basic methods of distribution that could work in an emergency.

3) Why aren’t some cruise ships that are always in the Caribbean down there handing out food and water?

PS. A few hours after I posted my brilliant questions above, I read that the port is damaged and boats and ships cannot dock, and the airport is full and more planes cannot land. So sad for the Haitian people.

Biology

2010-01-13T11:09:00.001-08:00

Warning: the content of this post might offend you.

When I was a teenager, one of my swim coaches was a very yuppie, proper, kind of guy. He never yelled, he never cursed , never swore. On one out of town trip, we’re on the bus, and one of the boys ripped off the stinkiest fart imaginable. Everyone was yelling and tossing things at him, laughing and covering their noses at the same time. Our coach was not amused, well, I bet inside, he was cracking up. But to us, he stood in front of us, ready to lecture. But it was a surprise when his lecture was not about not farting on the bus. But rather about the fact that we should use a euphemism for the word fart, instead of the word fart itself. He thought we should say fluff, a much kinder, gentler version of the word fart. This cracked us up even more. From then on, it was fluff.

As an adult who runs, bikes and swims, I’ve learned to deal with all kinds of biological functions during workouts.

Last night at the pool, I had a little gas, and I just wanted to fluff a little in the pool, but I kept wondering, if I do, will anyone deck know that those bubbles were coming from my fart, as opposed to just coming from some part of my swim stroke. And since I can’t see myself swim from up on the deck, I don’t know exactly what my bubble trail looks like. So, I held the fart, I mean fluff, until I left the pool. Snot is the second biggest problem in a pool. You really can’t stop it from running out of your nose. Pee is next. For some reason, getting in a pool makes a lot of people have to pee. Often. I fondly remember running into the bathroom for a quick pee break during workouts back in the day. It was the only way to ‘cheat’ a little, but not really cheat!

The bike is interesting. Snot runs most on the bike. I think because you’re usually colder on the bike, at least if you ride outside when its cold. If I could bottle all the snot I blow on bike rides and runs and sell it, I’d be rich! We joke about farting when we ride bikes. We joke about any biological function on bike rides. Randi almost always has to stop within the first 30 minutes for a pit stop. So she sprints ahead, drops trow, and goes where she can. We live where most of our riding is out in the booneys, so potty stops on the side of the road are not uncommon. Farting is also not uncommon. Riding on the trails is always good for jokes, who is riding behind the fartiest person that day? I ate beans for lunch, I better go last, yada yada yada. Plenty of stupid jokes.

Running is the worst for me. The snot runs here too, but I am an expert snot blower. And I’m also an excellent spitter, unless the weather is really cold or really hot, at which time, all the mucus and phlegm in my throat gets all thick and sticky and I spit, and it just sticks to my face. I don’t quite understand that phenomenon. Why is it only when its really cold or really hot when the mucus in my throat is especially annoying? And what is the difference between mucus and phlegm. I know I should look it up, but I don’t feel like it. Farting on the run is pretty common. I mostly run by myself, and I fart at will. When I do, I always glance around in the dark (because its almost always o’dark-thirty when I run). The deep philosophical question comes to mind. If there is no one around to hear the fart, did it really happen? I also have the fart thoughts when I walk my dogs. Whenever one of them farts, I say something like ‘oh Sam you stinky dog, that is so gross’, then I laugh because five minutes later I’m likely to be farting myself! I saved the best, or worst for last. I’m talking about the a$$plosion. I’m sure you’ve all had it. Its without a doubt the worst feeling on a run to feel like you are about to dump at any minute. First you just slow down and think where the nearest bathroom is, and calculate the time to get there. Then the feeling passes. But then its back, and now you have to stop and squeeze the butt cheek muscles tight until the feeling passes. And you get going again, now thinking maybe you might just have to use some poor souls beautiful landscaping as your toilet. Then it really hits, and you stop, squat down and pray that what you just felt in your shorts was just gas, and nothing else. Enough said.

You are supposed to be able to control this stuff by eating low fiber foods, timing your food intake before a workout. But even if you have what you think is a foolproof routine, it is never successful 100% of the time. Sometime your body just wants to remind you that it is in control, and not you.

I’m going to the pool again tonight, and we’ll see who is in control this time!

Drafting

2010-01-06T09:42:00.000-08:00

No, I’m not talking about drafting on the bike. I’m talking about drafting on the swim. I can remember fondly the first time I really discovered the beauty of drafting in a swim. When I was an age group swimmer, once I made it to the top levels in our program, we rarely had more than 3 swimmers per lane. Swimmers 2 and 3 in each lane always left 10 seconds apart, and if there was a 4th, then they got to go 5 seconds. If you were lucky enough to be in a lane of 4, you owed your lane mates a big thank you when you got to go 4th and get a little draft effect. Now, in summer when we swam long course, you never got to go 5 seconds, because 100m was far enough that no one was going to catch you. So, 10 seconds it was. Always. I was a sprinter. Ok, I also did 200’s and the occasional 400im, but generally I’d consider myself a sprinter. But I swam at a program that was fairly high yardage, so even us sprinters, especially those of us who were IM’ers, did a lot of distance. I can remember one summer workout, we were doing a 1000m for time at the end of a long workout. It was definitely not my idea of fun. And I was in a lane with a gal who had won the 1650 at NCAA division I a couple years earlier. She was a distance star. I was not any kind of star. But we all trained hard, and when I left 10 seconds after her, I did what any smart sprinter does, I sprinted the first 100m until I caught her! Then I hung on for dear life. And I hung pretty close to her until the last 100m or so. And it was the fastest 1000m I ever swam in my whole life. I never could have swum that fast for 1000m without blatantly drafting off her. She was not real happy with me. But I never touched her feet, I just got soooo close, and then stuck like glue. Inside I was tickled, but I knew I only went that fast because I was able to get on her feet and stay in her draft.

Now I swim alone. I never get to draft. I always lead my lane, I’m the only one in my lane! So I never get to enjoy that draft. This past weekend I had to get in a swim, and with campus being on break, only the small pool is open, and I knew going at the noon swim would be crowded, but it was when I could go. The lanes were packed in with the IU masters team, 5 and 6 deep. Except the lane with their ‘fast’ people. They numbered only 2. SO of course I had to butt in and hop in their lane. I told them I’d stay out of their way, as I was just warming up and they were on a main set. Even with two people, the second person shoved off right after the leader. I scoffed at her lack of confidence in swimming on her own, she is a good swimmer, why does she have to push off right on his feet? So, I shoved off on my warmup after her, thinking they’d pull away, and they didn’t. ok, so here I am swimming at what I’d consider a pedestrian effort, and I was actually cruising along at a good pace. And it was all thanks to the draft. Man have I missed the draft.

So, to all you swimmers/triathletes out there, keep drafting! Take advantage of it. Its legal. And it can be a huge benefit to you. Learn to draft. But, please, learn to do it without annoying the person you are drafting off. Because if you try to draft off me in a race and hit my legs more than an acceptable number of times, you will be the recipient of an evinrude-motor-like-tsunami of water. I'm just sayin.

BTW, here is an interesting open water swim website.

Another Year, Another Chance to

2010-01-05T07:51:00.000-08:00

1) Adjust my attitude about work. I am so fortunate to have a good, secure job, with flexibility, lots of time off, and I am going to be thankful for that. I know so many people are hurting and needing jobs, and I have got to stop being such a humbug about mine.

2) Learn to love my short hair! Yes, its short, and going shorter. Now I just have to learn how to train and race with it not driving me crazy.

3) Age gracefully. I just bought my first pair of reading glasses, and what do you know, it makes reading easier!

4) Move my parents to Btown! Yes, I’m helping my parents find a house and move to my new hometown. I’ve now lived in Bloomington longer than I’ve lived anywhere else, and I’m hoping to get them here too within the year. I love it here. Except in winter. Someday I’ll move where its warmer. And I’ll take them with me then too.

5) Discover more addicting iphone apps. As sad as it is, I just found hangman (thanks Barb), and it’s a little addicting! I also just discovered that I can listen to the music without headphones! Doh!

6) Volunteer more

7) Read more books. I had a goal of 24 books in 2009, I’m sure I fell short. I didn’t track what I read, but I’m guessing it was more like 15. So, I’ll shoot for 24 again in 2010. One down, I just read ‘The Art of Racing in the Rain’. Nice read. A story told from the point of view of a dog, who is almost human like in his observations of humans and life. Not sure what’s next on the stack, but its sitting at home waiting to be opened up.

8) Take a vacation that is completely self indulgent, that has no training or racing involved (after the training and racing is complete, of course!)

9) Design more Splish suits.

10) Become an ironman!

here’s my latest splish design, a little retro,... its on the way:

Boy loves Puppy

2009-12-28T12:38:00.000-08:00

It was a fun Christmas weekend. Lots of time with family. We have some deer who live in our neighborhood, and since Todd puts tons of birdseed outside in the backyard, they have even taking to jumping over the 5 foot fence to visit the feeders.

This weekend my whole family was at our house, and we actually ate at our dining room table for the first time since we moved into this house! My niece's five year old son is sooooo cute. He is so chatty, and says the cutest things. He LOVES my golden retriever Sam. Sam is so gentle with him. He hugs all over Sam, and Sam just lets him be as close as he wants to be. He asked me if he could take Sam home with him. I could even come visit Sam anytime I want! So cute. If Sam would actually get in a car, he'd probably be happy to spend his life with a little boy who loves him to death.

Yesterday we even got our first real snow of the year - nearly two inches! ha!, take that you northerners :-) Angela and I headed to Brown County this morning to attempt to do a mountain bike ride. Last year, she and I tried a snow ride. It had snowed about 8 inches when we tried, and I spent about 200 yards, not able to pedal more than one revolution without the tires spinning and slipping and me not moving forward. I walked to the first place I could get to the road and gave up. Today I was hopeful that with just two inches I might actually be able to ride. And I did! We had a fun ride. It was slow going at times, ice and snow and a few soft spots that just suck away either your speed or your confidence. But the trail was frozen and ridable, and we had no crashes! Yay!

I came home and ordered one of my new Splish designs!

Pics or it didn't happen!

2009-12-22T15:03:00.000-08:00

One of my goals for the month of December was to do 10 consecutive pullups. Well, I just did it! yay! Here's the proof (yeah, the last rep is pretty ugly):

Pool Snob!

2009-12-13T02:49:00.000-08:00

I live in Bloomington, IN. Home of Indiana University. The place where Doc Counsilman, the greatest swim coach ever, the innovator of modern swimming, coached the likes of Mark Spitz to Olympic gold, world championships, NCAA championships. No place has more swimming history than IU. But you would never know that by the state of age group and masters swimming here. Bloomington is a small town, yet we have bickering parents and coaches who have splintered the age group program into two programs. And they have yet to produce great swimmers, in the tradition this town warrants. And I have lived here for almost 20 years, and am still waiting for the year when I can get excited to go watch an age group or high school meet just to see a new superstar.

Masters swimming is even worse. There is an IU Masters team. They are mostly faculty members at IU. Their workout is over the noon hour, 12-1:30. This is doable for faculty who generally who have very flexible schedules, they just fit things around their class and research schedules. I, however, am just a measley staff member, I work 8-5 generally, and I don't have 2 hours over the noon hour to go swim. And even if I did, I would not choose to swim with the IU Masters team. I like to think I'm a pretty easy going person. I don't really dislike people, and I try hard to find the positive in others. But the members of the IU Masters team are this close knit group of swimmers who have been here forever. They are the most unwelcoming group of people I've ever been around. There have been several days in the summer when I've been able to swim at noon, days off, or weekend, and only one of their swimmers even says hello to me. Not invited to train with them. In fact, (the lanes they swim in are not exclusively for them), several days I've had someone tell me, as I'm about to hop in a lane with them, that I should watch out, because so and so who is heading back is doing a set on some super hard interval and I should try to stay out of their way. I just look at them and play dumb, like I have no idea what they are talking about. Super hard intervals? Whats an interval? They just infuriate me! But that's old hat. Its been like that for 20 years, so I mainly train by myself. It works just fine for me.

My latest bitch about Masters swimming has to do with the local masters swimming committees (LMSC). Each state or area has one that governs its business. What's the business of masters swimming? I can't really tell. I assumed it was to provide an environment for first timers and highly competitive swimmers the opportunities to train and compete. ok, I get it. But the Indiana LMSC does not. IU hosts a Masters meet every winter in February. In Indiana, its the only SCY Masters meet that is held in a decent pool, one that I would consider worthy of swimming in for a meet. Ok, granted, I am a pool snob. I have swum in a lot of fast pools in my lifetime, and I don't want to swim a meet in some crappy 5 lane YMCA pool that is 82 degrees and has no warmup area, and has chlorine levels high enough to kill off the entire h1n1 virus for the rest of eternity. If I'm going to swim in a meet I want to be in a decent pool, one where I will feel like I can swim fast. If I feel like the opportunity to swim fast is there, then I am psyched to swim. SO, here's where all goes wrong. Miami University (my alma mater) also hosts a meet. There pool is newer and even nicer. Its less than 3 hours away, and I would rank it as the best facility that hosts a meet in the OH/IN/KY area. University of Louisville is the third best facility that hosts a masters meet. So, how awesome would it be to get to swim in 3 meets each winter in nice facilities. well, it would be great! But it doesn't happen, because IU and Miami always have their meet on the same day! Come on! There are 8 weekend days in the month of February, and both pools have more than that one day open to host a swim meet, I know, they both post their closings due to Varsity and Age group meets (which of course have priority, and should). SO, last year I emailed the head of the IN and OH LMSC and asked them if they could try to coordinate their schedules in the future so these meets could be on separate days. Its to the benefit of their athletes to give them the best opportunities to swim fast times, in fast pools. You'd think I asked them to give me a million dollars! They both had a million excuses, and the IN pres even said that IN offers lots of great meets in great facilities! If I had been sitting in front of him drinking coffee, I would have spit it all over him as I laughed my ass off. YMCA and little high school pools do not make great facilities!

SO, 2010 rools around, meet dates are posted, and IU and Miami are on the same day again! Feb 13. Sooooooooooooo mad! I emailed USMS and asked them if they could encourage regional LMSC's to communicate and try to coordinate schedules to do something positive for the athletes. I have yet to hear back from them.

So, I keep training. I want some meets where I can go and swim my favorite events. Looks like I have one meet so far this winter :-(

I know, you are thinking, I should just get over my pool snobbish self, and swim anywhere. I wish I could. I cannot. I will not. I am a pool snob. And proud of it!

best winter video

2009-12-10T05:02:00.000-08:00

I'm sure I posted this last year, but its my FAVORITE video, and with the first big snowstorm of the year, I thought it would bring a smile:

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Winter

2009-12-06T02:42:00.000-08:00

Its always tough when winter rolls around. Its tough to find the motivation to go outside in the cold and run, walk the dogs, and hardest of all to ride a bike. Let's face it, its even hard to run outside and get in your car that has been sitting out in the cold day and sit on the cold seat and drive almost all the way home from work before the heater is warm enough to be of use.

But its time to find the positives in winter. Here's my list.

I get to wear hats. Not visors and baseball caps, but real hats. wool hats, crazy hats, warm hats. I love hats. And sometimes I even look better in a hat than not. And it can hide a multitude of hair sins. So, let's just say that hats ROCK!

The 2/3 rule. If 2 of the 3: cold, dark, wet, are met, I get to drive the 3 miles to work instead of ride my bike. That means on the days I swim, I get to drive, because cold and dark are always met. That just leaves two (sometimes three) other days that I pray for some wet stuff to be in the forecast for the day so I can have an excuse to drive. Oh yeah, and by cold, I mean 25 or below.

I've always found it a little difficult to swim in winter, just the thought of getting in water when its single digits outside seems ludicrous. But seriously, its 80 degrees in there - air and water (or close to that). That's like freaking summer! So, when you really look at it, swimming in winter is so much easier than running and riding a bike.

Short course yards. Ok, I get to swim SCY most of the year, but its a guarantee in winter. And long course meters sucks, short course yards rules! why, you may ask?
One word. More turns! ok, that's two words. But more turns, means less swimming. And less swimming is what any retired competitive swimmer strives for. But seriously, less swimming, means your arms fatigue more slowly, so you end your workout stronger, and recover sooner. And, the number reason for loving scy is the 100IM. and for all you triathletes out there, IM does NOT equal Ironman! IM=Individual Medley. Individual Medley has been around much longer than Ironman. And there is nothing more pure fun than 100IM's in a SCY pool. Fast, fun, short. I love the 100IM.

My college swim parka. When I retired, I thought that big obnoxious red parka would never see daylight again. But as a person with dogs who get walked twice a day, every day, regardless of weather, the big obnoxious red park gets a lot of dog walking mileage. Its soooooooooooo warm. Best money ever spent back in college. (parents money, gotta give credit where credit is due).

Snow. It really is pretty. Somehow we often seem to miss the snow line. We get more ice and sleet, which sucks, but we also seem to have more dry road days than not.

Trail running is my favorite outside activity in winter. I love the quiet of the trails, but most of all I love that I get to take Daisy with me, and watch her have the time of her life. Its like she is on a happy vacation every time we go. SO many smells, so many spots to mark, critters to chase (she is a chaser, not a hunter, thankfully, unlike Sam, Max, and Junior, they are chasers/hunters/killers). And winter is when she really thrives on the trails, and she can go forever. The cold temperatures and the creeks that are flowing with water keep her cool and happy.

I am also thankful that four years ago I took up mountain biking. Because if you are going to ride outside in winter, mountain biking is a much better option than road riding. Riding on the open road is very exposed to weather, and very cold. The are much more protected from the wind, because of the hills and the woods. The speeds are slower, but you work just as hard, if not harder, so you can stay warmer.

Fires and roasting marshmallows!

Cashmere.

I spend more time reading books, which always seems like a good thing, at least I think I should read more books than blogs, which I don't always do. In the past three days, I've been spitting my time between three books, Trying to finish Metal Cowboy (short stories about a guy who loves to bike tour - this is very funny) because its due back at the library. Trying to get through the novel, Cutting for Stone, which is a fantastic novel, I' really enjoying, but I'm trying to finish it because another book I've been waiting for at the library is on hold for me until Tuesday. I also read the Pose Method running book yesterday, can't wait to try to work on some of the principles. And I've got a biography of General Tommy Franks that my dad lent to use months ago which I started but put aside to read all of these darn library books that I was waiting for and finally became available.

Neglected house projects get a little more attention in winter. The past few weeks, my non-training weeks, I got started re-painting my dining room, a room, that we never use. But my family is coming here after CHristmas, so I think we will need to use it then. Our house was built in the 50's, and many rooms had paneling.Lots of paneling. And I counted 5 different kinds of paneling. All of it ugly. We removed much of it over the years, but a couple sections remain. The dining room had some paneling in it, half of which the previous owners painted white. But half they left stained wood. Why! Laziness? Well, I finally get to sanding, priming and painting that. And that was a slow laborious task. And now I'm painting the plaster walls. They were a dark red wine color, whuich I like, but this room is small, low ceilings, and very dark. Its becoming a nice bright light color. Should be finished by tonight or next weekend at the latest. YAY! Then on to the next project. The list never ends in this old house.

The canopy of lights in beautiful downtown Bloomington:

So, this past week, the weather really turned to winter. I'm trying to ignore the cold toes, cracked, chapped, bleeding lips, the excessive articles of clothing I have to wear to go outside, and embrace wonderful winter!

Now, if I could only find a small 29er hardtail to buy for my christmas gift to myself, I'd be over the top happy!

Happy winter everyone!

Masters of relaxing

2009-12-01T16:24:00.000-08:00

Most of us triathletes, cyclists, runners, swimmers, find the off-season difficult. Taking consecutive days or weeks of no workouts is a challenging test for some of us. Some of us hang out with our friends.

some of us work on stretching, pilates, yoga, and other such techniques of relaxation.

and, my favorite, the nap!

Well, I did those things for the month of November, and this week it was back to some structure. I like structure. My waistline needs structure.

My main athletic goals for the month of December are:
1) 10 consecutive pullups
2) swim a 200fly without cheating
3) ride the rock sections at BCSP without falling, dabbing or stopping. well, maybe a little dab is ok, but no stopping or falling!

That's it. Should be a piece of cake! Maybe.

life

2009-11-26T08:03:00.001-08:00

I am 43 years old. Today is the first day of my life that I will live without a living grandparent. My 94 year old grandmother passed away at 2am this morning, Thanksgiving day. I'm sad that she is gone, of course, but she lived a fantastic long life. She had a great marriage with my grandpa. But he passed away in 1976, and she lived another 34 years on her own. A full generation of my family was born and raised in those 34 years. Her first great-great granddaughter was born this summer, and she got to meet her. How many people in this world live to see a great-great grandchild? She saw this world change in leaps and bounds. But she was just my grandma. She and I shared a love of ice cream. When I was old enough to drive, I would pick her up and take her to Graeters and we'd sit and eat ice cream. She'd have mocha chocolate chip and I'd have mocha chocolate chip and chocolate chocolate chip. Wd shared a lot of time over ice cream! She outlived every friend she had. And for the last years of her life she was lonely, and ready to be with her already deceased husband and parents and brother. She was in hospice the last few days. Yesterday her pastor came in and talked with her and sang Jesus loves me, and reminded her that she was prepared for this. She responded to his voice and his words, looking at him, moving her arms and hands, I know she heard and understood him. It was her way of saying yes, I am ready. I was with her last evening, and my mom and I were talking to her through her morphine induced fog. She was not grandma anymore. But when I said her brothers name, she swung her face in the direction of my voice. I'm sure she was hearing us the past few days even though she did not respond much to our voices. My mom and her sister said yesterday they did not want her to pass away on thanksgiving day. In my heart, I thought it would be the perfect day for her to leave us. When the phone rang at 2am, I breathed a sigh of relief that she was now in a more peaceful place. And now every thanksgiving, we will remember our grandma, our mother, our great grandmother, our great great grandmother. Of course, we will remmeber her the rest of the year, but now thanksgiving will be a special day for me. Becuase it will be the day my grandma finally found her peace.

love you grandma! rest in peace.

a Sunday Drive and Oreo Cookie Cows!

2009-11-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

Ten years ago, Todd bought this:

Its fast. Its loud. It has 550 horsepower. It gets terrible gas mileage. We get it out maybe once a year. Almost all of 2009 went by without a ride, until he got it out yesterday, blew out the cobwebs, and today, it was Nov 8, 70 degrees, so we took a drive around the countryside this afternoon. It was a fun way to spend a few hours.

The view from my seat:

One of our favorite bike ride climbs:

The dashboard of a 1965 race car:

The highlight of the day was seeing this farm with belted galloway cows. I LOVE cows, think they are the cutest farm animals around, especially baby cows, yeah, I know they are called calfs. Anyways, way back in 1991 or so, my best friend from college got married in Maine. One of her favorite spots in Camden was a farm with belted galloways. She left us a little map at our b&b so we could find some of her favorite spots, and the 'oreo cookie cows' as she liked to call them, were at the top of my list. Every time I see some now, I think of her, and some of our favorite times together. See, aren't they sooooo cute? (you really need to click on one of these photos to see them up close) Who wouldn't love an oreo cookie cow!

The Off-Season starts today - 5 days early.

2009-11-04T04:14:00.000-08:00

After Augusta I was getting a little burnt out, but not having a great run at that race, I asked Jen if I could train for the half marathon in Indy this Saturday. She said yes, and after a week of R&R after Augusta she had me running hard. For 4 weeks I was doing runs I sometimes didn't think I would survive. At the same time I was still fighting with the 'saddle sore' I had gotten back in August (which made it hard for me to be happy getting on the bike, so I eventually stopped that hoping it would go away, and waiting for an appt wiht a dermatologist to come around). Its very hard to get appointments with the dermatologists in Btown, and yesterday I finally had one with the best doc in town. I had a marble sized cyst where my right leg joins my torso, and she cut that thing out! Stitched it up and said come back in 10 days to remove the stitches, do this, that and the other in between, which included no running, bike riding , heavy lifting or bending. ouch! so much for the half mary! And all that training down the drain! Well, not really, I still had some great sessions, and learned that I could suffer a little more than I thought I could. I just don't get to do the last run.

So, my 2 weeks off for my off-season was supposed to start Sunday, instead starts today. When you worry about tearing stitches and getting infection, its easier to take 10 days off, than when you don't have those worries. I'll be ready to go again before 10 days, I'm sure.

a Swimless October

2009-11-01T16:01:00.000-08:00

I went the whole month of October without setting foot in a swimming pool. And I loved every day! But I have an orange and black scary cat Halloween splish, so I decided to go to the pool today just to show off the suit. The plan was 15 minutes. I spent 5 minutes staring at the pool, not wanting to jump into the cold water, but when one of the lifeguards walked by and said 'nice festive suit!', my visit was worth it, and I hopped in.

The first 100 yards were freestyle. I felt drunk. Like I was weaving all over the place. I know I wasn't, but my arms felt like wet limp noodles. I was doing 14 strokes per lap, normal is 12-13, so I knew I was already out of shape. After 100 yards, I had to switch strokes.

Backstroke was next. I kicked off the wall 5, 6,7 fly kicks, and bust through the surface sucking in a large gulp of oxygen. The first few strokes, each shoulder felt funny, click, click, click. I knew then I had to kick far off each wall to protect my shoulders, and I'd only swum 125 yards! ugh . 75 more back, long kicks off the wall, oxygen deprivation, but eventually the shoulders cooperated once again. Kicking off each wall, I was thinking maybe the only race I'll care about this winter is 100back, just devote myself to that one race and see what I can do. Yep, I think that's my plan for masters swimming this year.

Enough backstroke. Time to change to breaststroke. I thought for sure the knees would creak and cry, but they did not. Eight strokes per lap, and I was surprised that I was on a normal stroke count, and nothing hurt. But don't overdo it!

One more 100 freestyle. I was starting to feel a little dizzy. All that back and forth of my eyes from one side to the black line to the other. I've been having this problem these past few years when I swim freestyle in a pool. Never in the lake, I think because I can't see anything, so my eyes don't f@($ with my brain. I've had a long history of motion sickness. I get sick when I ride in the back seat of a car. I get sick if I try to read in a car. I get sick if I am in the front seat of a car, on a curvy road. I get sick on boats. I've even thrown up 3 or 4 times in my regulator when scuba diving. My equilibrium is not normal. I've been getting a little worse as I get older, and experiencing this dizziness and nausea when I swim is definitely disturbing. I think I'm going to try taking a ginseng pill every day and see if that helps. If not, I'll be doing more research for other remedies.

400 yards and I finally stopped at the wall. Man that was a long 400 yards. I threw in a couple 50's drills, still dizzy. Then I thought I should try to swim a 25fly, so I went for a 100IM. Surprisingly the fly felt ok, of course, I was going at a turtle's pace. Back and breast were ok, freestyle, oh man, dizzy again.

a few more 25's, with a stop to loosen the goggle straps, and I called it a day. Climbing out of the pool, thinking I have vertigo! It took a half hour of being outside walking the dogs in the cool air before my head and stomach felt normal again. (And pizza and chocolate cake that I just ate didn't hurt either!)

a day at Parke County

2009-10-20T14:07:00.001-07:00

Nothing much

2009-10-19T08:16:00.001-07:00

October 2009 in Bloomington the temperatures have been 10-20 degrees below normal. Its bee more like December than October. It has sort of bummed me out, because October is my favorite time of the year. But it is what it is. On Saturday morning I ran in 35 degrees wearing shorts. I'm always the last one to start wearing cold weather clothes around here. I think it’s my way of trying to acclimatize to cold weather. I mean, if I dress for winter now, what will I actually do in winter! Today is the start of a 3 day warming trend. After work I’m taking the dogs to the trail for a run, in shorts again, but this time I will probably sweat!

Last week I had a great revelation about running drills. I occasionally do them, but I know I'm not especially adept at them. One day I received a running related email with a link to a video about drills. The coach discussed the drills, while his athletes demonstrated. He talked about how when we were kids we'd run around, jumping, skipping, hopping, forwards, backwards, sideways. All these things taught us balance, strength, flexibility, coordination, and made us stronger runners. But as the years went by and we stopped 'playing', this awareness of our body diminished. Drills are a way to get that feeling back. And when I thought of it, that's the same purpose of drills in swimming, which I have been doing all my life. As a small child I swam, and played, flipped, twisted, dove into the water, and I became so aware of how my body moved in the water, that as I learned proper swim technique, drills only reinforced that I should be aware of how different movements make my body feel and move through the water. Why I never put this together with running, I have no idea. But now that I've had this lightbulb go on, I'm going to work on the running drills with more gusto. And more fun factor. And more body awareness. Because, really, if you watched me run, you’d think I was a fish out of water! On Saturday morning, my workout was on the track. And when I was on my last interval, a young guy hopped on, just floating around the track, came around the front straightaway, and picked up the pace with these long fast gazelle looking strides for 100m, and then shut it down to another floating 300m. I just sort of gawked for a few minutes before I continued on with my cool down. why can’t I run like that?!

This weekend is the xterra World Championships in Maui, and I’m not there  Actually I’m ok with that, because that’s a really freaking hard race! I do want to give that course a try again someday, but I need to do it when I’m ready and able to do all the right training for the 2 months leading up to the race, and that means a lot of time on the worst, sketchiest trails I can find, and lots of hills, and lots of heat. Now that’s a little problem for where I live. Because most of our trails are all really well built trails, very little sketchiness around here, although I guess I can practice hucking myself down the hills at Nebo Ridge and Ferdinand over and over until I can fly down them without brakes! And that heat thing. End of October isn’t exactly hot here (see first paragraph). Oh well. I’ll be cheering for my friends who are there. I hope Bev wins another AG world championship! Go Bev!!!!!!!

Last week I was the lucky recipient of about 40 pounds of honeycrisp apples. My dear friend brought them home from Michigan last weekend for me! Every time I open the refrigerator the fragrance of these apples smacks me in the face. Last night I decided I better start making some apple dishes, so apple crisp was the first (of course, had to go with dessert first!).

On another food note, one of my favorite veggies is sweet potatoes. Sweet potato fries to be exact. I bake them, and they are quite yummy. There are 2 restaurants in Bloomington that fry them. And of course fried always tops baked! One of these places, serves them with a roasted garlic mayo. It is soooooooooo delish. I've tried to make my own roasted garlic mayo. I'm on try number 5. So far, I have not gotten a good match. I asked the cook, and she said she uses a gourmet mayo that costs $38 a jar! hmm, I'll keep trying! Any suggestions, let me know.

colors of fall

2009-10-17T07:13:00.001-07:00

Covered bridge leading to the park:

Lots of big timber to build this structure (took this as I was driving through bridge)

water is warmer than the 34 degree air:

fog in the valleys

starting to see the patchwork quilt look in the hills

Max has settled in nicely yo our home, he sleeps in funny positions

I love October

2009-10-02T05:32:00.000-07:00

October is my favorite month of the year. Fall is beautiful in the Midwest. And let’s not forget Halloween – the BEST holiday of all. It may have something to do with the fact that my birthday is on Halloween! Happy birthday to me!!!!!!. Growing up with a Halloween birthday was awesome. It’s like the entire neighborhood was giving my birthday presents! Ok, they were also giving my friends presents too. But still, I loved sweets then, and I love them still. Chocolate preferably. And not with nuts or other accoutrements mixed into it, just plain old chocolate. Milk chocolate, that is. (because everything is better with a little dairy). Wait, peanut butter with my chocolate is ok too. Just not nuts. Yes, the nuts are the problem for me. They ruin my chocolate.

I’ve had a week of doing pretty much nothing. Except work, eat, sleep, and eat some more. Boy, I have a real hangup with eating. I LOVE it. Especially sweets (see above). I went a little overboard on the Nutella yesterday. I think tomorrow I’ll take the dogs to the trails for a long walk. That way I can burn some major calories, they can burn off some energy. I think it will be a few more weeks before I can get some nice fall pictures. Two building ups from me on campus are two giant ginko trees. They must be over a hundred years old. Beautiful old trees. Ginko leaves are perfect little fan shaped beauties. They burst into a bright gold color before they fall, and then when conditions are right, some years they drop all their leaves in a day or so, its like gold rain. I’ll start watching them next week and hoping for a spectacular show (just wish they weren’t so stinky!)

Have you seen this video? I know, you probably have. I'm a little slow. But if you haven't, you should watch it, its pretty cool.

Augusta 70.3 weekend

2009-09-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

Friday morning I started out on my 12 hour drive to Augusta. Yep, 12 hours. (Next summer, I'm only doing local-ish races, no 4 day weekends). When I was a small girl, 4-5 years old, I lived in Georgia. My only memories are diving off teh steps of the pool and cutting my head open, getting the chicken pox, and coming back to Cincinnati and being made fun of because as a young kid, I picked up a nice southern accent. I've driven through Georgia a few times, and went to a mountain bike camp there a few years ago, and now I was heading back for a 70.3 race. I stopped in Lexington to pick up my mom (my travel companion for the weekend), and off we went. The miles of I-40 east of Asheville are like driving on a roller coaster. I just wanted to throw up my hands and have fun, but I could tell by my mom's grabbing of the door handles, that she wasn't fond of the speed I was taking the curves at. Oh well, you gotta find your thrills somewhere!

We finally arrived, checked in to the hotel, and found an italian restaurant a block away. WHile sitting outside waiting for our table, I had my first tri-geek encounter - man wearing his swim goggles at the restaurant ! LMAO!

Second tri-geek encounter was the next morning at breakfast, 2 woman just back from a swim in the river, come into the restaurant wearing swimsuits and towels. I mean, really, no shirt no service! Have some decency please!

SO, I check in, check my bike in, walk around in the heat a little, and just rested. Another walk the other direction of the hotel looking for Saturday evening food, found little, but a cafe where they lost our order (other than the smoothie I got), and I gave some local girls the gift certificates they gave us as apologies (they would not refund our money). So, I was feeling awfully generous, and hoping for some good pay forward at the race Sunday morning.

Which dawned early for me, up around 4am, I just don't sleep late, and definitely not before a race. Got down to set up transition, and the shuttle bus line back to swim start was so long, I just walked alone, it was only 15 minutes, and I had 2 hours before my start (I was the last wave, 9:06 start time). Went and found my mom, and went and sat around and watched every one else start.

9:06 did finally roll around, and I jumped in the water, and the 1/2knot current was noticeable, you could just hang in the water and float down river. There was a lot of 'sea'-weed in the river, did not like that. The gun went off and a few girls sprinted to my right, no one to my left, and within 30 seconds they were all behind me. I swam in pretty clear water most of the way, had to navigate around a few people in earlier waves, narrowly missed 2 kayaks and a few piers, and somehow managed to find the swim exit, looking into the sun with my clear goggles (it was dark heavy clouds at 7am, so I opted for clear, at 9am the sun came out, of course). It was a ridiculously fast swim with the current pushing us along.

Onto the bike, I was worried about a smallish saddle sore I have been nursing for a couple of weeks, and I have to say that today it is an angry saddle sore (from TN I called the dermatologist today and have an appt tomorrow to get it 'taken care of'). Anyways, I loved the course, lots of gently rolling hills. Being in the last wave, I passed lots of people, and I can't tell you how many awesome men cheered me on, telling me to go get 'em, and looking strong. That goes a long way in helping to push you on. Eventually a few girls in my AG passed me, I kept pushing on, trying to alleviate the saddle sore pressure, and still, after the whole summer on the bike, I still have to work on dialing in my position. At home, when I ride the TT bike, there are so many hills sprinkled in to every ride, that are non-aerobar hills, that I must not ever be able to be aero long enough to notice the leg stiffness/cramps. So there is more homework to be done this winter to get the bike ready for Louisville in 11 months. With 5 miles left, a groups of 4 girls in my AG blew by me, all riding in a little pack, and I laughed and said to myself, shame on them if they have been like all of the ride. I hope they weren't, I don't like to think that my competitors cheat. But since all of them kept forging ahead together, my gut feeling was not 'shame on me' for thinking that. ANyways, they have t live with it, not me! I think I ate and drank well on the bike, 2 bottles of gatorade, 1.5 bottles of water, and a half a gel flask. I was not feeling energy depleted at the end of the bike.

On to the run, and it was hot! Out of t2, I was running with a tall lanky runner girl, and I tried to stay with her. At the first aid station, the water and gatorade was warm, and right then, I knew I'd have to slow down or I'd blow up in this heat. SO I did, and some of the aid stations had ice, some did not. The ones that did, I walked more and more, and on lap 2, I was carrying cups of ice away from those with me just to stay cool. I drank way too much liquid at those iced up aid stations, and had to deep belly breathe to settle the side stitch. I knew it would happen with the amount I was drinking, but I was so hot, I had to drink. I knew I was not prepared to handle the heat. I had been running in the mornings at home, where it was 60 degrees, until the last week and I remembered I better run later. But even then, it wasn't hot enough, or long enough in hot weather to be ready to cope. It was a good lesson for ironman Louisville next summer.

I felt a bit nauseous after the race, and couldn't really eat. I stiffened up fast, and it was a chore to get down to the transition area and gather up my things. As I was walking from our parked care a quarter mile from the transition entrance, another athlete offered me a ride, he said he was going to drive up as far as he could get. I cannot tell you how nice that was. I was having such trouble walking. The groin hurt from the positions I was sitting on the bike for the saddle sore, and the heat of the run was cramping me up. It was a small act of kindness, but one I will remember.

After slowly loading up the car, we set off, aiming for Asheville, NC, 3 hours away. Mom drove, and she made me so nervous! (sorry mom). But I'm sure my champion back seat driving made her even more nervous. I just like to be in control in my car. 45 minutes of sitting in stopped construction, 14 miles before our selected exit, left me longing for pizza. How lucky that dominos delivered to our hotel (and I don't even like Dominos, but at that time, any pizza was top notch!).

I drove the rest of the way home Monday, with a stop to pick up my mom's cat (who was staying at the luxury pet suite), and we crossed the Ohio River back to her house, via the car ferry. I always loved to take the ferry when I was a young girl, and it had been a while. The wind today was super high, 30+mph, and the river was moving. Those guys know how to read that current, and landed the ferry perfectly. I was wondering what it would have been like to do the IM Lou swim in the river today. I think they would have canceled the swim, it was really rough.

Anyways, I'm back home, and before I got home, my work called, they were having database problems, so I was online working from home within 15 minutes of my arrival. Home Sweet Home!

almost there!

2009-09-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

In a few days, I’ll be racing my last tri of the year, Augusta 70.3. It’s been a long season. I’ve never done a race as early as NOLA (first week of April), and that was a half IM, which meant training for it started in very early 2009. And now it is the end of September. I admit, my motivation is waning, so it is good that the season is wrapping up.

That said, it’s been my BEST ever year of training (thanks Jen!). I have NOT been injured (I just knocked on wood), and that is just the cat’s meow as far as I’m concerned! And I’ve backed up good workouts with good workouts. There were times I’d read the workout on the schedule, and I wasn’t sure I was capable of getting it done, but I surprised myself with my effort and with my consistency. Ok, I’ll admit, I did skip a few swim workouts this year (sorry Jen!), but I’m pretty sure I did every other workout on the plan, and most of the time I think I did them pretty much as they were supposed to be done.

I learned a lot this year. The biggest thing was learning to push myself in workouts so I was really suffering (in a good way), and knowing I can survive them. Now I have to go to Augusta and suffer a little, and know it won’t kill me. It just gets me to ice cream that much sooner!

So, off I go. Knowing that my body is ready for a good race. I’m trying to keep the mind in check, so the mind doesn’t blow it for me!

And when I get back… I’ll show my mountain bike some LOVE. And I’ll slowly get Daisy back out on the trails for some walks/runs. And I’ll stay away from the pool for a month! Yes, a whole month. I need the break from the swimming. And after a month I’m sure I’ll have to buy myself a new swimsuit for some inspiration to get back in the pool.

The calendar says mid-September, but…

2009-09-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

The weather says its still summer! And I am loving every day. We have had almost no rain in weeks (I know we need some, but we had a lot all summer, so I’ll take a few dry weeks). And the weather has been downright balmy, above average for September. I wouldn’t be surprised if our average highs for September are higher than the average high was in August.

Last week, I got to swim outside at the lake twice. And WITHOUT a wetsuit! The water temperature must be upper 70’s, it was soooooo pleasant. I’m hoping that means Augusta will be no wetsuit, I mean, how can Georgia water temperatures be lower than Indiana water temperatures? Of course, I'm sure the RD will 'find' a spot in the river where the temperature is low enough to allow wetsuits. All I can say is I'm taking my speedsuit, and if its wetsuit legal, but in what I think is a fudged temperature, I'm wearing the speedsuit, and not a wetsuit! fingers are crossed!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

2009-09-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

My Love-Hate relationship with Training

2009-09-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

I really do love training. Most of the time. But there are just some things, and some times, when I REALLY HATE it.

I do all my swim training by myself. I do 90% of my run training bymyself, and this summer I have done more than 50% of my bike training by myself. I really don't mind training by myself. It provides a lot of time to reflect and be thoughtful. Or just be brain dead. Living in a small university town, so many of the people I know and spend time around have advanced degrees, masters and doctorates, and me with my lowly bachelors, I feel pretty humbled by all the academics around here. So the tendency for me to lean toward the brain dead side of thought when I'm alone is just a reflection of the direction my intellect has taken in the twenty years since I graduated with my little degree. Seriously, swimming, riding, and running alone does provide a lot of time to keep myself company. And you know what, I'm pretty damn boring company for myself! When I swim, I count. Over and Over. You'd think I'm in grade school again trying to learn my math tables. But no. I'm just counting laps, counting strokes, counting seconds until I'll be finished with the set, with the interval, with the lap. And then I move to advanced math, yes, I do occasionally stretch the reaches of my little pea brain and try to do multiplication and division
while I'm swimming. I calculate what percentage of weekly yardage I do now compared to when I was in college or an age grouper, then calculate how much slower I am at a particular interval, or race, and see how the 2 percentages compare. Usually I get so confused though, I have to stop and go back to the simple counting. Its much more mesmerizing. Put me in open water and I still count. I count strokes up to one hundred, and then start over. Then I try to remember how many one hundreds I got to during the whole swim, then figure that in open water I probably average 40 strokes per 50 meters, 80 per 100 meters, so then to make the math easy, I round up and say 100 strokes per 100 meters and guestimate how far I swam, then I multiply it by a factor of 1.1, (or just add on 10% for those of you mathematically challenged folks :-) and have a pretty good approximation of how far I swam. And that's it for what I think about when I swim. Now if that doesn't bore anyone to death, I don't know what will. Now you see why I'm such boring company for myself!

But, wait, you ask, where it the lova/hate in all that math? Thanks for reminding me! There is no love/hate in math. Math is so pure, it just is. (hahahah - only a loser math major would say that). Really, I do love swimming. I have been swimming as long as I can remember! But there are times I do hate it. I hate it when I feel slow, and when I compare myself now to what I could do when I was an uber competitive swimmer. I hate it when I have to do long freestyle sets. And I hate it when I do breaststroke and my knee decides it does not what to come out to play. Or when I do backstroke and my shoulder decides its checking out for the day. But in every swim there is always one point that I love it. When I jump into the water, and push off the bottom in a nice tight streamline and kick half or a whole lap just gliding through the water. Like a fish. That's when I love it. So I feel that every time I swim, and it reminds me why I will always love swimming. There is no feeling like that glide through the water.

This morning I had a bike workout to do. I normally ride in the evenings, but I have to work late tonight, so I get to do an unusual morning ride. Its not getting light here until 7am, and I was chomping at the bit to get going - since I get up at 5am every day! At 7am I rolled out, with a light on the front of my bike, and a red flasher on the back of my jersey. I was on my TT bike. I have a love/hate relationships with bikes. All my bikes! Well, all my 'road' bikes. I only have a love relationship with my mountain bike. It always makes me smile, even when it decides to crash me into a rock or a log or a tree, or just nothing at all. But the road bikes, argh! Why somedays I just want to kick them. All winter I ride my road bike and get all comfy and happy on it, and I ride with the girls, and I'm so happy. Then it gets warmer and I have to start riding the TT bike to be ready to race, and my neck hurts, my shoulders hurt, my crotch hurts (ok that hurts on the road bike too), and I ride by myself a lot so I can do the proper workout, and do it on the TT bike without freaking out other folks on road bikes, or having them laugh at me (because Bloomington is the land of roadies-a-plenty, and I love them!). But then as summer moves along, the TT bike becomes my friend and on the rare occasion that I hop on the road bike, then my shoulders and neck hurt, and I want to be back on the TT bike (I can't believe I'm saying I love the TT bike right now more than the road bike!). I'm so fickle! SO, back and forth I go, happy one day with one bike unhappy with the other, then I flip flop. Anyways, today I was on my TT bike, very happily riding along. Except for my other hate relationship with riding (not bikes specifically). Pavement. I mean, seriously, why can the county I live in not pave roads properly. And why do squirrels like to play kamikaze with me, and almost make me crash just so I don't kill them. And why is it when I'm alone, the only thing my mind does it make bets with myself as to what will hurt first, the girl bits, or the neck and shoulders? But I can't complain too much. Where I live, the riding is absolutely fantastic. And when I do ride with others, they are the BEST riding partners a girl could want!

I should say something about running. Its the toughest for me. My body is designed for swimming , not for running (short legs, long torso). But I keep plugging away.
I know my age is soon to be a limiter. I'm not getting any younger. I don't think of much when I run. Mainly how much it hurts. Except z1 running. I love z1 running. Everything else is hard for me. When I see z4 on the schedule, I weep. But when I hit the trails, I am all smiles. No matter how short or how long, or how hilly, or how wet or how cold or how hot or how painful. The trails are my friend. And when I get to take my best friend (Daisy) to the trail and see how happy she is running around, smelling every tree, branch, rock, peeing on every blade of grass, I forget the pain and I just smile. And run.

ahhh, I wish I was on the trails right now.

IM Louisville 2010

2009-09-04T06:24:00.001-07:00

In a moment of delirium I signed up for IM Louisville 2010! It’s been 10 years since I did an ironman. This time around I will be expecting more from myself.

But for now, I’m going to try to put it out of my mind for 6 months. (is that possible?)

Twitter

2009-09-02T04:25:00.001-07:00

So, I love to read interesting blogs, and always curious as to what my friends will post on facebook, but truly, twitter is where its at! I don't tweet myself, but I follow a lot of famous athletes, and a few other famous folks.

My favorites:
from the world of Triathlon
Conrad Stoltz - he is just one bad ass caveman, and his blog is the BEST ever
Julie Dibens - poor Julie - I hope she doesn't crash anymore this year. I always pull for her if she is racing - gotta stick with the swimmers!
Mel McQuaid
the Multisports.com clan (Heather, Paula, Roch, Huddle)

Swimming:
Dara Torres - she is the UBER twitter! She tweets about anything and everything.
Ryan Lochte - jeah! (if you have to ask, then you don't follow Ryan)
Natalie Coughlin - olympic swimmer, dancing with the stars 'star', cook and gardner

Cycling
Lance - he is the master of twitter. He has turned it into his own PR system. One morning Lance tweets that he is in Glasgow, Scotland, and will be riding at such and such a park at 5pm, and asks people to join him, and over a thousand bike riders show up!
Levi, Hincapie, Phil Ligget, Johan Bruyneel all tweet here and there, between them you can stay up on what's up with cycling

Running
Ryan Hall & Josh Cox tweet about some of their unusual runs out in Mammoth, Josh has frequent give aways via twitter.

Other:
Shaq! - he is the funniest! Love his new show where he challenges other athletes in other sports. He is funny, humble, giving, and an incredible athlete.
Andy Roddick and Serena Williams are frequent and sometimes funny tennis tweeters
Tom Crean - new IU basketball coach is twitter crazy. If you want to know whats going on with IU basketball, follow him. He loves and lives basketball. As do most Hoosiers.

ok, time to go see who's tweeting what!

fall is coming

2009-08-30T07:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been cool (but pleasant), a warning to us that fall is just around the ocrner.

Friday evening I watched the celebration for Ted Kennedy. Really, what an interesting man he was. Full of purpose and passion, adventure, and many talents. A great advocate of public service, and a rock for his family, and the people of his state and this country. I'm 43 years old, and have lived in the midwest all my life, and in all the years I did not hear or read much about this man. Now I wonder why I never read or heard much about him. Because what I heard Friday night, and then again in the bits I saw on Saturday, showed me an incredibly fascinating person. I'm looking forward reading his memoirs. They are due out September 14. I just ordered it. I never buy books. I only get them at the library, too much wasted paper to buy a book, when I can borrow one from the library, but this is one I want to read and have in my house.

Saturday morning came early and a 7am start time for a bike ride. It was just getting light out, and a little foggy, but a beautiful morning. I always set out for a ride hoping to see things that make me smile or ooh and ahh. Usually its wildlife or a beautiful pastoral scene that I ride by. This entire ride passed, and very little wildlife, lots of pleasant countryside, the favorite Bear Wallow climb, that doesn't make me oooh and ahh, rather huff and puff. But it does bring a smile after you climb over a mile (which is a long climb for these parts), and then get a similarly long fun downhill.I finished up my ride with a ride down Shiloh road. Shiloh is my favorite road to ride that is within an hour of home. It loses (or gains, depending on the direction you ride) a few hundred feet in elevation, but over 3 or more miles. Its a roller coaster road through the forest. For miles, you make a tight left turn, then drop down 30 or 40 feet, then a sweeping right turn, a short uphill, a loping left, down, up, right. Over and over. Even going in the uphill direction it doesn't feel like you are going uphill because of all these roller coaster turns and dips. I take every chance I can to ride Shiloh, either direction. At the end of Shiloh I came to a small group of cyclists, then another, then a tandem (I don't really understand the interest in riding a tandem, I could not spend a bike ride staring at the back of someones head), more bikes, then a sag stop. I wasn't aware of an organized ride in the area, I usually hear of them, even if I don't ride in them. I wound my way back home, through campus, packed with new students, old students, thousands of cars parked in lots that have been empty all summer long, and I felt a little claustrophobic, even though I was moving on my bike. I suppose I'll get used to it, as I do every year.

For the first time in the 18 years that we have lived in Bloomington, we have a niece who is starting her freshman year at IU. SHe moved in this week, and her family came down to help her get everything she needed to settle in, and so Todd's whole family came to town and we all had dinner together. I would usually never go to dinner the first week of students returning to town, every place is way too crowded. But near Lake Monroe, which is about 10 miles south of town, a restaraunt recently reopend. Its called the Scenic View, because its perched atop a hill that looks toward one of the very few cuts in the hills surrounding the lake, and you have a beautiful of the lake, and the tree covered hills surrounding it. SInce its out of town, we assumed it wouldn't be too crowded. We were right, and we sat outside, it was a beautiful 70 degree evening. Had a good meal, and everyone stopped by our house to meet Max. The little kids wore out the dogs, and we didn't have to walk them last night! That doesn't happen very often.

Its Sunday morning now, and I just came back from a run. I'm not a fast runner, and when the run is a z1-2 run, I'm definitely not fast. As I was running through one of the local parks I hear a lot of chatter and laughter coming towards me, and the IU mens track/cross country flew by me. Oh the humiliation! They were absolutely beautiful runners. Oi, I felt like an old goat. Then I told myself, 20 years ago, I probably could have trounced them in the pool, and maybe still today I could hold me own against half of them. I felt mildly better. The feeling passedquickly, and I trudged back home, greeted by 3 dogs who can't stop licking the sweat off my legs, begging for a drop or two of the chocolate milk I was drinking, making me smile and laugh.

Sam is staring at me with his big beautiful brown eyes as I type this. I think he is smiling.

guard dogs

2009-08-27T05:09:00.001-07:00

My guard dogs every morning when I get out of the shower. I think Max and Sam are feeling pretty relaxed around each other now. Daisy is still the leader of our pack (even though that should be me!), she takes no shit from anyone. That's the way it should be - the girl is boss!

slip n slide

2009-08-25T05:14:00.000-07:00

this is awesome (and of course, its NOT real)

Bob Knight

2009-08-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

Indiana loves to hate Bob Knight, and hates to love Bob Knight. They just announced he is being inducted into the Indiana Athletics Hall of Fame. Boy I can hear the cheers and boos already! Despite all his flaws, he had a lot of good in him, and he did a lot of good at IU, most of which people will never know, because so much of it had nothing to do with basketball but with people, academics, libraries, students... In all the years he lived in Bloomington, while I also lived here, I only saw him in public one time, at a movie. He and his wife were sitting in the back of the theater, just normal people out for a movie date. Not biggger than life. Just living life.

Life here in Bloomington is going to change dramatically in the next few days as 35000 students return to our small town. The doubling of our population makes me appreicate the times like my bike ride with Randi yesterday where we were out in the country side, in the state forest with trees towering over us, in the farm land surrounded by 8 feet high corn, just two girls on bikes, pushing each other up a monster hill, enjoying the lush green surrounding us every direction we could see - even over head. It was a fabulous ride, especially after having two rough weeks, and a big rest week. I feel like my body is back, and ready for a few good weeks of training.

This morning I got to run on the trails. I picked my favorite trail down by the lake. No dogs this run, its been too hot, and no water in the streams, so it was just me and the trees, and a few nasty spider webs that wrapped themselves around my face - ICK! I heard one tree fall, and saw it smash into the ground down the hill, and it made me think of the saying 'does a tree make a sound when it falls if there is no one to hear it?' well, of course it does. That's such a stupid saying. I just LOVE running on the trails. One hour on a trail seems like 30 minutes on the road. Two hours on a trail like one hour on the road. Trails ROCK!

Someday I will hava a small house on a lake in a forest, and I will wake up and run or walk through the forest, and swim in my lake, and smile at my fortune of being able to live in a place so simple and beautiful.

Climbing out of a hole

2009-08-17T05:52:00.001-07:00

One week ago I was wrapping up 3 good weeks of training, did a race with very steep long quad/calf busting hills (turned out to be a duathlon which was even worse), followed by a long run the next day with the last 30 minutes hard, and my body rebelled. For 2 days I had trouble walking, on a scale of 1 to 10, my muscle pain hovered around 10 for 48 hours, then slowly improved. But even though the pain was gone, my body was just worn out. I had dug the hole and was not climbing out quick enough, even with a lower volume/intensity rest week. So, being the smart one that I am, I still raced on Saturday, as pitiful as I was (because I HAD to get my 3rd xterra in for the season for the points race). But yesterday I had a day off – on a weekend – I can’t remember the last time I took a day off on a weekend! And now I have HUGE rest week. I will be a super rester, and be ready to go for my next race at the end of September.

What will I do with a HUGE rest week? Well, I’ll sleep, I'll rest, and I'll try not to overeat. I’ve also been having restless leg syndrome this week when I go to bed. I've been sleeping in compression shorts and socks to try to give the muscles a different feel. I eventually fall asleep. I'd like to get past that RLS also. Hopefully I can get a massage this week and claw my way back out of this hole!

open water swim

2009-08-13T04:56:00.000-07:00

There is a large lake south of town where I occasionally open water swim. The lake's main use is by motor boats, but the finger of the lake on the north side of the lake, closest to my house is more than one mile long by one half mile wide of no wake zone. So that was the destination last night. Air temp was low 80's, bright sun. The water was the most perfect its been all summer. Water was probably 76-78 , and no debris, no nasty gas film on the water, perfectly calm and almost mirror-like. Just me and a lot of open water and any ugly catfish hovering below waiting to nibble my toes (I try not to think of those, since the visibility in the lake is about 6 inches). Oh, and my escorts who watch out for me!

Thanks Emily and Barb!

And we picked up a floatilla of kayaks too!

Meet Max!

2009-08-12T10:19:00.001-07:00

We adopted Max last weekend. He is 7 years old, and a super sweet dog. All the dogs get along, and once Max and Junior (cat) stop barking and hissing at each other, it will be one big happy family. He has some skin allergy (which you can see in the last photo where his fur has been shaved while its being treated), other than that he seems to be in good health.

vitamin D, decreased sun exposure, rickets

2009-08-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

I saw an interesting story on the Newshour the other night. A doctor was discussing an increase of cases of rickets in the US recently. Rickets is a disease that is one of those old fashioned diseases, one we don't hear about these days. Its a vitamin D deficiency that causes soft bones in children. And it seems that with parents slathering their children up in sunscreen all the time, and children being indoors less than previous generations, the kids aren't getting enough exposure to sunlight to help them produce vitamin D to have strong bones. And sun exposure is really the only way to get enough vitamin D, diet alone is not adequate. So, I just thought it was interesting. Her recommendation was just for 15-20 minutes a day of sun exposure without sunscreen for healthy bones, and suncreen the rest of the time for long term skin cancer prevention.

just a little food for thought...

I swore I would NEVER do a du

2009-08-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

but today I did my first one. It was not supposed to be a duathlon. Xterra Versailles was supposed to be 2 weeks ago, rain postponed it by a week, when again torrential rains postponed it again. Those rains were so heavy the river and lake flooded, and the surrounding farm land runoff made the lake unsafe for swimming. I had already paid my entry fee, and in the xterra regional points series competition, I had to do 3 races, and had not planned very well this year, and as of today, with only 3 weeks left in the season, I had only 1 of 3 races. So, du it was!

This was a new course for xterra, and these trails are unbelievably fun (bike), and hard (the run). Unfortunately, the 2 postponements cut into the turnout, and it was a very small field, although those who showed up were some of the top racers in the region, so it would be a tough race to win, especially without a swim. Despite all the whining I do about hard swim workouts, I still count on getting a few minutes lead on the other girls. Starting with a 2.5 mile trail run, with 3 creek crossings (6inches deep and between 10 and 20 feet wide), and a good uphill and steep down, Bev was going to come out with a lead of a few minutes, instead of me having a lead of a few minutes. Bev is amazing, 50-54ag, many time national and world xterra champ in her AG, she regularly beats younger girls and finishes top 3 overall even at big regional races. So, the race starts and I have no idea how hard to run, because I was unsure how my legs would respond on a second run if I ran too hard on the first run. Before the race, a show of hands of participants showed those who have done a du, thought the du is much harder than a tri, and the RD cautioned good pacing at the start. SO, I went with the conservative approach.

Coming into t1 side by side with Ellen, Bev was already on her bike just near the trailhead. This mtb trail is a sweet trail. It starts with a long climb, then a few miles of twists and turns, before dumping onto the spectacular new Cliffside trail. They litterally cut the trail out of a cliffside, with some nice off camber trail, and a longgggggggggggggggggggg dropoff, there is no looking down the side, or you are over the cliff for sure. The best feature of the trail is a crossing over a rock ledge that is part of a waterfall that spans 10 feet of width, and falls down the cliffside into the creek. ANd I rode it without stopping! SWEET! Half way through the trail I went around Ellen and put a minute on her by t2. That was a good ride for me. Normally all of my xterra mtb's are very stressful. I come out of the water first, and have a bajillion fast men mtb riders who I have to make way for them all to pass. S T R E S S! This ride was so different. All of those guys ran faster than me. So I had no one behind me! ok, one guy did pass me on the bike, but I actually got to pass about 6 or 7 other men! Sweet, this was such a fun ride for me, I was so relaxed. There is one long sweeping stretch of trail that is a couple of miles above the river, and the trails gradually drops in elevation, and has very few turns, so it was bombs away time! And I just smiled the whole way.

photo is of the waterfall crossing

Coming into t2, Bev was hitting the start of the run trail as I was heading in, so I knew it would require a herculean run, up steep 200 ft elevation climbs, and down steep descents. Maybe she overdid it on the first run, and I didn't? I knew I couldn't slow down, Ellen was coming into t2, and I was heading out. The temps were heating up, hot and humid, and the first steep hill did not disappoint. I slogged my way up, and rolled through the early aid station with some water over the head and gatorade down the hatch. Down the first big steep, and up the steepest, longest hill is the start of the first loop, of the sort of figure 8 looped course. I was panting harder than a dog, and recovered a few minutes on some flatter stuff on the ridge top, in time for some rollers. Back up a biggie to what was the 2way traffic stretch, but the arrows confused me, and no one ther for traffic direction, and I followed the arrow to the left, instead of going straight, after standing there hesitating, some hikers said, there, the arrow goes that way,. So I dive down the steep hill, and back up the next one, before I realized this was the start of that first loop again! I made a wrong turn! ACKKKKKKKKKKKK! and added three quarters of a mile, plus 2 monster hills from ridge to ravine, and I was pissed. I ran so hard up the second hill, I puked at the top, and knew Ellen had gone by. And with just under 2 miles left, and the effort I just made, I was not going to catch Ellen, let alone Bev. The last 2 mile is the reverse of the first run of the du, so I got to splash through the creeks again - the Avi Stoltz were awesome! ANd I plodded the last mile to the finish. I guess I should have run hard all the way to the line, but I was so disappointed with myself,and I knew there was no one who was going to catch me from behind, I got the points for the AG points series race, and settled for third palce overall. Sounds good, but the race was so small, it seems anything other than a win is a bit lackluster. But when Bev is the competition, I can handle getting beat by her. And Ellen is a sweetie, and having friends beat you is that much easier to take. Maybe I should be more competitive, but I do this for fun, and even doing a du instead of a tri, I had a ton of fun out there today!

Next race, xterra Logansport next Saturday! Yep, 2 in a row, not ideal, and Logansport is not my favorite race. But I need one more race for the points, so off I go up to Middle-of-nowhere-flatland, IN. The best part of the Logansport race is that it is the BEST swim venue on the state. Swim in a limestone querry, you can see in nice clear water, which is quite a contrast to the typical muddy midwestern lake swim.

Now, I'm sitting on the sofa, Max (our newest addition to the family - adopted golden retriever, as of 2 hours ago!) is laying next to me, Sam is at my feet, Daisy on her bed, Junior in his spot, and everyone is content.

2009-08-03T04:26:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago, I was supposed to race xterra Versailles. But the week leading up to the race it was rainy, and in the early morning of the race, torrential rains dumped inches of water on the trails. One segment of trail, had only been completed one week prior, so without weeks (and months) of bike traffic to pack the dirt, the trails were just too soft to withstand the onslaught of the water. The race was postponed one week. Then this Thursday night another few inches of rain dumped, and the trails were even worse, another postponement. Rain has really put a damper on trail riding and racing in Indiana this summer. But Versailles is 2 hours away, and here in Btown,we only had a trace of rain, so the girls (and Charlie) headed down to the Hoosier National Forest Saturday morning for a mtb ride. Charlie got to laugh at a lot of girl chatter on the drive over. These trails require purchase of a tag to ride on them, and as we crossed a road section to a new trail, there was a sign saying 'survey ahead'. I couldn't imagine what kind of survey was happening on a Saturday morning out in the middle of nowhere, Charlie and I just dumped onto the trail before the sign, and a few minutes later stopped when we realized Ang and Randi weren't behind. A few minutes later they showed up saying the tobaccy chewing ranger at the survey sign made them show him their purchased tag. Good thing I skipped right past him, as my tag had fallen off somewhere on the trail (lesson- just put the tag in the camelback, instead of relying on the adhesive to keep it on the bike handlebar!). On the way home, Ang entertained us with her impersonation of the tobaccy chewing ranger. It was a good ride!

Kirkwood on a Sunday morning

Sunday, we (just the girls), headed out on the road for a long easy ride. 25 miles from home I thought 'oops, maybe I shouldn't have had that piece of chocolate cake last night', as I heard this dingdingdingdingdingdingdingding and came to a stop to find I broke a spoke! oops. The bike and I made it home , a slight wobble to the wheel, but no crashes, and it should be a simple repair. At one food/potty stop, we sang a happy birthday song (to the tune of we wish you a Merry Christmas) to Louise, and then on the road outside of Hindustan (close enough) we sang again to Angela’s father in law. Angela and Randi have special talent for music. They can break out into song for any tune from the 70’s forward, and they weren’t even alive then! And they sound good! And they know all the words! Anyways, it was a glorious sunny day , perfect for a ride, when we started, with the wind out of the northwest, we headed north. We were happy to finish the last hour heading southeast, with a nice tail wind, pushing us along, making the chatter (and the birthday song) that much easier. We saw lots of bike riders out yesterday, southern Indiana loves to ride bikes!
cute little church on the ride

the girls

One hour at home, and I was off to work at the Indiana Senior State swim meet. Saw a few good swims, none as good as the Phelps-Cavic 100m fly at the World Championships. I will vote that one as the best swim race I have ever watched.

Then to the grocery store, and it must have been the high week of the blueberry picking season last week because they were selling huge containers of them for $3. This morning I have a cottage cheese container half full of them topped with yogurt. Mm mm good.

And I had a few extra minutes on my ride into work, so as I cruised through campus, I snapped a few photos. I’m so lucky to get to live here, it really is a beautiful little town.

Fountains in front of music school

Hogey Charmichael sculpture in gardens between library and music school

mermaid fountain

Little chappel on campus

clock

union building - cool slate roof, typical limestone building.

Sample Gates:

what a beautiful campus!

new shoes!

2009-07-30T05:22:00.000-07:00

Every girl loves new shoes, and I just got some! Check out my new Avi Stoltz trail running (racing) shoes, designed by Conrad Stoltz and made by Avia. They hit dirt for the first time this morning, and I LOVE them! LOVE LOVE LOVE them. So light weight (especially compared to my other klunky addidas trail shoes), and they fit perfectly, and they are awesome colors. These shoes are just plain awesome. Can't wait to run again (on the trails)!

PTD

2009-07-28T07:45:00.000-07:00

Post Tour Depression

It hits you on the Monday after the tour is over, and you realize that while you are at work, that you can’t tune in to see how today’s stage is going. And in the evening you can’t sit and watch the cyclists, and the French countryside, and listen to Phil, Paul and Bobke.

And you feel a bit sad, dare I say, depressed? Well, NO! Because now the Swimming World Championships are going on, and in two days there have been record smashing swims already!

15 year old Swedish girl broke the world record in the 100gly, swimming ala Michael Phelps, last at the turn, and then you’d have thought she had a turbo charger that she flipped on, as she rocked the last 25 and blew by the entire field. It was an incredible swim!

Arian Kukors, third at the trials, only swimming at worlds, because Pelton decided to not swim the event, and she smashes the 200IM world record by 1.5 seconds in the semis, and then takes another second off in the final. 2:06 is smoking fast. A really beautiful swim to watch.

Pellegrini becoming the first woman to break 4:00 in the 400 free was simply awesome! Ohhh, to swim freestyle like her.

Rebecca Soni a new world record in the semi’s of the 100 breaststroke. She just keeps getting better and better. Her stroke is beautiful to watch.

Yeah for the women!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little sad for Aaron Piersol for misjudging the effort he needed to put out to make it into the finals of the 100 back.

Cracking up at Ryan Lochte’s comment that he is happy that FINA is reverting back to the old fabric suits, that he likes it old school, and would race in a banana hammock. He had the whole media room in stitches.

Can’t wait to see Lochte and Phelps swim some individual events.

You can catch any and all of the action on universalsports.com

Also, just saw on twitter that George Hincapie does have a broken collarbone – he’s such a bad ass, climbing Ventoux and pushing the pace on the cobbles in Paris, with a broken body.

my new niece

2009-07-26T11:54:00.001-07:00

My brother just became a grandpa again! Liz had a baby girl. Kayla was born yesterday.

Here she is! Happy Birthday Kayla!

I'm not producing any grandkids, all of my kids have been spayed and neutered. Here are some pictures for my kids grandma:

Junior doesn't realize he'smissing out on some action up on the bird feeders just a few feet away.

Instead of trying to catch the squirrel, he opts for just sticking his tongue out at him.

And I guess he'd rather take a nap.

Big Sam smiling for the camera

Pretty much the only thing Sam will play with, other than squirrels, chippies, rabbits and deer.

Daisy hates the camera, but I made her pose with the geranium.

Isn't she cute?

On my mind

2009-07-24T10:12:00.001-07:00

Why does honey slide off peanut butter, when both peanut butter and honey stick like glue to everything else!

Weird how the nasal irrigation system that I started to use pulses water up one nostril and it comes out the other, and it feels like you are swimming and continuously getting water up your nose for a few minutes.

Why is it that your mind willingly allows you to swallow food that you put in your mouth and chew up, even though it may be bigger than a giant gumball, but when you put a pill-like object in your mouth to swallow, your mind just wants to make you gag on it!

Why do our bodies like to tease us? I mean, I have not been injured for months (yes, I knocked on wood), and I sit on my a$$ at work, and stand up from my chair, and my right hip screams in agony for like 5 steps, and then it is normal. Or, I’m out for a run, and all is well, then I have 5 steps where my right foot wants to curl up in a ball, then its normal. Seriously, it’s enough that I over analyze every little feeling in every joint, muscle, tendon, ligament, and cell in my body, why throw me into these situations of temporary insanity!

How do dogs learn the meaning of words? My friends dog, Tili, who stayed with us often over a span of 3-4 years (more than 3 years ago), passed away this week. Daisy was laying on the floor by Todd, and I walked over to her and said ‘Daisy’, and she looked at me without moving. Then I said ‘do you remember Tili’, and as soon as the word Tili came out of my mouth, her tail was thumping wildly against the floor. I like to think that she remembers Tili. She loved having Tili over at our house. We all did. Here's Tili:

Tili - I hope you running around in a great big field of grass, next to a beautiful lake that you can run and jump into any time, rolling around in any stink that you desire, and getting all the belly rubs you want. Rest in peace sweetie!

Like a mermaid.

2009-07-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

I learned to swim when I was a baby. My mom taught swim lessons, and she would take me to the pool with her, and I would swim. I can remember watching an old 8mm film that my family took of a family vacation in Florida when I was a year or two old, and I was paddling around the hotel swimming pool. Happy as a lark. I swam on my first swim team when I was 5. Our team suits were so awesome. They were red white and blue with dolphins. I remember being so small, we had to tie the straps together with shoe strings. The photo of me wearing our team sweatshirt looks like I’m wearing a floor length dress instead of a sweatshirt. I was completely spoiled on that team. I’d run around bugging all the older kids. At swim meets I’d eat cherry jello straight out of the box with my finger, and walk around the whole evening with a bright red finger. I also had my events written on my arm. (My first coach is now my parents GP). My first practice meet was in a pool without lane lines. I had to swim 25 backstroke, and I went from lane 3 to the wall in lane6 and hit my head. A childhood friend who still belongs to the swim club told me I still had a record form when I was swimming there – 30 years ago. The first few years, we just swam 25 yards and meters. One day we went to Coney Island for a meet. The pool was 50 meters. It was so scary. I think it might have been 200 meters. I was maybe 8. Somehow I survived my races. But I don’t think I liked it! Then I started swimming in the winter too. I was swimming all year round, with a few weeks off at the end of each season. Not every day during my first few winter seasons. But I kept improving. My little local coach came to our house one night and told us that we were losing our pool time at the start of the year. And she thought I should go swim at the Marlins (she coached there too). I was terrified. This was a BIG TIME team, and I was just small potatoes. Somehow she convinced my parents, who convinced me to give it a try. My first practice was over Christmas break. It was long course (my first long course practice, ever.) I was shaking before practice. Really, I was never so nervous. The first practice had a main set of 10x400 IM. Yep. I did them. I didn’t die. I almost died. I know I cried inside my goggles the whole practice. I didn’t want to go back the next day. Mom and dad convinced me to go. We did 40x50 fly. I cried some more. I know I had to cheat to finish the set. I finished the week. Then two weeks, then 5 years. Swimming was my world. I met so many great friends. Got to travel a bit. Learned how to suck it up big time, suffer, and win. And lose. It was life. It was fun. It was hard. It was painful. It was my life.

I swam in college too. Although I was teetering on the brink of burnout. But swimming in college was even better. Maybe not the swimming. I had few PR’s by then (in the 400im!). And motivation was up and down, but the girls I swam with were my family, and they got me through 3 years with lots of smiles and laughs.

Then I got to retire! By then I was ready, and so happy. I didn’t swim for many years. I didn’t even know how to ‘play’ in a pool with the nieces and nephews. I have a photo of me doing a flip off a small diving board in my early 20’s. I was a dork. But even though I didn’t do any swim training, when I got in the water, I was like a mermaid. I was so at home in the water. In a pool, in a lake, in the ocean. The ocean was great. Swimming, snorkeling, diving with the fish. With the sharks. With the turtles. Dolphins. What a magnificent water world!

The years roll by. And now I swim again, and have been back in the pool for years. My training is up and down, on and off, but sometimes I can still surprise myself when I blast a 1:03 from a push in a workout. But, really, I don’t like to train hard in the pool. I like to be relaxed in a pool, just swim with enough effort to feel fast, but not too much to feel tired. Like a mermaid!

Today I have a swim workout. It’s kind of hard. No, it’s not kind of hard. It is hard. Hard for me. Lots of freestyle. Short intervals. That means, swim fast, feel tired. Mermaids don’t sprint around at max heart rate. They flow through the water, enjoying the movement and the freedom. I’m not going to get to be a mermaid tonight.

I am the master...

2009-07-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

After 3 years of cleaning my mountain bike drive train weekly, I have finally mastered the most efficient and effective steps to clean it. And since a clean bike is a fast bike, I cannot share my secrets. Because I’d rather have you riding a dirty slow bike! ;-)

As I realized this yesterday in my under 5 minute cleaning, I was thinking of other things I wish I could master. Here are a few I wish I could master this year:
1) Cornering the mountain bike at high speed
2) Wheelie-ing over a 12+inch log
3) Track stand
4) Opening a bar wrapper on the bike in winter without taking off the winter gloves, without crashing, and without having to stop
5) The 15yard underwater kick off the wall for backstroke (I am determined to master this in the fall/winter this year)
6) Teaching my dogs to obey every command I give them (this has very low likelihood of every happening)
7) The art of making a tasty, healthy meal in under 15 minutes

In other exciting news, I made it one week without dairy. Well, I've had a few small items with what I call ‘trace amounts of dairy' (ie, m&m's MILK chocolate). It’s difficult to know if this is helping. Generally I think not. But there are moments when I think the throat congestion feels looser. And then, it doesn't. I'm still committed to giving it a fair shot, I even bought a few more non-dairy products at the grocery today. I bought some vegan monterey jack cheese, and while it sort of looks like cheese, and smells like cheese, and sort of tastes like cheese, it doesn't behave like cheese. It cuts smooth and easily, not like cutting through a block of real cheese, and it doesn't just melt nicely if you drop it on something warm. Its not bad. Not really cheese, even though the label calls it cheese, but an ok alternative. I'm also reading a book, 'The Sinus Cure'. It recommends daily nasal irrigation as a first treatment, before dietary changes. It also says do not drink cold drinks, only warm and hot ones (keeps the cilia working better). How can you possibly not drink cold drinks in summer! I just can't do it. I am enjoying popping my papaya enzyme tablets. They taste like candy - sort of like eating Flintstone chewable vitamins as a kid.

I was out at Brown County for a mountain bike ride and short trail run Sunday, and I was amazed by the number of girls I saw on the trail. I LOVE that. In Bloomington, we see plenty of girls riding on the roads (especially during the school year), and that is so cool. But usually not so many on the trails. But today, I saw many new girls. They could be from out of town, and probably are, our little trail is earning quite a reputation! It’s a beautiful state park, just not quite as beautiful as the French countryside! I know, hard to believe. When I was watching the Tour this weekend, I was ooohing and ahhing over how beautiful the French countryside is. I’ve been to France once, in winter. It was cold! I’d love to go back some time in summer. Ride a bike, eat yummy food. No big cities, just the little towns, the countryside, the mountains. I’m just a small town girl. Don’t like big cities, not even just to pass through. They make me nervous. Too many people, too many cars. Too much concrete. Too much noise and commotion.

Happy Monday!

I’m getting a little (no, a lot) tired of the no dairy diet.

2009-07-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

I’m on day 5, and I’m not really noticing any real difference in the state of my throat mucus/phlegm. It’s the same is it was yesterday, same as it was Sunday, same as it was last year, and the year before. So, no benefit yet, and I hate having to think so much about what I’m eating. No cheese. No butter. No yogurt, milk or ice cream. I popped an m&m in my mouth yesterday only to realize its MILK chocolate! And the last piece of banana bread I had left to eat – made with butter! And after a killer bike ride last night where Randi and Angela totally put the hurts to me, I wanted a tall cold glass of chocolate milk. I made chocolate ‘milk’ with my almond milk and hershey’s chocolate, and it tasted like dirt! Poor tasting chocolate milk is very disappointing. Chocolate is supposed to make everything taste better!

I popped over to the library at lunch and picked up the book ‘The Sinus Cure’, and this weekend I’m going to read up as much as I can on sinus issues, phlegm and throat mucus. It’s such a pleasant topic, I’m sure I’ll be completely enthralled with this reading selection. I did sneak a peek at when I came back to work, and it talks about papaya enzyme being a mucus thinner, so you know what I’ll be buying tonight!

I also picked up a book called ‘The Engine 2 Diet’. I didn’t pick it up because I’m going to switch my diet and follow it , because it sounds way to whacked for me. I need meat! But it was written by Rip Esselstyn, who was an Olympic swimming hopeful back in 1980. And when I was a young teen age group swimmer at Cincinnati Marlins, we had a dozen or so top Olympic hopefuls come to train with us that summer. It was quite a way to spend a few months, watching these world class athletes train, and prepare to attempt to qualify for the Olympics. Rip was one of the swimmers who came to our pool. Then he became a top triathlete, now he is a firefighter, and apparently a newly published author of this unusually named ‘diet’ book. I was just curious to see what he had to say.

So, my (mostly) non dairy diet rolls on through 5 days. I’ll give it another week. But I’m also going to be trying other remedies, so how will I know what works, if something actually works? Hmmmmmm, dunno! I guess I’ll cross that path if I actually come to it.

In the meantime, I have to go clean my lunch dishes that are sitting here at my desk, because as much as I like tuna, I don’t think I can tolerate smelling it the rest of the afternoon.

Dairy Free Day 2

2009-07-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

Is also Day 4 of TDF (another exciting day of bike racing in France)
And is also Day 1 of US Swimming Nationals , which are also the World Championships Trials ( a week of fast swimming just up the road in Indianapolis)
How will I get any work done with all this going on!

Well, I survived day 1 of no dairy. Wait, I may have slipped just a little. I had a left over piece of birthday cake (from the best bakery in the world), and I’m thinking that butter was probably used in the making of said cake and frosting. But, I’m giving myself an A- for effort yesterday, because that was the only slip I had, no major crash.

I hit the grocery last night. I had to get more things for lunch at work. Usually I bring half my lunch to work, and go to one of 4 places for part of my lunch (bagel shop, burrito place, deli, and a pasta place). Unfortunately at each of those places, my normal order involves CHEESE! OUCH! I did pick an alternative at the bagel shop yesterday of chicken salad, and it was quite good. For a minute I had to think if mayo was dairy, the girl behind me assured me its just eggs and oil. Now at home I have fixins for my own tuna salad. I made it this morning, and OMG, Junior (cat who thinks he’s a dog, and only comes home for food and a dry place to sleep) went absolutely bonkers. I don’t think he has ever had tuna, at first he just smelled it finicky like, then gobbled it up, then I couldn’t keep him off the counter, off the cutting board (carrots and celery) and out of the bowl with the tuna. He was a MONSTER. The dogs stood pathetically by watching his antics, wondering why he got to be up on the counter, and they were on the floor. Well, Junior was on the floor, every 5 seconds, after I threw him down. But then he’d jump right back up. This went on and on and on. All I can say is it took way too long to make some basic tuna salad!

Eating out less at lunch is going to be a little sad, maybe after I get over the 10 day hump, and figure out if the dairy thing is a go or no go, I’ll be able to give myself a little more time to find new things at my favorite spots.

I’m wondering if I’ll give in to the temptation of getting a chocolate chip cookie at the bagel shop tomorrow. Wednesdays I always get a cookie (well, only if they are perfectly undercooked, and filled with double chocolate chips, which they often are). But I know they are made with butter. Damn the butter. Why does it also have to be a dairy product? Not that I put butter on anything (well, maybe cinnamon raisin bagel), but it’s used to make things (ok, bakery goods, yeah, I should just give them up too).

Of course this morning when I woke up, my brain immediately said ‘hey, the mucus and phlegm is gone!’ Of course it isn’t after just one day, and probably no different, but my mind is trying to will myself to believe it. I’ll withhold judgement for another week.

Looks like Astana is crushing the Team Time Trial.

Dairy Free Day 1

2009-07-06T06:08:00.001-07:00

For years I’ve had this nasty excess thick mucus in my nose and throat (I know that's gross and disgusting). I’ve just lived with it (since the only allergy med that helped also made me break out in a nice rash all over my body), and suffered through the occasional exercise induced asthma attack, caused by constricted airway from the thickening mucus and a hard workout or race, and especially humid conditions. But I'm tired of living with it and suffering if there is more I can do.

I’ve been denying that diet changes could help. But now I’m ready to give it a try. Starting today, I’m eliminating dairy from my diet for 10 days. And we’ll see what happens. This is HARD for me, as I LOVE dairy! I’ve tried soy milk before and didn’t care for it too much, so this morning I tried almond milk (thanks to Melissa for that recommendation) on my cereal and it tasted ok. And I just ate some soy yogurt with fruit, and it was ok too. Not as good as dairy yogurt (I’m biased), but I can eat it. Giving up cheese will be tough, especially giving up pizza! :-(

If 10 days dairy free doesn’t make a difference, then I think I’ll be cutting out gluten also for 10 days - along with the dairy – maybe I should have done the gluten and dairy together starting today – but I’m afraid the gluten will be extremely difficult – and it will require some education to find non-gluten foods that I can eat. Everything has gluten in it!

Ok, so wish me luck! And if you have any great ideas, send them my way.

Let’s see what other stupid things I can do…

2009-06-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

Monday morning I’m walking the dogs back up the driveway, usually I drop their leashes and they go to the door, and I drop the poopbags in the can on the other corner of the garage. But I saw the neighbor cat, so I didn’t want the dogs to chase him so I hung on to the leashes, and they followed me to the trash.
Oops, there goes Max (cat) flying by again and Sam decides to follow. Unforunately following Max meant Sam had to jump down a 4ft retaining wall. Sam, and his new $3k bionic leg, and me still attached to the leash. I felt myself falling the 4 feet in slow motion, landed on my side, woomph, and knocked the wind out of me, gasped, then cried, then saw Daisy standing on top of the wall staring at me, and Sam yanking my arm out of the shoulder socket trying to get Max (we were still attached!). After a few curse words at Sam, and a few at myself, I took inventory and everything was where it should be, I wasn’t broken! That was a relief.

The I’m riding my bike to work, like any other day. It was a nice breezy morning, and I arrive at the bike rack just outside my office and realize I forgot my bike lock. So I stand at the rack with my 20 year old clunker commuter (which works just fine for my 3 mile ride through neighborhoods), and I nonchalantly leaned it against the rack and fiddled around with my helmet and stuff just pretending like nothing was amiss, then turned and walked away without locking the bike. I’ve been wanting to get a new commuter bike for a few years now, but just have not been able to justify it. Why? Who knows! Its not like I don’t ride it, I ride to work at least 80% of the days all year round, even in winter, so its not like I wouldn’t get use out of it. So I’m secretly thinking all day that maybe its my time to get a new bike and this is fates way of telling me. If I go out after work and the bike is gone, fate was on my side! Well, it was not, because my bike was still there! Only in a small town can you leave a bike outside all day unlocked and still have it waiting for you at the end of the day. But wait, I was going to tempt fate one more time. Because I had to swim after work, and had to leave my bike unlocked again at the pool. One hour later, IT WAS STILL THERE! bummer.

This morning I had a super fun run to do, and 55minutes into it, I was having some serious GI issues (this has happened now 3 times in the past few weeks, dunno whats up with that). Anyways, I was only 5 minutes from home, and thought I could make it, but NO. I had to stop and do the poop walk/stand (you know, stand still, squeeze every muscle in your lower body to keep everything inside) 4 times in 5 minutes! It was sooooooooooo bad. I will spare you the rest, other than to say I was remembering Uta Pippig back in the 80’s (or was it the 90’s) when she ran the Boston marathon and just had all kinds of crap running down her legs during the race. NO! I didn’t have anything running down my legs, I just remembered her and was praying the same didn’t happen to me.

Still rode the old clunker to work this morning, and even locked it. I guess I won’t be getting a new commuter bike anytime soon.

a train trestle and a few extra unplanned miles

2009-06-27T17:16:00.001-07:00

Today we planned a ride to the Tulip Trestle (aka Green County Viaduct) and we actually found it!

The Greene County Viaduct, which is officially known as Bridge X75-6 and also known as the Richland Creek Viaduct and the Tulip Trestle, is a half mile long train bridge in Greene County, between Solsberry and Tulip. Work on the bridge started on May 22, 1905 when a ground breaking ceremony was led by Joe Moss. It was finished in December of 1906 and is the third longest bridge of its kind in the world. It has 18 towers for support. The original cost of the bridge was $246,504 which was estimated in 2004 dollars to be around $20 million.Two 45 foot sections were added to the bridge in 1916. Other than that, the bridge is as it was when it was originally constructed.

I snapped a photo but the one above without trees in full foilage is a better view.

We took a chance on the return trip route, I wouldn't call us lost, well maybe we were a little. We were on roads in the middle of nowhere, a nowhere that none of us had ever been. But we knew what direction we were heading, and eventually made it home, after 4000 feet of climbing! and a few extra miles. and a lot of sunshine and a lot of heat.

The only disappointment of the ride was a much anticipated stop at YoHo's grocery in Solsberry. Often we stop at quaint little country stores, but this one was a dive. Messy, dirty, very little stock, and what stock they had was just piled anywhere they had floor space, and an unfriendly old man at the register who did not know how to make change.

You win some (finding he trestle) and you lose some (Yoho's disappointment).

Its summer!

2009-06-24T05:10:00.000-07:00

everything says its summer

the calendar says its summer

the weather is hot and humid

my (Monica Geller in the caribbean) heat and humidity induced frizzy hair says its summer

the students left town over a month ago, and now we just have families (here for freshman orientation) wandering around asking for directions and occasionally going the wrong way down the one way streets

the pool water temperature is above 85 and its only June 24 (won’t be swimming there anymore!)

even the water temperature in the Lake Monroe is in the mid 80’s – and it’s a large lake! Ok, maybe its just the mile long finger where I swim that is no wake and doesn’t have boats to churn up the cooler deeper water to the surface, but its freaking nasty!

Last night I tested out my new xterra speed suit at the lake. I headed down to the lake with a few friends, 6 of us, 3 kayaks. The speedsuit has an interesting slippery feeling to it when wet, and I’m sure its faster than a plain old training swimsuit. But I didn't feel all slickery and fast. I felt like a slug. Because the water was almost as warm as the air and it was all I could do to get air into my lungs and not feel like I was breathing hot stinky water. I had to flip over and swim backstroke a few times just to breathe more fresher air. Well, at least the speedsuit fit, and felt comfortable, and I guess I’ll be wearing it in my next race, (which I’m guessing will have 90+ degree water, which will be a real treat).

Otherwise, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new iPhone. Shazam is my favorite app, just hold it up to a song that you hear and it tells you the artist and song, very cool. I also like the Totally Awesome Fact app. It is totally awesome to learn completely irrelevant facts to spew out to your friends and family. Like who knew a beaver can swim a half mile under water on one gulp of air! Or that goldfish lose their color if they are kept in dim light or are placed in a body of running water. Or that porcupines float in water, or that penguins can convert salt water into fresh water (we should figure out how to bottle that!). Or that most of the worlds people must walk at least 3 hours to fetch water! And I am lucky, I don’t have to worry about converting my own salt water to fresh water, or walking 3 hours to get water, and I have an iPhone to entertain me. And speedsuit to wear in non-wetsuit swims. Talk about fortunate, or maybe that should be spoiled. Maybe a little of both.

have a great day!

Much Ado About Nothing

2009-06-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

Its been a quiet week since Kansas, except for thunderstorms that roll through every other day. We went from a spring of some warm days sprinkled amongst cooler days, with plenty of rain, to the last 5 days above 90 and very humid. I always say the air is thick as pea soup, and I swear, IT IS! And to top it off, I went to the outdoor pool this morning, and even with all the rain we have had, 5 hot days has shot the water temperature up to 86 already. I can't swim there anymore. So sad. My biggest gripe (and I have plenty of them!) is that our outdoor pool is heated, so in May they fill this nice big 50m pool, and turn the heater on so the temp is at 80 on Memorial Day weekend when it opens. That's great, until 2 weeks go by and heat waves heat the water up to 85-90 with no hopes of cooling off. Why they can't just leave it be cool in May,and warm up naturally, I do not understand! It infuriates me!!!!!! At least for tomorrow, I found a kayaker to go with me down to the lake so I can swim open water. Love that!

Fortunately I got Junior back in the house before I left for work, because the skies busted loose with a torrent of rain,thunder and lightning around 8am. Sam barked at me as I left, he knew the storm was coming (you could hear distant rumbles), and he did not want to be home alone. Hopefully Daisy and Junior gave him some comfort. The roads around campus flooded again because the rain came down so heavy and fast.

Yesterday Heather and I road most of the xterra Versailles course. It was like a jungle in there. Thick green moistness everywhere. My skin was covered by a film of sweat, then scratches from all the overgrown sticker bushes and stinging nettles, then the occasional mud splatter from the peanut butter like mud in some of the corners, and the worst part was the constant fear of ticks falling onto me. I HATE TICKS! They freak me out. Post ride tick inspection found none on me! woohoo! But one on Heather :-(

Fortunately Versailles (pronounced Versails, not Versaiy like in France), is a pretty handy setup. Despite being 1hr45min from home, and out in the middle of nowhere, this state park is fairly compact, and has a pool right by the lake, which is right at the mountain bike trail head, and the hiking trail head. And a full running water bathroom and a small campstore with cold drinks!

So, we rinsed the sweat and mud off, and threw on our running shoes and set out to check out the xterra run course. We did not do the whole thing, the first 3 miles had lots of steep hills, and it was hot now, and we were tired. Sometimes its best to let the race be a surprise!

A freezer pop and cold coke from the camp store tied us over until the DQ at North Vernon, where I tried the new chocolate brownie batter blizzard! YUM! I was a bit hesitant at first, brownie batter in my ice cream? But it was really brownie, not batter. And it was delish! I thoroughly enjoyed it, and once again I just look at it as my post workout recovery food (slightly different from my favorite chocolate milk, but close enough!)

Todd and I got to tear up our deck this weekend, as it has a small termite infestation! ICK! That was hard work. As much as I train to swim, bike and run, when it comes to back breaking yard or construction work, I'm not the most helpful. I give up quickly if I'm not strong enough to do something, and if its hot, and sweat is dripping into my eyes, I'm just pathetic. But Todd is persistent, and he got the job done. Deck demolition complete, termites sprayed. Now we get to plan a little re-landscaping (hard scape and soft scape). Should be fun.

The highlight of this week should be getting my new iPhone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where is my bike mojo? not in Kansas!

2009-06-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday I raced Kansas 70.3, and then got in my car and drove home 8+ hours. It was a rough day, both the race and the drive. I had a lot of time to think about a lot of things.

My wake up call was for 4am (which is 5am my time, when I get up anyways), so it was not too early for me. I could have waited 30 minutes, but then the parking would have been an even further walk to t2.

I arrive at the park, gather up my things, walk the 1/2 mile to t2, drop off my run things, then walk another 3/4 mile to t1 with my swim and bike things. Then I stood around for an hour waiting for the start. I did get to see Chrissie Wellington pre-race, and she looked super fit (what a surprise, huh?)

At NOLA my swim wave was the last wave, 90minutes after the first. Kansas went pros, then physically challenged, then men over 50 & women over 45 in the next wave (this was a big one, 150 people or so), then my wave, 4 minutes later. I watched the wave before me, they spread out wide and there were many slower swimmers. If I swam the buoys it would have been like a pinball machine, go left, go right, bounce off all these folks, so my plan was to just swim wide out around them. I took off, and went wide, no one else in my wave went with me, so I was on my own. The out leg was marked by green buoys. You know, you can't see green buoys very well, when the surrounding background is green trees! SO I was swimming along about 20 yards (sometimes more, sometimes less, its hard to hold a straight line when you have nothing to follow) right of the buoys, breathing every 1,1,2,1,2,2,1,1,2... Total spastic breathing. In the pool I'm every 3 all the time, unless instructed otherwise. But put me in open water and I breathe all the time. ANd when I say, 1,1 I mean left arm breathe, immediately to right breathe. It feels quite normal, but I could not do it in a pool. I figure it has to do with the fact that in the muddy water I can't see anything to focus on, so I don't get dizzy. In the pool my eyes would go from black line to lane line, to black line, to lane line, and I would go crazy. Anyways, I passed a gazillion yellow caps on the inside, and got out in 28 minutes (I didn't know my split at the time, I could not find the clock). It felt very easy, my swim is pretty decent right now.

On to the bike, and I really wanted to have a good one. I knew this course was harder than NOLA, but I ride a lot of hills at home, so I was not concerned with the hills. The first hour was going well, then I started to get passed by some woman, and I just got into a funk, and the legs did not want to go. They generally passed me on downhills and flats. I was getting angry at myself, and was thinking if you can't manage a half ironman bike without getting into a funk, you will never do ironman again. I tried singing 'Whip it' by Devo, and that didn't even get me going! I was getting weird pulsing pain (not bad pain, just annoying pain) in my right hamstring, and that did not help my mental state. After 2 hours I was beating myself up and finally got back on track and finished up the last hour better. But I just squeaked in under 3 hrs on the bike, not what I was hoping for. I have a lot of work to do , and I also need to work on my bike position. I think when I put on a new saddle a few months ago, I may not have the best position for power, and that might also have contributed to the hamstring niggle. So, forget about it, learn from it, and move on (and go to Brian for the niggle repair!).

I was happy to get off the bike, and the clouds that had been hanging around, immediately broke up and showered us with sun. Just in time to heat us up for the run. That's great (I am NOT a heat person). So off I go, trying to be steady, I actually felt decent, but tons of men were flying past me, so I had to work to really not get discouraged. The run is 2 loops, mostly flat except one big downhill to the t1 area, and then back up. First lap went very well. Melissa and Rachelle were out on the run cheering, and I saw Louisa running - she looked very strong. Second lap started out ok, and a woman who had passed me earlier was inching back to me, so this was good motivation. Then we hit the downhill, and she sprinted down it. My quads said no way, and then my stomach started to cramp and begged for mercy, so I eased off, and re-caught her after the turn around and at the bottom of the uphill. The GI distress was growing (mile 9 now), and I walked part of the hill (I was walking as fast as some people were running so I didn't mind this). By mile 10, I knew I had to stop at a toilet or I was going to be in big trouble. Luckily the last 4 miles go through the campground and have toilets every 1/2 mile or so. I ducked into one, and will spare you the details, but it was a huge relief and my cramping immediately subsided. Then I noticed my right foot seemed to be not listening to my brain. I was telling it to run, and it felt like it was just sort of flopping around. I know it was running, but it definitely felt weird. I think this was also related to the hammy niggle, which is probably another nerve entrapment or something. I get the stupidest injuries! 3 more miles, the heat was getting to me, the Kansas pollen was getting to me, the niggles, but I finished (not strongly), but I finished. My run split, despite the issues was better than last race, so its a positive for me to build on, especially with a few things to be improved.

Chrissie was handing out the medals, super smiler and such a kind person.

I threw my things in the car and headed home for my 8+ hour drive. I basically sat with my trigger point therapy ball under my right glute, hammy, knee, just moved it up and down my leg to relieve pressure. Recovery drink was a chocolate milk shake from Sonic (I love their drinks). I talked on the phone quite a bit to friends and family to stay alert. Drank caffeine, ate sugar, sang loudly, and stopped in IL at a cafe that advertised foot high pie! I did not think I could eat all that cream and not feel sick, so I opted for a more normal sized piece of peach pie.

Today I'm taking the day off from work. I think I'm going to go get an iPhone!

Pros and Cons of Traveling to a race by yourself

2009-06-13T04:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I drove 8+ hours to Lawrence , KS , by myself. I've gone to plenty of small, local races by myself, but never to a larger one, or one far away by myself. I will admit the drive was incredibly boring! I had my camera out and anytime something caught my eye, I'd click the camera on, and hold it to up to the appropriate window and snap. When I got here last night I looked through the photos, and they were all crap. Imagine that!

So, what are the cons of travelling by yourself to a race:
1. no one to talk to in the car
2. no one to share driving duties with (which is tough for someone like me who does not like to drive)
3. you have to try to read mapquest directions while you are driving (I'm not very good at this).
4. you are probably by yourself for a good reason - I'm having to miss my nieces high school graduation party - sorry Stephanie - hope you have a fun day, and I'll see you soon.

There are some pros:
1. I can stop as often or not as I like (pottie stops, food stops, or just stretching the legs)
2. I can stop for whatever food I want and not whatever someone else wants
3. I can sing as badly and loudly as I want
4. if I have to burp or pass a little gas, well, I can do that anytime I want too!

So, of course, the first thing I did last night was to check out the local news weather forecast. Last night they were calling for strong storms early Sunday morning (race is Sunday!). This morning, they are toning that back a little, but saying stay tuned! I guess they like the saying 'if you don't like the weather in Kansas, just wait 5 minutes!' Indiana likes to use that one also. Its actually cool and cloudy right now (7am), I'm trying to chill about the weather, since I have no control over it.

I have to pick up my race packet, go to athlete meeting and check in my bike (after a little ride to make sure she is all ready to go), then check out the water. Then I have to get away from the athlete craziness, so I think I'll wander around Lawrence . Its supposed to ba a nice little college town, and since I live in a nice little college town a few states away, I hope its a good way to waste a little time. Maybe a little shopping!

tomorrow at this time, I'll be racing!

PS.. I'm sending good vibes to Angela for her mtb race today! Go Ang!

a Shout out to Brian

2009-06-10T03:09:00.000-07:00

Brian is my local ART guru. When I first learned about ART 6 years ago, there was no one in our small town of Bloomingotn who practiced ART. I had to travel 2.5 hours away to find Sophie (triathlete and ART extraordinaire). The 4 years ago Brian moved to Bloomington! This was a fabulous day. I think I was in to meet Brian within a few weeks of his arrival, and have probably seen several dozen times over the years. Sometimes for several treatment on the same problem, sometimes just for a little tune-up. Neck, back, hip, hamstring, ankle, wrist, the list goes on and on and on. Every time I go, I am so thankful that Brian is here.

Back in 1999, I had a snowboarding accident. I crashed in Jackson Hole, and landed on my head, knocked my cervical sping (c6 and c7) out of alignment, and was in a lot of pain for a long time. Ten years later and I still have neck issues, sometimes tweaking it badly doing stupid things like trying to eek out an extra pullup, or even that super strenuous exercise of pulling a sweatshirt on over my head. Then compound it with my less than ergonomic desk that I sit at for 8 hours a day, and riding bikes (and occasionally crashing on the mtb), and my neck is frequently unhappy.

After NOLA 70.3, my neck was very gunked up, and they had some ART guys there, so I asked one to work on my neck. And while it felt better after 10 minutes of work, his technique was way too aggressive and I was scared he was going to paralyze me. I should have asked him to stop. Yesterday I saw Brian for a little neck tune-up, and told him this story (I have not had to see Brian since then - that is a long time for me to go without needing to see him). I remember thinking (at NOLA) that I was so lucky to have Brian and not them! Brian - you are the best! Thanks for keeping me moving!

BTW... Brian was an alternate on the Atlanta track&field Olympic team! yep. so not only is he a great doctor, he is also a top notch athlete. So, even though I'm an older athlete, he can understand my desire to train and compete, and he does everything he can to keep me healthy.

THANKS BRIAN!

Its National Donut Day

2009-06-05T04:28:00.000-07:00

Yes, apparently the first Friday of June is National Donut Day. I wonder how many people will bring donuts to work today. Hoefully I can avoid the temptations. I don't generally go out and buy them (even though there is a Dunkin Donuts right across the street from my office, I have yet to buy anything from it - I hear that today they are giving away free donuts), but I do enjoy them.

Its been a wild week. Ok, not really, but one of lots of wildlife:

Wednesday on the way to work, I spotted a baby deer. I'm sure he was just a few days old, spotted, wobbly legs, and not much bigger than my cat!

Yesterday morning walking the dogs, right at the end of our driveway was a skunk waiting for us. Luckily he ran away when he saw us coming out the door.

Then a coyote (or maybe a fox - couldn't be sure as it was dark) ran across the street on our return trip home.

The rabbits are crazy in numbers around here. Unfortunately Junior likes to play cat and mouse with them. Here he is below after a night out, and I won't tell you what he left in the backyard for me.

He sure knows how to rest and recover!

Sam and Daisy wanted more face time on the blog. Again. SO here they are.

Yesterday I ate pain

2009-06-01T03:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the end of 3 long weeks of building hard work before Kansas 70.3 In my brilliant judgement I told Jen I'd really like to race the mountain bike race at my home trail. It was yesterday, day 21 of the 3 week period. What was I thinking! I spent $30 to taste pain and agony for 90 minutes. My HR was sky high, my legs burned and ached, I had nothing. nada. I finished last in the womens expert race. OUCH. The distance felt like a marathon, and the competition kicked my a$$. My climbing sucked, my trail skills did not flow, the only positive thing is that I did not crash!

So, yes, it was a sad result. I ate humble pie. I ate pain. Then I drank a chocolate milk shake. And things were better.

Smile!

2009-05-27T06:51:00.000-07:00

In a simple effort to move on from the photo post below… here are a few things that have made me smile the past few days:

Road names on our bike rides this weekend: Bear Wallow Rd, Three Story Hill Rd, Greasy Creek Rd, Lick Creek Rd, Turkey Track

Saving 3 turtles on the same rides, one of them was marked with especially bright fluorescent orange markings, he was stunning.

Riding Monday with Randi and Angela in a thunderstorm, being pelted by cats and dogs, or maybe that was just big fat raindrops.

Getting one sign sprint from Randi (teeheehee, well, not really, I just sort of stole it quietly)

Eating a 3pack of hohos in the middle of one ride! Oops!

Taking my dog Sam for walks again!

Leading Junior back home yesterday morning before I went to work, picked him up to toss him in the house and he smelled like skunk! First I made the P-ew face, then I smiled and laughed at him. He is a daredevil cat, nothing scares him.

Todd finally trimmed up his Paul Bunyan facial hair look!

I swam this morning at 6am, outdoors, 10lane, 50m pool, had my own lane, sun was just coming up. Beautiful!

And lastly, I smiled big when I stepped on the scale this morning and was back to my race weight of 2 years ago! Maybe I can drop a few more pounds and carry around a little less on the old bum the rest of the summer.

a few race photos from Xterra Midwest Cup

2009-05-22T03:27:00.001-07:00

2009-05-20T06:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the privilege of helping to build a habitat for humanity house. Every year, in Monroe County one hundred plus women come together from various origins (schools, church groups, employers, friends, book clubs…) , raise money and then build a house for a family. This year, the group raised over $100,000. And they will build a house in 10 days. All women, only women (ok, there are a few men that are hired out to do the foundation, plumbing, wiring, and dry walling), but women do the rest of the house, and they do it in one week. Some of these women have never used a hammer. But this is a great opportunity to learn. And everyone does. What a great way to give back to your community, learn some new (and potentially) useful skills, and meet a lot of amazing women! I am truly thankful that I have had the opportunity to work on these houses, and think that as I get older, and have more free time, this is how I will spend more of my time.

If you have never worked on a habitat house, but thought you might want to try it, just do it!

2009-05-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

Went to Michigan this weekend to race in the xterra Midwest cup race at Ft Custer park, near Battle Creek, MI (home of Kelloggs - Cereal City they call it). Drove up in rain, rode one lap of the bike when we arrived, rain had stopped, wind started, and temps were in the 30's with high winds by evening. brrrr. Sunday morning, the temp at the park was 34, but the sun was coming out, and the wind was light. This race is a qualifier for the Xterra World Champs in Maui. The past 2 years this race was shorter, and nhot a qualifier, but this year they added a race in every region, and this one was chosen for the midwest race. The swim was only 1000m, not to the liking of the pros, or swimmers like myself who use the swim to build a lead (it should be 1500m for a qualifier - its like having an OLY tri with a 1000m swim). Oh well, what can you do! It was a wetsuit swim (64 degree water), but the water felt balmy since the air was cold. My swim was good, one pro women beat me, and we spotted them 30 seconds on the start. Unfortunately, only giving them 30 seconds, means all those fast pro mountain bike riders would be right behind me, and I'd be slowing them down, and having to slow myself down (even more) to let them by on the single track. They really need to start the pros 5 minutes ahead so they are clear of the age group race, and we don't effect their race, and they don't effect ours. Again, what can you do! The bike was two 10 mile loops. Lots of tight twisty singletrack amongst the forest, one knee deep river crossing, a fun stone paved drop off, and old military trenches turned into crazy fun singletrack trail. I finished the first lap still leading amateur women, but I could see a couple women on the little road stretch out and back (to the transition) and knew they were coming. I know I'm not the fastest bike rider, nor the best technical rider, but I love the mountain bike, and I just kept plugging away. The race was spreading out, and when I came to the river crossing on the second lap there was no one around me. First lap everyone carried their bikes through, including me, but this time a volunteer yelled 'go here, you can do it', and me, being the brain dead racer, thought ok. And my front wheel hit the deep mud, stopped, rear wheel kept going, up and over me, and I went down into the river, face first, hands digging into the sandy bottom, bike on top of me. I stood up, spitting muddy water out of my mouth, laughing, knowing the photographers on the other bank for sure got that wipeout. Carried myself and the bike out, saw muddy water all over my body (you can see remnants on the bike number above), had to clean my eyes and glasses. The bike was rather unhappy for 10 minutes or so, so much sand in the chain, and I couldn't get my foot clipped into the pedal. But the movement, and the wind cleaned everything out enough that she started to sputter back to life (after about 6 women passed me), and we made it to T2. I had to change socks, the others were wet, which would have been ok, but full of sand, which would have hurt running. So clean socks, and then remembered I had tightened my running shoes up for thin summer socks, and had on thicker wool socks, and they wouldn't go on! Well, eventually they did, and I was off to run down the beach! woohoo. Every step felt funny on the first lap of the run. Pins and needles in the bottom of my feet every step, I guess from them being frozen on the bike. But by the second lap they were better, and I really enjoyed the run. It was a beautiful trail, passing lilacs blooming out in the forest, some small ponds, and I was running hard, well, as hard as I could, wanting to make a few passes and move up a few places. My goal was top3 amateur women, I passed 2 back on the run, and moved up to 5th overall. Not quite what I was hoping for, but what can you do! Sometimes things just don't work quite right. But I won my rather small age group race, and can go to Maui if I want.

Jamie Whitmore was here, announcing. She took a few minutes to chat with me, and she is a really amazing person. If you don't know what she has been going through, check out her blog, and you will be stunned, and inspired.

So, now it is a beautiful sunny Monday, and I took the day off work to get in a long ride since I was at the race this weekend. That's done, and I enjoyed a nice post ride meal of chocolate milk and cinnamon raisen french toast and bacon! Yes, bacon, and it was YUM!

and Sam is now in week 8 post surgery and he is walking great. Even though its a few more dsya before we head back to the vet, I made the executive decision to start walking him agaim, just short walks, but he is a happy boy!

I almost called in fat today

2009-05-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

Was watching the Devil Wears Prada last week, that is a funny movie. I almost peed my pants when the 2 modelesque girls were going to work and one commented she wasn’t feeling well, and perhaps should have stayed home. The other said to her without cracking a smile ‘I almost called in fat today’. I'm going to try that some day here at work.

On Mothers day, my 93 year old grandmother got to spend time with her great-great grandson. Yes, that’s 2 greats. 5 generations in my parents house that day. My Grandma–my mom-my brother-his daughter-her son. How cool is that!

Bree posted a recipe for ooey gooey caramel goodness

This weekend I have another attempt to stalk some pros at the Midwest Xterra Cup race in is-it-still-winter-up-here-should-we-really-be-racing-in-water-this-cold-we-are-talking-Michigan-in-May! I better get more photos than I got at New Orleans - which shouldn't be hard since I got ZERO at NOLA!

why chip & seal? I'm not talking potatoes and cute little furry seals. I’m talking about that crap paving technique where they lay down that awful bumpy layer of ‘chip pavement’ and then spray over it with some sealant. Its terrible for bike riders! Why don’t they ask us before they do things like that!

I want to know what dork invented the 40 hour work week! I could be happy with 20 hours. 10am to 3pm M-F, with an hour break for lunch. Perfect.

I have cleaned my mountain bike two times, my road bike one time, and my tt bike one time in the last 3 days. RAIN RAIN GO AWAY!

The Boston Globe has some of the best photos I’ve seen on any topic, for the main page to look for a topic of your interest.

I get to swim SCY tonight! The only day each week that I have access to SCY anymore until fall. I will take full advantage. Maybe I'll practice my underwater kick off the wall to 15 yards on every turn.

Limestone sculptures & lots of green

2009-05-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot of rain and wind the past month. But this morning, my ride had only clouds and lots of wind, no rain! The rain has made it so green here, as I'm riding up a hill in the state forest:

On Low Gap road, there is a sculpture who has acres of property where he displays his limestone sculptures. Since I had my camera, I decided to stop and snap a few photos. This one looks like he carved Mayan hieroglyphics into the stone (click on the photo to see more detail on the sculptures):

and a few others that are close to the road that I liked.

Ahhhh swimming. I love it. I hate it.

2009-05-09T02:44:00.000-07:00

Being an old worn out swimmer who came from an age group program of pretty high mileage training - even for a sprint/middle distance stroke person - I prefer to keep all my training sessions in the 3k range these days. Any longer and I get bored and start to lose concentration.

Last night I had 4k on th eplan. Yuck. 4k of nothing but freestyle. Double yuck. ANd the pool was going to be LCM. Triple yuck! Well, things started looking up when I arrived and the pool was SCY - yeah! at least 4k SCY is less than 4k LCM! I don't like to be in the pool for more than 60min, so I knew there would be no dilly-dallying on the warmup. Which is a bit difficult for me, as I like to take advantage of all warm up yards and swim nice and slow until my arms start to come around. And last night I had 1000 yards of various warmup, so lots of time to stretch out, but then get down to business and get 'er done! Nairy a swim goes by that I don't have an issue with someone swimmig close to me. Last night was no exception. I had my own lane (not hard when we had 20+ to choose from, it was a Friday night in a college town, and the night before graduation - who was going to be at the pool at 5:30!) But of course the girl who got in the lane next to me had to kick, with fins, feet coming out of the water, smacking down, making tidal waves lapping over the line into my lane. As annoyed as I was, I decided not to move lanes and look at as good tri practice. The first 500 at half IM pace was nice and easy, and my attitude improved. Had it felt like crap, the attitude would have needed some serious adjusting. So, I kept plugging away. Lap after lap of freestyle, turn after turn, dolphin kick after dolphin kick off the wall, the pattern continued. The only thing to change was the pace on various repeats, and an occasional pull instead of swim. The last few hundred yards, my arms were tiring, I just wanted to be out of the pool, and then I was! 58 minutes! I made it under the hour.

Some of my pool observations:
1) any time I have a person swimming next to me who is not swimming quietly (ie, making too much splahs or waves) I want to stop them and tell them that's not faster!

2) whenever the pool is SCY and was supposed to be LCM, I need to buy the lifeguards beer (they are college kids after all)

3) it drives me crazy that I can't see any of the pace clocks at my pool when I come off the turns. I only see the time at the end of an interval. It makes me crazy. In SCY, we swim across the pool, and the clocks are these nice easy to see digital clocks (when I'm at the wall), but they are on the wall behind the pool, not to the side, so I can't see them when I breathe off the wall. LCM they are just too far awy, and my 40+ year old eyes just can't focus on them fast enough to see them. I think if they were analog clocks, I could see them and generally know where the second hand is, but the digital is too hard to read when my head is only turned for a second. All the pools I swam in as a kid had clocks that I could see off every turn. That's how I paced, and how I kept count when I swam more than 100 repeats.

4) You see, I have trouble counting over 100 yards. Becaue I have this compulsive need, no, its not even a need, it just happens. I count every stroke, all the time. My brain just can't disengage and not count.So if I have to do a 200 or more, the counting of strokes and counting laps require a lot of discipline. Then throw in an occasional set where I have to do a breathing pattern that is not my normal breathe every 3, and my brain is on overload. Counting strokes per lap , counting laps, and counting strokes between breaths. It sends my brain into overdrive.

Despite all my bitching about the pool policies where I swim (there are a lot of stupid policies), and the people I have to share lanes with (there are a lot of annoying people I have to share lanes with - I'm sure they are not annoying people, they are just annoying swimmers), considering I don't train with a masters team and have the luck of the draw at open lap swim, I am lucky to have such great facilities, and I should not complain. And I will try not to complain too much. And if those water joggers would stay away from me, and the water aerobics people would turn down their music and microphones, and heck, if I could just have my own private lane whenever I am at the pool, and if we could keep my swim workouts to 3k or less (teeheehee), then I might have more love and less hate for swimming.

Its almost Mothers Day

2009-05-08T06:46:00.000-07:00

see you in a few days mom!

book review: Force of Nature... mind, body, soul, and of course, surfing... Laird Hamilton

2009-05-03T15:35:00.000-07:00

I picked up this book at the library, knowing just a bit about big wave rider, Laird Hamiltion, I thought it would be interesting to see what makes this guy tick.

Opening the book, the quote he chose to be on the first page is:
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

... quote is from Mark Twain.

what a great quote. The book talks about what drives Laird to be, possibly, one of the best all around athletes in the world, and the best person he can be. He is a big risk taker, and sees no reason to not experience everything in life. Fear is not to be a deterrent in trying, it should be respected, and used to channel your energy into success. He has no fear of trying new things, being a beginner at anything. Being a beginner may result in failure, but failure is just a stepping stone to learning. He uses his mind to make his body be capable of doing things most people would not dream of trying. And he thinks most people think their bodies cannot endure as much pain as they actually can. Most of us don't learn to push ourselves to what we are truly capable. As much as he works on making a stronger mind, he works on making a stronger body, one capable of allowing him to be more successful. Some interesting things he does from a physical workout routine, is a lot of barefoot walking. This strengthens all the tiny muscles and tendons in the feet, and while this seems easy when you live in Hawaii, it makes sense, and I will try to do more of it this summer. He also does a lot of upper body work while standing on the bosu ball (flat side up), so his core is completely engaged and being worked to be stronger for any activity you might try.

Lots of other interesting ideas in the book, from specific exercises, both physical and mental, food, recipes, and even tips on becoming a surfer (which is only a part of the amazing athlete that he is, albeit, the sport that made him world champ!). And lots of awesome photos.

184 – finally!

2009-04-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

No, I didn’t get my weight down to 184 (thankfully I’m not even close to that).

And It doesn’t have to do with watts, ftp,lt,abc, 123, whatever those letters and numbers are, (although I’d love to be able to hold 184 watts for a half im!).

It’s pretty close to my max hr – although I haven’t seen that number on my hr monitor in decades, but that's not it either.

It’s my latest cholesterol number. For years, I’ve hovered in the 220 range, and I try to eat healthy, and cut way back on ice cream and other fatty treats. But it never varied much. I just had another check, and it was 184! I don’t know what has changed, in the last year I did switch from 2%milk to 1%milk, and I drink quite a bit of milk. My good cholesterol is good, my bad cholesterol is bad – isn’t everyone’s, I mean, how can bad cholesterol be good ;-)

So, all is good on the health front. I just realized that since I started training with Jen in November (after getting over some crazy entrapped nerve in my leg), I have had no injuries! (knocking on wood right now). I really think it has everything to do with the perfect balance she aims for in every week of workouts. Thanks Jen! And my latest push to improve my nutrition is going well. I’m on week 3, and have not fallen off the wagon. I’m weighing in only once every other week, so we’ll see if I knock off another pound or 2 at the next weigh-in.

I’m at the end of a 3week block of training, feeling a little tired, but not bad. Tired of cleaning bikes after riding in the rain though! Last night it downpoured in the middle of hill repeats on the bike. Gotta love the sting of rain drops (pellets) pelting you as you scream down a hill. And the day before my entire run was in heavy rain, enough to make my shorts so heavy they kept falling down! And guess what? it’s raining now, and rain is in the forecast for the next bazillion days. Ahhhhhhh, I love spring. At least its not cold anymore.

Lately I’ve been thinking I want to try ironman again. I’ve been thinking this for years now, and always back out. I only want to do it when I’m ready to be very positive about the training, and ready to train to set myself up for the best race possible. I probably need someone to talk me out of it. I really don’t mind the hours on the bike. I love riding my bikes more than I like to swim and run. It would mean less time on my mountain bike though, which I absolutely love to ride, and would miss. And it means long runs, and I seem to start to struggle past 2 hours on training runs (I think that is my brain struggling more than my body). And longer swims (ick, more freestyle). But other than that, maybe I’m ready!

So, ironman is at least a year off, if I decide to do one, since you have to sign up so far in advance (I hate that). So for now, I have my first xterra race in May - MidWest Cup race in Michigan –quailifer for Maui World Champs – I bet it will be cold and wet – we are talking Michigan in May after all! And I’ve been on my mountain bike all of two times this spring! Woohoo. But its ok, I will get a few more rides, and the course is not technical, and my fitness will be good, and I will be ready! Then Kansas 70.3 in June! I am ready to race again.

Happy rainy Thursday. I’m sure someone out there is seeing sunshine now!

icky la boom ba

2009-04-25T12:06:00.000-07:00

when I was a swimmer in college, way back in time, 20 years ago, one of our cheers went like this:
leader: icky la boom ba (softly)
team: icky la boom ba (softly)
leader: icky la picky wiki (softly)
team: icky la picky wiki (softly)
leader: awful a dawful waffle (softly)
team: awful a dawful waffle (softly)
leader: oooh aahh (softly)
team: oooh aahh (softly)
repeat LOUDLY

what's the significance of some completely nonsensical string of sounds. NOTHING! Except today on my long ride that popped into my brain. I'm quite sure I have not thought of that since I was in college, but yet there I was riding out in the middle of Green County, by myself, singing icky la picky wiki (note that I spelled wicky - wiki- in homage to the computer nerd terminology) to myself. over and over. It was making me CRAZY! I think it was the wind howling through the hollers whistling strange tunes to my brain that triggered it.

The ride didn't start out alone. Randi was with me, and we picked a route south and west, so we'd get the awesome tailwind on the way home. We were chatting away, talking about bikes, dogs, the little 500 women's race that was yesterday, whatever pops into the mind. Randi and I are generally happy on the hills, but today we cursed aloud when we went up up up, and the wind blew in our faces, laughing at us, mocking us to keep asking for more. ANd we did, we kept riding, and the plan was for a few new roads, and when we saw our first 'new' road, that spit straight off the country highway we were on, it went straight up. UhOh. Not even 25 yards up the hill, both of us out of the saddle, we hear a snap, I thought she dropped a chain. Nope. Not so lucky. SHe cracked a rcank arm in half! WTF! How does that happen? So, we turn around and coast down the hill, and the tailwind in this direction blows us down the flat about 150 yards, I love not pedalling. SHe called for SAG support, and she was in a good spot, getting a little vitamin D (ie, sun), and I headed back up the hill. So steep. OUCH. My speed was 5mph. Did I say ouch? Over the top, and a long gradual downhiull into a valley, around a bend, and the road turns to shit! gravel as far as I can see - which was a few hundred yards. So, I turn around, and back up the hill (tail wind), and fly down the steep side and just tell Randi I was checking on her. She wasn't sunburned yet. SO I head back out onto the country highway for the painful solo ride into the wind. An hour later I finally hit a small gas station, need more fluid. They had pepsi, coke, and snapple, and cream and grape soda. I opted for the grape soda since I had a small amount of grape gatorade in one bottle, just topped it off with soda, downed the rest, and was on my way again. Slightly over 2 hours it was time to make the turn northeast, and there was that awesome tailwind! ANd I was just supposed to be in zone 2 now, so I was coasting and cruising , even up small hills. Only when I hit the first big hill did I have to really amp up the effort. Midway up the hill, I could something scampering across the road, my first turtle sighting (on a road) of the spring. He was hauling ass (for a turtle) and this was bascially a deserted road, so I didn't feel like I had to move him to the side, not to mention I would have never gotten back on my bike and going again in the middle of that hill. Passing a few limestone quarries on the way back into town. I glance down into them, seeing water crystal clear, thinking how great it would be to go for a little swim, and remembering the quarry scene from Breaking Away (more Little 500 images). ok, no swimming today (or any day in the quarries for that matter - they are all private property and ot open to public). I get to scream down another hill by the last quarry, and at the bottom sharp left turn, I squeeze the brakes, and there is a giant wild turkey standing in the middle of the road just looking at me. I give him a cluck cluck, and think I am such a dork, and push on home.

chocolate milk is down the hatch, and oh so welcome in my belly and in my muscles, and I feel better. A cool shower, to rinse off the 80 degree heat induced sweat. And then raisin bread french toast and maple bacon! mmmmm mmmmm good!

Now I'm chillaxin on the patio (in the shade), dogs on either side of me, I think I need to shop (windows shop, that is). Its been some time, and I think I need a few things. No, not a new swimsuit! Not that I wouldn't like a new one, but the last time my mom was here a few weeks ago, she said she counted mine and I had 28 suits hanging (that means they are in my current rotation) and I guess that's enough for now.

earth wind and fire

2009-04-23T03:28:00.001-07:00

No, not these guys.

Yesterday was Earth Day. I don't really understand the designation of days for things we should be doing all the time. Oh well. In addition to the usual routine (riding bike to work, using biodegradeable poop bags to pick up after dogs, taking lunch to work in reusable plastic containers, I even skipped a shower in the morning to save water!), yesterday we had 7 new modern energy efficient windows installed at home to replace the last 40+ years old windows. yeah!!!!!!!

In addition to Earthday, yesterday was also incredibly windy, and I had a nice hard interval bike ride to accomplish. I'm trying to learn to love the wind (or at least not hate it). ANd I put my head down and got it done. I would have cried going into the strong head/cross wind, but it would have used up too much energy, plus I was trying to be a big girl with a tough as nails attitude, and Big Girls Don't Cry! It did make me wonder (wind and earth theme) why every house in the world doesn't have a solar panel and a small wind turbine on its roof to generate its own electricity. I know, $$$$. But really, how cool would that be!

Fire! Well, the only fire is the one I tried to light under my a$$ as I pushed through each interval and the wind.

bike handling 101, or, uh, 100001

2009-04-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

Rock Garden

2009-04-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

-noun
1. stretches of rock in a dirt path, laid there naturally by mother nature thousands of years ago, or recently by human hands
2. mountain bikers technical challenge
3. rusty mountain bikers crash magnet

one of several man made rock gardens at Brown County:

So, yesterday I hit the trails on my mountain bike, for the first ride in 3 months. The technical skills were a little rusty, but the fitness was good. Even on the hills, yes, we have hills in Indiana!

Here's the profile (2400ft of climbing, green line is elevation profile):

But back to the rock garden. You see, no trail riding for a few months, leaves you feeling like a novice again, rusty and anxious. The first rock garden I hit is one that for some reason last year I kept dabbing all fall(one foot down for a second for balance), even though I cleared it many times all summer. Yesterday I told myself just ride it, don't over think it, look forward, and pedal strong. And what do you know, I didn't dab! Woohoo. But worse, when I would have dabbed, my foot was still firmly in the pedal, and next thing I know my back left side ribs are crashing onto a big flat rock, and the feet are still in the pedals! STUPID!!!!!!!!! First thought: breathe. Second thought: ouch, I wonder if that could have broken a rib? Third thought: get off the trail, there will be people coming upon you soon. So, I untangle myself and bike, and flopped the bike down into the brush next to the trail, past the rocks, and bent over, hand on knees, breathing, assessing the ribs. Deep breathing hurt. A lot. Normal breathing was ok. Slightly tender to the touch, but not terrible. Conclusion: Couldn't be broken rib, probably just bruised. ok, keep riding! Oddly enough, the next difficult rock garden, which I screw up and dab (or stop) at least 50% of the time, I cleared! Go figure. And then on the next intermediate (I call it advanced intermediate) trail section, I dabbed twice, and never fell or stopped! so, the skills improved as I rode. But let me tell you. If you have never ridden a mountain bike, its a whole 'nother ballgame from a tribike and a road bike. On a tribike, its a lazy mans upper body ride (I should not generalize, it is for me! compared to how I use my upper body on the mtb). The tribike is all leg and lungs (and neck). Your skeleton supports your upper body, and your arm muscles get nothing. Road bike is slightly more upper body work, but not that much (case in point, check ou the Tour riders, puny arms!). But get on a mountain bike, and ride for a few hours, and you will feel it in your legs, your arms, your back, everything will tell you that you just put out some serious muscular effort. And I love that achey tired feeling. And there are minutes that you are scared and on edge, and you love those minutes even more! It's good to be back on the trails!

When I got home, Todd had punctured his lower leg with a stick as he was cutting up branches that had been piled up in the yard from the winter and spring storms, and a few days ago he broke his toe. We are an offocial mess today.

Mess or not, painful rib or not, I had another trail adventure for this morning. Running this time. And my Miss Daisy (no, not Jen H.), was going with me. Daisy has only been on 50minute runs all winter, so this was going to be pushing her limit. 90 minutes and hills. Fortunately, the rains have filled the streams, and I knew on this trail we'd cross a stream every 10 minutes, plus run by the lake,plenty of water for her.

The goal of the run was to stay in zones 1-3, a good challenge on these hills. This trail is at the Paynetown recreation area. I have no idea why they call it Paynetown. 'Pain'-town is much more appropriate.

Well, we made it! No falls, no twisted ankles, and I didn't have to fireman carry Daisy out (thank goodness, because with the rib, I could not have done it).

Here is how Daisy will spend the day (sorry for the blurry pic, and I'm too lazy to go take another).

Likewise, Junior. This is him after pulling an all nighter outside. He's being banished inside for a while, as he has killed 2 tiny baby bunnies in the last few days. BAD KITTY!

If I could learn to bottle his relaxation techniques, and put them to use on the mountain bike, I would be rocking the trails!

get it, 'rock'in the trails!

long course meters

2009-04-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year. My main training pool is beginning the transition to long course meters. For the next month, its still short course yards (yeah!) most lap swim times, but occasionally long course meters. So, now, every time I have a swim, I have to figure out what I have to do to get the swim in short course yards, figuring the logistics of where and when I can work it in around my work schedule and any other workout that day. But, soon, it will be long course all the time, and I either give into long course, or swim at the old pool (which is only short course). I don't really like the old pool (although Mark Spitz and Gary Hall trained there, so if it was good enough for them, it should be good enough for me!). But I also don't really like long course (after all you can't do a real 100IM in a long course pool!). And if I want to swim outdoors in summer, its only long course.

bye bye short course yards... I'll be waiting for you to come back to me in the fall!

Its not easy being a lean mean fighting triathlon machine…

2009-04-15T05:35:00.000-07:00

After New Orleans I knew I’d have to get serious about my nutrition, and get rid of my winter blubber, if I wanted to give myself my best chance to qualify for Clearwater. So I gave myself a couple days of downtime, no training (thank you Jen), eat my favorite foods (chocolate, chocolate ice cream, bbc chocolate chip cookies, pizza), and then I cleaned out the refrigerator and cupboards, and sat down and had a talk with myself. I said to myself ‘self, if you really want to qualify for Clearwater, you have to do more than just do each workout. You have to do each workout to the best of your ability, and you have to take care of what you are putting into your body’.

So, now I’ve been almost a week on the new improved nutrition plan. I’ve cut wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy back on my sweets (which is my biggest downfall, as you can tell from my favorite foods list). And trying to up the protein and fat, cut down the carbs, eat 7+ fruits and veggies per day. So far so good. All winter I told myself, you have no will power. Why can’t you stop eating 10 mini reese’s cups after lunch. One will suffice! But nooooooooooooo. I couldn’t have just one, it had to be 5 or 6 or 7. But now I want more out of myself. So, once I actually decided I was going to commit to this for the rest of the season and give myself the best chance I have at my races, its not been that hard. Hopefully I can keep it going.

Then , ironically, this morning, Elizabeth’s blog talks about some of this. What I am taking away from her thoughts are that all winter I wanted to eat my chocolate, and enjoy those favorite foods. But, that’s all it was. It was what I wanted to be doing. Now I really want to have the best race season I can have. And the wants of chocolate and ice cream, will be replaced with the want to race fast. And I can do it. Jen’s workouts are awesome, and I love having her guidance and planning and expertise, and I have do my part by following the plan, believing in it(which I do), and fueling myself properly. All of these things I want to do. And I’m committing to the last one now. It’s the hardest for me, but they say if you can do something for 20 days, then you can make it a habit. So, here’s to making a better healthier me!

a sunday ride

2009-04-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

with Angela

a good little climb

and finally I had my camera with me on a day when the turtles were sunning themselves on this set of fallen trees, and somehow managed to be quiet enough to snap a few photos before they slipped into the water.

then I came home to find Sam sunning himself on the lounge chair

Chrissie Wellington

2009-04-10T05:54:00.000-07:00

I just read her blog about ironman australia. And on the way home from New Orleans we listened to a podcast interview from competitor radio. She is so funny. And interesting and intelligent to boot. Oh yeah, she's a pretty darn good athlete too!

She is racing Kansas 70.3. I hope I get to meet her there. I didn't meet a single pro at New Orleans. Maybe if I buy a gotribal shirt and wear it there, I'll have an in to meet her. Does that sound like I'm stalking her? I'm not! I'll just try to get a photo with her.

New Orleans 70.3 in a word: CHAOS

2009-04-07T04:26:00.000-07:00

Friday I drove to Effingham, IL with my car loaded up with bike and race gear, and met Bev, Laura and Tonya to drive to New Orleans for the 70.3 race. Laura had first drive shift, and Laura has some hobbies, adventure racing and collecting speeding tickets. She should be racing Nascar. Before we got out of Illinois, she was pulled over and given a speeding ticket. Poor Laura! $75 down the drain! The rest of the drive was long! We missed one interstate exchange, because we were busy yapping. SO, we added on one hour total with those two incidents. We rolled into New Orleans near 11pm, and the initial drive through part of the city to the hotel was our first taste of the chaos that is New Orleans. People walking everywhere in the streets. Drunk people. Drunk people with open containers of alcohol in their hands. The Hotel has 400 rooms, and parking for 100! ANd it was full. So we unloaded , and Bev and Laura went searching for parking. One hour later they returned. Laura is the go-to-girl. If something needs to be handled, she will figure out how to get it down. ANd she is only 30, but she is one smart girl.

Saturday we slept in. Spent another hour retrieving the car, and after an hour of annoying our hotel, they let us into the parking garage. At least that was no longer a worry. We went to the second race briefing along with a few hundred people, and decided instead of waiting in another long line for packets, we'd get lunch and walk to the finish area first. This was 20min north of the packet area pickup. After too much walking, and packet pickup, its 3pm and we still have to drive our bikes to transition. WHich is an hour drive through the chaos of New Orleans again. This was a nightmare, we did not know exactly how to get there, and it took a long time, fighting a lot of traffic, and we were frazzled. Not to mention the headache I had all day long. Happy to be back to the hotel finally by 7pm, we got pizza and watched Michigan State win their way to the final of the NCAA tourney.

Sunday we were up at 5am, and on a bus for shuttle to the transition area by 5:30. The swim was point to point, so we walked the 2k down to the swim start, and my wave was the last wave to start - 8:28! The first pro wave went off at 7am. I watched a lot of people swim, and I was not looking forward to swimming through hundreds of people. TUrns out the swim was great. The swim was between a sea wall and buoys about 100 yards off shore, and you were supposed to stay inside the buoys, so everyone was spread out, and I pretty much swam the whole swim without much traffic. One gal in my wave took off and I thought I should go with her, but I was thinking it was a long day, just chill. Turns out it was Jill Gellatly, who I have raced against many times in tris and masters, and at Lake Placid 1999, she and I came out of the swim together as first AG women. I should have stayed with her. I was too lazy. Next race will be different! SO, the swim was uneventful, and hopped on the bike. Starting in the last wave, I was basically passing people the entire 56 miles. The wind was strong, and I tried to put my head down when it was a head or side wind. I started the bike with 2 bottles of nuun, and 2 bars. Thinking I'd get gatorade at the aid stations (because I had forgotten to bring my own for the start - I knew I'd forget something!). ANyways first aid station, there was only water. I dumped one bottle, and took some fresh water. Second aid station, only water! I was getting worried now. As the return ride was far windier and I wanted more calories, and eating the second bar was not going down so easy in the 85 degree heat. Third aid station had no water, and no gatorade! The RD will hear from me about this! The rest of the bike I tried to be calm even though I knew I probably didn't get enough calories, probably 400 total 3 hours into the race. I knew I had gels at transition and water and gatorade on the run. The last 9 miles of the bike were so hard. I was at 2:15, and thought I'd cruise in around 2:45, even with the headwind. But I slowed way down, wind and nerves, and didn't roll in until 2:51. Damn. Ok, I tell myself, to use this as a learning experience for next race. But also don't give up for the run. Jen has been giving me great workouts, and I have been riding a lot, and running decently. I didn't know my place, I thought maybe 5th -7th. I just started running. The first 3 miles are along the lakefront, no shade, and a 20-30mph wind blowing straight into us. It was painful, and I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. The turn around came, and just having the wind behind me now was a blessing. I was managing the heat somehow even with the dinw not cooling me off. Around mile 4 I actually passed a girl in my AG. I never pass anyone on the run! This was a big mental boost. I was not wearing a watch so I had no idea how fast I was running, but I felt really solid. ANd spectators I passed were encouraging telling me I looked strong, and I felt that way, since I was passing people the whole way. Starting in the last wave, has that advantage. By mile 6 I passed a second girl in my AG. Now I was trying to remain calm, and thinking I need to keep this pace and build, and maybe I can catch one or two more, and maybe no one will catch me from behind. Well, that was it, no one else did catch me, but I also didn't catch anyone else. The last mile I was hurting, but I pushed to the finish, crossed the line, had a mini asthma attack, wheezing, and stumbling to the ground. But I recovered quickly, and found my way to a smoothie and some shade. Found Bev who had placed second in her AG, (and got a slot to the World Championships!), and we waited for Laura and Tonya. TUrns out I was 6th in my age group. I was hoping for top 10, top 3 was my big goal. I was right there. Only 7 minutes out of qualifying for the world championships. Not bad for an early season race that was contested in 85 degrees, while I've been training in winter and early spring conditions, and not getting all the calories I needed on the bike. I can't wait to race again!

During the run I was thinking about Sam back at home, and imagining him walking next to me , Daisy running next to me, pulling me home the last 5k, Todd cheering for me, the whole country cheering for Michigan State. I talked to myself, all positive things. ANd somehow at the end, even though I didn't quite PR, it didn't matter. Afte chasing PR's in masters swims this winter, and not quite getting therm, and not quite getting one here, I realized the PR doesn't matter to me anymore. Sure if I PR this year over the distance, I will be ecstatic, but I was just so happy that I fought my way through some issues, and never gave up, and fought to keep myself in contention for a shot at a world championship slot, even though I finished out of the money. I actually learned to enjoy being in the race, and not about my time. ANd now that's how I will keep racing. I will race for myself, and for the people (and pooches) who help me everyday to be able to do this. Yeah, it feels good to PR, but I felt even better knowing that I gave it everything I had on this day. ANd I know I can do it again.

ANd once my muscles stop aching, I'll get going again for the next race.

PS. After the race, we had to get Bev to the awards to get her Clearwater slot. This was a 20min walk from the race finish. and started at 4pm. SHe actually didn't know she got a slot, thinking they only had one for her AG, and she finished second. And Tonya had not finished yet. SO Laura stayed behind for Tonya, and Bev and I hobbled back to the hotel and the awards bar (yes, it was at a bar nowhere the race course). And she got a slot! Now we had to get back to the transition area to get out bikes by 6:30. But Laura was waiting for Tonya, who actually had finished, and we missed, and walked back to the hotel by herself. SO Bev was getting her slot, and Tonya and I drove to find Laura, but it was thc chaos of the French QUarter, and it took one hour to get there (5 miles) and findLaura, and now it was almost 6, and Bev was not with us, and bikes were 13 miles away! So poor Bev ran to us - we would have never made it back through the traffic. ANd we drive to the bikes. We made it, but were exhausted from the race and the utter ridiculousness of the race logistics. See, I can't even explain how chaotic it was!

SO, I'm super happy that I went to this early season race, but I will not recommend it to people, and I won't do this one next year, just because of the chaos that I could not endure again. You need to do a race and have time to relax and get ready and recover, not spend the 24 hours surrounding the race racing around getting ready for the race.

thanks everyone for thinking of me!

NewOrleans 70.3 Predictions

2009-04-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

My a$$ will hurt after driving 13+ hours to get to the race.

I will have some good food while I’m there (and probably I’ll indulge in something(s) that are not so good for me too!)

I will see lots of amazing pro athletes (when, I’m not sure, certainly not during the race, since they will be finished before I even start – in the last wave!)

The race will likely be a logistical nightmare, since swim start is not at transition, and race finish is 13miles from transition, neither of which is by the hotel (I don’t think).

I’ll forget something important – hopefully it is not to eat or drink during the race.

It will be hot at the end of the race, and more than likely some thunderstorms (woohoo!)

The water will be gross, and I’ll have to swim around a gazillion people.

The bike will be the flattest 56 miles I’ve ever ridden in my life, so it better be the fastest!

I will push myself to run better than I have ever run in a tri before. I will eat pain for breakfast (in the words on the famous Asian triathlon superstar, Jocelyn Wong).

I will (try to) cross the finish line with a smile.

I will miss Todd and Sam and Daisy and Junior and Peanut, and I’ll worry about Sam while I’m gone, hoping he isn’t too miserable , and that Daisy isn’t driving Todd crazy.

My a$$ will hurt even more after a second day of 13+hours of driving to come home.

my poor Sam

2009-03-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

He is a big dog. 120pounds of golden retriever. And he tore his acl. Not completely through, but its going. So the most recommended fix was a surgery where they put a clean break in his fibula, then reset it at an angle so the femur and it meet at a more natural angel. Now he is on restricted movement for 8 weeks. After 1 day, he already wants to move. Eight weeks is going to be insane.

His new titanium hardware:

Junior checking out Sam, being a very good boy. At least he was inside giving the local wildlife a break.

Daisy is making a killing on Sam's misfortune. She already loves to walk and run, and now that Sam cannot play for 8 weeks, I am her playmate and she's averaged 3 walks a day, and today a Trun with me. She's going to wear me out!

Sam's poor naked leg. I'm sure he'd eat me alive if he knew I posted a picture of his nakedness. Its such a sad site to see a full quarter of his haunches bare, as his fur is absolutely beautiful. I mean, if my hair could look like Sam's, I'd never have to pay for hair color!

and he loves the collar (2 weeks of this so he doesn't chew the sticthes and cause an infection)

Like Pizza? Recycle the boxes?

2009-03-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

Better make sure you get a dog to lick the box clean first!

check out this link...apparently pizza boxes that are tarnished with food, or any paper product that is stained with grease or food, are not recyclable - unless you remove the tainted portions.